Engine: D52447: Starter and flywheel - broken cogs.

[grass hopper]

i replaced a starter and flywheel for this exact fault approx 3 years ago,very rare fault,certainly not a problem with crankshaft bearings as previously mentioned,just poor ring gear construction,labour is approx 7 hours to do and you will probably find the drive sleeve splines have failed as well betwean the gearbox and transfer/angle gear.i would get in touch with volvo and ask for a healthy contribution towards repairs.

[siggi757]

Thanks all.

The price for changing the flywheel and starter was not so bad, but when they looked into the problem and decided the crankshaft bearing has to be replaced the price shot up into the stratosphere.

I believe the engine has to be removed and basicly torn down and rebuilt.

I was quoted 4 days of work.

It is sad to realise that the late model Volvos me and my close relatives have owned in the last few years [ 3 XC90s (2003,2004,2005), 1 XC70 (2002) and 1 V70 (2003) ] are brilliantly designed and great to drive but all have suffered from various quality issues that should not be present in cars with this pricetag.

[grass hopper]

Originally Posted by siggi757

Thanks all.

The price for changing the flywheel and starter was not so bad, but when they looked into the problem and decided the crankshaft bearing has to be replaced the price shot up into the stratosphere.

I believe the engine has to be removed and basicly torn down and rebuilt.

I was quoted 4 days of work.

It is sad to realise that the late model Volvos me and my close relatives have owned in the last few years [ 3 XC90s (2003,2004,2005), 1 XC70 (2002) and 1 V70 (2003) ] are brilliantly designed and great to drive but all have suffered from various quality issues that should not be present in cars with this pricetag.

32 hours of work to replace bearing shells !!! i recomend somebody else to inspect ! i changed a crankshaft a while ago on v70 tdi and the volvo book time was approx 11 hours, independant assesment required.

[siggi757]

This is a quote from the main dealer.

Thanks for the numbers as it is great to have some info when challenging them on the time and cost.

I take it then that the crankshaft bearings can be replaced without completely tearing the engine apart?

[grass hopper]

this repair time was on a previous volvo diesel,the audi tdi lump,but if the crankshaft had that much end float or lateral float to cause that damage surely the crank would be knocking like crazy,in my opinion a flywheel and starter motor would permantly fix,but thats only my opinion ! not sure about the time on the later d5,but seems excesive in my opinion.

[David S]

I was looking on the forum on Friday night as my wife had said that there was a noise coming from the car when she started it that morning. I started the car that night and concluded the starter was finished. On checking the forum I found this post. Not wanting to cause any more damage I did not use the car until Monday. I started the car and drove to the garage. Switched it off and went in to speak to the local mechanic. When I tried to start the car again it would not start. Just a whinning noise from a starter with no teeth. I would estimate that it had been started 8 times since she first heard the noise. The garage called me that day to say that it needed a starter and a flywheel. As per the other members I cannot beleive that a major part on a 53 plate car with 80,000 miles has failed so easily. The main volvo dealer is not interested as the car is so old. I think that this is very poor and it has dennted my faith in Volvo.

[siggi757]

UPDATE.

The car was fixed last July ('09) by a very good independent mechanic. The car is now like new.

The reason for the failure of the flywheel and starter were faulty crankshaft bearings. The faulty bearings allowed the crankshaft to "float" and therefore the flywheel also. This caused the flywheel to be ground down over the years by the starter until finally the starter couldn't engage any cogs. Before I turned to the independent mechanic the dealer here in Iceland offered me 25% discount of parts and work but the quoted price with discount was over twice as high as my mechanic charged.

After encouragement from the dealer here in Iceland I wrote to Volvo in Sweden. They pretended they had never heard about this problem.

Here is an excerpt from the letter I received from Volvo Sweden. Seems like some copy/paste answer.

It is not possible for us to offer an explanation as to why you have experienced this problem with your particular vehicle. Your XC90 model was built using the best technology available at the time of production and supported by a New Car Warranty for a substantial period of time. Whilst it would be ideal for any vehicle to remain repair free, we cannot place a life expectancy on any part or component, especially as the vehicle begins to age and becomes subject to normal wear and usage.

This made me laugh quite hard since I had heard from two sources that this is indeed a known problem with this engine although not a very common one. I was informed that so far my car is the fourth one in Iceland to have this failure.

Pretty lousy if you ask me.

[ianu]

Originally Posted by David S

I was looking on the forum on Friday night as my wife had said that there was a noise coming from the car when she started it that morning. I started the car that night and concluded the starter was finished. On checking the forum I found this post. Not wanting to cause any more damage I did not use the car until Monday. I started the car and drove to the garage. Switched it off and went in to speak to the local mechanic. When I tried to start the car again it would not start. Just a whinning noise from a starter with no teeth. I would estimate that it had been started 8 times since she first heard the noise. The garage called me that day to say that it needed a starter and a flywheel. As per the other members I cannot beleive that a major part on a 53 plate car with 80,000 miles has failed so easily. The main volvo dealer is not interested as the car is so old. I think that this is very poor and it has dennted my faith in Volvo.

Hi David - from yours and others experience it sounds like as soon as you're even slightly suspicious of it - it's too late anyway.
How on earth would you know you're heading for trouble - and is early detection any cheaper to deal with (crank bearings sound like a pretty extreme to say the least) ?
What sort of £numbers are we talking here - bearing in mind a clutch slave cylinder and clutch didn't give me much change from 800 quid - which was gearbox out job.

[grass hopper]

changed a few ring gears for this problem when i worked at a main dealer,there was never any problems with the crank bearings,only fault was worn ring gear teeth possibly due to poor manufacture.

very strange the end float on the crank causing a problem,have you got the old bearings to check ?

[siggi757]

I don't have the crankshaft bearings but the failure of them was first diagnosed by the main dealer here in Iceland and then confirmed by my independent mechanic.

About early detection of the problem I wrote earlier in this thread.

Originally Posted by siggi757

I had a 2005 Volvo XC90 D5 before this 2003 model which is now giving me problems and when comparing the two I can say that the 2003 model took slightly more turning over by the starter before engine start and the engine ran a little bit more rough, specially when cold. These may be the symptoms of this problem.

Cheers