1.8 GDI Engine

[tonymcb]

Been reading through this forum for some months now and has anybody a good word to say about the 1.8 GDI engine.

Can you lot put some history my way of when this engine was introduced and is it still in production.

Surely only bad things appear on this forum and good points seem to be a miss. There has got to be thousands of these engines out there but you only here about the bad bits

I own a 2001 1.8 SE GDI V40 ( fully loaded ) and it isn't bad at all. mind you having 2 litre petrol engines most of my volvo life i wished i'd gone for the 2 litre turbo i miss that extra grunt

[morphinemitt]

Though the general opinion isn't too encouraging on these engines, I think they tend to be ok providing you drive them hard occasionally and use a premium fuel and/or an additive (Redex etc).
I know Mitsubishi use these lumps too so maybe a search on one of their forums will give you some more info.

[D5driver]

I have done loads of research about this engine, the engine design is so bad. I had a 2000 GDI and it was a very troublesome car.
Mine failed the MOT on the emissions like many of them do because of the coking problems around the inlet valves.
This engine has a EGR valve that chucks exhaust gases through the head and with it being direct injection no fuel gets injected over the valves so they never get a chance to be cleaned. I do have a little fix for this if you need it when you have your MOT.
Hope this helps.

[Clan]

can anyone explain how coke on the backs of the valves affects emissions?

[D5driver]

Because the engine cant breath very well.

[tonymcb]

so what is this little fix you talk about when you fail emission test in mot.

can you also tell me how many miles was on your car when it failed as mine has only done 49000

is it high miles that suffer or is it random

if these engines are so bad then have i made a mistake in buying one and should of gone for the 2 litre turbo

so if i put redex in wont this be a waste as you say that no petrol gets onto the valves so whats the point of the additive

[SpeedyReedy]

We have 2 Gdi's in the family, mine will go over the 100000 mile mark in the next couple of weeks and it has never had a problem with the emissions it has just been serviced at the manufacturers specifications. Serviced in June and the MOT April, The only thing it has needed are consumables Battery, Tyres etc.
The other one my parents same age lower mileage also had no problems again serviced at dealer.

My one is driven a bit harder but only does 12 miles a day and speed limits, speed humps and level crossings don't allow it to get a good run, but I have found that it doesn't like too many tanks of supermarket fuel, it lacks a bit of it's usual umph!

Also with the MOT it's better if the engine has a good run and hot before it's tested,

[jamie28]

I must be the exception to the rule on this forum ,We purchased a 2002 v40 se gdi with 106k with fsh last year for my girlfriend to use .11k later it averages 34 around town and 42/45 ish on a run. And we do not drive slow (I have a t5 and a super bike)
Performance and reliability has been good and I have not suffered from any of the problems mentioned on the forum (it sailed through two MOT, s with excellent emissions) although I did put a bottle of injection cleaner in the tank when I purchased the car and service all my cars myself.

Bad points, the cambelt is due next year which is expensive in labour costs, but I will do this myself and some of the drivetrain /engine and service parts are particular to the gdi so they are not always available from german and sweedish ,parts for volvo online etc . it does run better on branded fuel and this is quite noticeable unlike my t5

For a Volvo petrol estate with all the bells and whistles I feel the economy is excellent, with good performance for an economy based engine, all things considered yes i would buy another one .

I think the gdi was introduced in 1998 and stopped in 2002, nowdays diesel technology is far more advanced in terms of economy /performance the petrol gdi is old hat . However a friend of mine has a bmw 1 series and he sweares its direct injection petrol.

[tonymcb]

thanks for putting my mind at rest and shall keep the car for the near future as its got all the bells and whistles.


i thought i was right when i said only bad things get mentioned on this forum and its good to hear some praise for a change

have been putting my foot down harder on the accelerator and i'm getting used to the power shift in the gears now and i must say it isn't that bad to the point i would change it for a 2 litre turbo but one point i must say is it has little pull in low revs and find myself changing down a gear if wanting to go a bit quicker

thanks for your input

Cheers tony

[Urban Tangleweed]

Hi,

Don't know if this helps anyone, but I had a Mitsubishi with the GDi engine from 2000 to 2003, and in that time, covered 117,000 miles. It did begin to run lumpier at about 60,000, and a mechanic friend suggested I run it on Texaco or BP fuel, I switched to always filling with Texaco and after about 500 miles it was running better. I continued to use the same brand of fuel until I swapped the car, and though it's emissions at it's first MOT were high, it passed.

Maybe worth a try for any Volvo GDi owners out there ?

Regards,

Roger.