V50 2.0D buyer information

[geoege]

I'm thinking of buying a V50 with the ford/peugeot 2.0D engine. Is this a good engine to start with?

I have searched to find when the timing belt should be done. Some volvo service books say 72K and 96K but Vadus says 144K. On the ford forums they recommend changing at 160K km. Anyone actually know the answer?

I don't want the euro 4 because of the PDF and i do alot of short journeys. What other engine type is there and what year models do they come in?

Finally, what faults and failures are common with the V50. I have also heard turbo's are prone to failure on these engine's. Any truth to this?

Best Regards,

George.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by geoege

I'm thinking of buying a V50 with the ford/peugeot 2.0D engine. Is this a good engine to start with?

I have searched to find when the timing belt should be done. Some volvo service books say 72K and 96K but Vadus says 144K. On the ford forums they recommend changing at 160K km. Anyone actually know the answer?

I don't want the euro 4 because of the PDF and i do alot of short journeys. What other engine type is there and what year models do they come in?

Finally, what faults and failures are common with the V50. I have also heard turbo's are prone to failure on these engine's. Any truth to this?

Best Regards,

George.

It is not my favourite engine , because it is a fairly coarse engine ( compared with D5 and 1.6 D ) and not THAT economical , although when you first drive the car it feels very powerful , you get a huge burst of torque but it doesnt last long once out on the open "A" roads it "only" has 138 bhp and a very narrow power band from 2000 - 4000 rpm so overtaking say 2 cars at once as you could easily do in a D5 is not possible .
There have been turbo problems on some early cars and clutch problems , and EGR issues and wires breaking off various senders due to FORDs very thin wires and diesel engine vibration causing wire fatigue . These engines are VERY sensitive to water ingress causing wrecked engines never go anywhere near a flood with them ..

The 1.6 D has a larger spread of smoother power , you can actualy use full throttle to pull out of a roundabout without loosing traction and ripping tyres , a much sweeter engine and handles nicely due to not having a mass of cast iron over the front wheels . ( 1.6 D is all alloy )

Just my opinion , but the D5 for power or 1.6 D for economy would be for me ..

Cam belts on the 2.0 D are 10 years or 140000 / 150000 miles

the 1.8 and 2.0 petrol engines are just SO Smooth and quiet after the 2.0 D it might be worth considering one the fuel costs might not be THAT much greater for the big rise in refinement

[geoege]

Cheers mate

I thought the euro 3 engines will do better MPG compared to euro 4. That's the one im after because it doesn't have the pdf aswell. Can you tell me what year have euro 3 and what year have euro 4?

As you say the early models had trouble with clutch and turbo failure, was this the euro 3, euro 4 or both models? Was it very common and what mileage were they prone to failure at do you know?

I'm not to keen on the 1.6D as i will be towing my boat and trackcar. The D5 would also be my choice but they are out of my budget unfortunately.

Thanks again for the help mate.

[Clan]

The euro 4 came along in 2005 and intermingled with the euro 3 up until the present day , you had a choice when buying new .
Clutches if they were going to fail would last about 60000 miles but this problem seems to be receeding .. It wasnt common, just a few cases .. same clutch in euro 3 and 4 the worn clutch looked like a "Ford" clutch , the replacment from volvo parts looked like a "Volvo" clutch ...

[geoege]

Originally Posted by Clan

The euro 4 came along in 2005 and intermingled with the euro 3 up until the present day , you had a choice when buying new .

did the pdf come in all euro 4 models? Is there any way a car sales person could find out if it has the pdf from the vin number and checking a database?

From service history if the car has over 72K, should it be detailed somewhere if the pdf was changed when serviced by volvo?

Sorry about all the questions. Im coming over from Ireland and don't want to waste a journey over if it's not the car im looking for. Just want to get all information clear before making phone calls.

Thanks a million.

[Clan]

Yes the Particulate Filter is part of the Euro 4 package .
One of the VIN characters is the emmission code will tell whether it is euro 3 or 4 , the dealer will be able to tell you also about the 72000 service which will be on record if it was done at a volvo dealer .
You could ask the owner , the clue is two big air pipes going into the throttle on the euro 4 whilst the 3 has a conventional single pipe going into the throttle housing on the manifold right at the front in the centre of the engine ..

[geoege]

It's not a volvo dealer that has the car im looking at. When i asked if the pdf was changed, he replied he did not know!!!

It has a fvsh and was serviced at 72K but it was a lease hire company that owned the car. I do wonder if the pdf would of being changed keeping in mind the costs involved from volvo, and it was near the end of it's lease at that stage. But it would be documented if the seller looked at the service book?

[Clan]

the lease company might give you a print out of the service record or at least be able to tell you if it has been changed . It wont be in the car service book . Have a look underneath at the state of the nuts securing the Particle filter ,,, original ones will be pretty rusted

[geoege]

Cheers for that. The seller is a trader who sell's 3 year contract hire vehicles. I doubt he has any printout of the service work carried out

He just has the service book that is stamped by volvo every 12K miles. You would think there should be some sort of details of work carried out on the car, or any faults that the car had and what was changed to fix the problem.

What's the chances of a vehicle hire contract company skimping on the 72K service and not getting the pdf changed when it was serviced by volvo? There is 78K on the car now so would of being near the end of the 3 year lease at the 72K mile service.

Advice much appreciated on above situation.