D5 engines 163bhp unreliable ????

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Bondequipe

Diving into the fray here with my first post . . .

I did a fair bit of research (other than on this forum!) before buying a V70 and what seemed clear was that the Audi derived engine was gruff but solid, economical and reliable. Care had to be taken on cambelt and injector belt replacement times but otherwise good. The first D5s had injector and other problems but by 2003/4 these were sorted and the 163hp engine was excellent if complex. Long cambelt intervals and economical. The 185hp engines seemed to have less good reviews and the Geartronic boxes had more failures than equivalent other autos. Searching ebay or Gumtree for spares or repair cars gives a fair idea of what the Achilles heels on cars are.

Net result I deliberately looked for and bought a 2000 TDI that had had a quite OCD owner! I like the agricultural nature of the car as a counterpoint to my wife's modern Jaguar diesel and it's quick and economical enough for what I want.

The early P2 V70 had a Audi sourced diesel engine and these were badged Tdi. From MY2002 these very good engines were replaced with the even better Volvo D5 engine. This was developed exclusively for Volvo by Ricardo engineering and is not sourced from or used by any other manufacturer. This D5 is no more complex than any VAG, BMW or other similar unit, Volvo's own electronic management is excellent and it's often far easier to pinpoint obscure and intermittent faults on the D5 than with other makes and there is almost aircraft like resilience built into the system.

The geartronic boxes are fine, and used by many other manufacturers (Toyota, Nissan, GM/Opel/Vauxhall/Saab) - it's Volvo not including mandatory oil changes that kills most of them.