V50 Engine 2.0D : Advice needed V50 D3 2011

[Gordo73]

Hi All,

I’m in a dilemma with my V50 and it’s future. Last October when travelling down A9 it lost all power and we needed recovered to garage.

The aux belt was damaged but on closer inspection the timing belt had jumped a few teeth. It seems a tensioner collapsed, stuck in a pulley seizing it up which resulted in the timing belt jump - some luck eh?

The garage said all we could do was change the belts and see what happens. That was done and car was running, rough but driving enough to get back from workshop to their other site. It was flagging air flow error so they were looking into that but felt the cam was knocked off or valves bent.

At that point I thought get it driving enough and trade it in but in January they said they couldn’t get it running enough to drive anywhere. More mucking about and they thought it was over fuelling and clogging DPF which it had. Tried drilling that out to free it but it’s running way to smoky and no power.

So with around £1k spent, what do I do next. I’ve owned car since new, done about 110k miles and it’s pretty mint for age, only real wear is drivers seat a bit scratched. Will a head sort it, is there a danger of damaged pistons/rings, I just don’t know if it’s time to give it up. The scrap offer was dire and I’d rather someone with the knowledge took it and rebuilt it, it’s honestly too nice to scrap.

I’d love to get it running again but dropping another £2k doesn’t seem like a good option. It’s a pimped out SE Lux so great spec for someone with a workshop and time.

Cheers for any advice

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by Gordo73

Hi All,

I’m in a dilemma with my V50 and it’s future. Last October when travelling down A9 it lost all power and we needed recovered to garage.

The aux belt was damaged but on closer inspection the timing belt had jumped a few teeth. It seems a tensioner collapsed, stuck in a pulley seizing it up which resulted in the timing belt jump - some luck eh?

The garage said all we could do was change the belts and see what happens. That was done and car was running, rough but driving enough to get back from workshop to their other site. It was flagging air flow error so they were looking into that but felt the cam was knocked off or valves bent.

At that point I thought get it driving enough and trade it in but in January they said they couldn’t get it running enough to drive anywhere. More mucking about and they thought it was over fuelling and clogging DPF which it had. Tried drilling that out to free it but it’s running way to smoky and no power.

So with around £1k spent, what do I do next. I’ve owned car since new, done about 110k miles and it’s pretty mint for age, only real wear is drivers seat a bit scratched. Will a head sort it, is there a danger of damaged pistons/rings, I just don’t know if it’s time to give it up. The scrap offer was dire and I’d rather someone with the knowledge took it and rebuilt it, it’s honestly too nice to scrap.

I’d love to get it running again but dropping another £2k doesn’t seem like a good option. It’s a pimped out SE Lux so great spec for someone with a workshop and time.

Cheers for any advice

That’s an interesting explanation, especially where they say ‘timing out or valves bent’…. They should not change the belts without doing the timing, as the timing will be out. And doing the timing is a 15 minute job to find TDC on cylinder 1. It sounds as though they just ‘put the belts on and drove it’.

Similarly if the valves are bent in any way shape or form that’s also a 15-30 minute test. Simply undertake a compression test, if it passes ok and if not then you need to have it stripped down and inspected.

If it were me I would

1). Take it to a highly skilled mechanic to review explaining all of this (it won’t be a 15 minute job now as mechanic will have to get belts off to time but can probably do compression test).

2). If there is any damage then I wouldn’t bother repair given the high cost and 110k distance. I would simply jumk the engine and install a replacement.

I would also ask how they know the belt jumped a few tooth?

[Gordo73]

Originally Posted by XC90Mk1

That’s an interesting explanation, especially where they say ‘timing out or valves bent’…. They should not change the belts without doing the timing, as the timing will be out. And doing the timing is a 15 minute job to find TDC on cylinder 1. It sounds as though they just ‘put the belts on and drove it’.

Similarly if the valves are bent in any way shape or form that’s also a 15-30 minute test. Simply undertake a compression test, if it passes ok and if not then you need to have it stripped down and inspected.

If it were me I would

1). Take it to a highly skilled mechanic to review explaining all of this (it won’t be a 15 minute job now as mechanic will have to get belts off to time but can probably do compression test).

2). If there is any damage then I wouldn’t bother repair given the high cost and 110k distance. I would simply jumk the engine and install a replacement.

I would also ask how they know the belt jumped a few tooth?

Apologies maybe didn’t explain as best as I could. When the car got recovered to garage they inspected it and found teeth on the belt missing so it had jumped/slipped. When they replaced the belts and tensioners they realigned the timing etc. before firing it back up.

As for compression testing I’ve honestly no idea if they checked it?

So if you don’t think the head is worth rebuilding what sort of money is there in a replacement lump. It pains me to think about scrapping a car in such good condition but there’s got to be a cut-off where it just isn’t worth doing any more on it.

Cheers

[Ashmere]

We are in same dilemma with our 55 plate v50d
Tho it has been pretty good in the 5yr we've had it and 70k we've done it's becoming regularly quite pricey for small necessary jobs, leaking crank oil seal £600, new sensor for fuel pump or something £230, new aircon Condenser £300, something else electrical £200",and now more electronic problems with abs swm/clock spring (quoted £500) all in the last year or so
We would like to keep the car as its used for towing our caravan but where do you draw the line as shelling out is outweighing the value of the car and its just failed its mot on broken rear springs (not a major issue and that was all it failed on)

[V50 Craig]

Yeah there's always a limit. I've been quoted over £1000 for a clutch and DMF change which I dont have and despite being pretty reliable and a fab car it's now on just shy of 170k and it's just not worth spending that money even if I had it..so sadly I am just going to run it until it goes bang

Second hand prices are actually pretty strong now, I regularly see non runners/no mot cars going for over £1000 so selling as is will always be an option. I would imagine engine swaps/rebuilds will ve very pricey on these Volvos

[iainmd]

The drawback of owning an older car but even taking a lot of these bills into account it's still a lot cheaper than repayments on a new or newer car for me.

Ours has just stung me for £1,200 for a new clutch/DMF and split intercooler pipe, £150 to replace the radiator support bracket as it had rusted away to nothing, £550 on Volvo's usual defective windscreen, £100 on a new undertray, £100 on a replacement suspension arm and track rod end.

A few months before I had to replace the 4 glow plugs as one or more had failed.

So all-in-all that's over £2k spend in a couple of months on repairs for a car worth half that. Yes, it's a bit galling frankly but considering I used to get rinsed with £650 a month in tax to drive a 3 series as a company car it's still decent value sad to say.

[Familyman 90]

Originally Posted by Ashmere

We are in same dilemma with our 55 plate v50d
Tho it has been pretty good in the 5yr we've had it and 70k we've done it's becoming regularly quite pricey for small necessary jobs, leaking crank oil seal £600, new sensor for fuel pump or something £230, new aircon Condenser £300, something else electrical £200",and now more electronic problems with abs swm/clock spring (quoted £500) all in the last year or so
We would like to keep the car as its used for towing our caravan but where do you draw the line as shelling out is outweighing the value of the car and its just failed its mot on broken rear springs (not a major issue and that was all it failed on)

For all youve spent, the many thousands of pounds cost of replacing it will still massively outweigh those expenses.

Its rare that buying something else is genuinely cost effective.