Volvo (Mitsubishi?) 1.8 help

cargrouch

Hi, quick bit of advice needed,
Drove a high mileage '00 S40 last night. All seems to be in order, nice car (black leather interior:D ) BUT the engine at idle and low speeds sounds a bit "diesely".

Even the seller himself said he thought it was a bit loud, but that a main volvo dealer in Cork had told him that it was normal. Now, knowing some main dealers it's possible they just couldn't be bothered with a car 6years old.

Steering (I know they're prone to wear there) and suspension seem fine. To be honest, if I got another 50K miles out of it I would be happy at the price.
My question - anyone with experience of these engines (1.8, of mitsubishi origin - NOT the previous Renault 1.8)? Can you confirm if they sound a bit tractorish?

Thanks folks

peasant

Isn't that the GDI (petrol direct injection) engine?
That would indeed sound a bit harsher than normal

gyppo

Take a look at this recent thread.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054945275

cargrouch

Thanks gyppo, What did your friend do in the end? The one he was looking at - it wasn't in Cork was it?

Crosstownk, you replied to gyppos original thread, have you much experience of these fleetwise? As in what goes when kind of thing?
Unkel - I didn't know there were 3 1.8s, thought it was just one Renault, one Mitsu. What's the third?

It isn't a real loud diesel clatter, more of a distinct, but not LOUD, tick-tick-tick-tick at idle and a low fast tish-tish-tishing at car park speed. Car seems fine otherwise. Just a direct injection characteristic?

The other car I looked at last night was a 105K 98 Accord 1.8 (non-Vtec). I would have no problem buying that, especially at the price, until I saw the leather in the volvo!

John R

If it is a Mitsubishi engine then that ticking sound is most likely caused by the tappets, the dealer was correct it is normal.

It is a fairly common fault with alot of Mitsu engines. It is quite costly to repair and really not worth it as the fault does not effect the running of the engine in any way apart from the noise.

My '98 2.0 Galant has been making that noise for years now, don't really notice it anymore.

In general Mitsu engines are very reliable, my last car was fast approaching 300k miles without a fault when it was written off. Never had a GDIs though, the issue gyppo mentioned might be worth checking out.

cargrouch

Grr, don't like the sound of this coking up problem this GDI engine is supposed to suffer. I have to say I thought I did notice a slight smell of burning, so it is possible this car has that problem.

It has been on sale quite a while. I thought it was combination of 1.8 engine + Volvo + over 100K miles making it very unnattractive to the typical 1.4/1.6+Ford/Toyota/VW Irish buyer. Now I'm not so sure.

Nice car though.

Kaskade

I had an FTO which had banging tappets for years, bit annoying in the morning but It didnt bother me too much,

Ive a nice Accord with lower milage and leather in my sig if your interested? As its a Honda theres no tappet noise!

gyppo

@ OP,

No, he didnt go for it in the end. The car he was looking at was in Mullingar, and was an ex-english car which had been brough in a few years previously.

I did own a standard engine 1.8 S40, which I traded after 6 months. I found it very coarse and unrefined, unreliable, and very very uncomfortable on back roads as the suspension set up was very rigid.
Although some spec levels on the S40 are very well appointed, there are much better cars to be had out there.

My advice ---> Go for the honda every time.

cargrouch

Kaskade - is that 2L a twin cam? Vtec? Up til recently I assumed all Vtecs were twin cam but it appears the HRV 1.6 vtec has a single camshaft? I'm afraid I don't know much about honda engines except that the 1.8vtec in the accords seems to be a fine engine. I have heard some comments that one of the 2L units used by honda (at least in the accord coupe?) was not an improvement on the 1.8vtec.

crosstownk

These engines are a disaster. The coking is caused by the fact that it's direct petrol injection. The petrol is injected directly into the cylinder rather than onto the back of the valve from the intake manifold. This causes the valve to run dry. On top of that the engine recycles exhaust gasses back into the combustion chamber causing the valves to 'coke' up. €3500 in a main dealer to repair :eek:

Another problem with this engine is the hydraulic tappets give trouble. The symptoms are the tapping you hear - in order to stop the tapping you need to replace the tappets - expensive. VW engines (late 80's & early 90s) used to suffer from this too.

EDIT: The car could possibly run forever with noisey tappets, but it is possible that one or more may eventually crack.

Best advice, tbh, is to steer clear of the GDI engine and get an S40 with a Volvo engine.

cargrouch

gyppo wrote:

I did own a standard engine 1.8 S40, which I traded after 6 months. I found it very coarse and unrefined, unreliable, and very very uncomfortable on back roads as the suspension set up was very rigid.
Although some spec levels on the S40 are very well appointed, there are much better cars to be had out there.

Drove one of the Renault 1.8s last year. Pretty dead really. I liked the firm suspension of the Volvo last night. Running gear all felt new and tight on it.

The 98 accord (100K remember so shocks probably played out) had a turn-in that I associate with older Jap cars, uncertainty and wallow for a second then YOINK your head gets wrenched to one side as it starts to turn properly. Cheap as chips tho.
I hear the newer model accord (late98-02?) has stiff enough suspension too.

gyppo wrote:

My advice ---> Go for the honda every time.

That's what my head says, but I've always fancied a black car with black leather!

Edit-- OK, thanks crosstown! With that info I think we can officially consider the volvo shot down. It did seem a bit sooty. Is the problem with the tappets a result of the valves getting coked up? I suppose there's no homebrew fix (RedEx, drive the hole out of her) for coked up direct injection valves? Have had a FIAT before so I really don't want go down the tappety engine route again ;-)
I sense a "Find me a car thread" coming on.

colm_mcm

pretty much all 1,8 S40's I've come across over 40k had engine noises.