2006 Volvo V50 1.6D Engine problems

greyv50 · 10-09-2013 01:11PM #1

Hello.

I am new to this forum and I have some engine trouble with my v50 1.6D.

I purchased my car privately about 9 months ago, a lovely v50 1.6D with all the extras with 90k miles on the clock. I immediately changed the oil and filter. Initially I noticed that the fuel consumption was much higher than the specifications suggested about 8.4l/100km instead of 6l/100km. After some research I realised that the DPF filter was not replaced at 75k miles and I became aware that one of the symptoms of a blocked DPF is higher fuel consumption. I had the DPF filter replaced and fuel additive topped up at our local Volvo dealer at a cost of 650 euro and immediately the fuel consumption improved dramatically.
Happy days I thought but my happiness was short lived. About 6k miles later (96k miles) a couple of errors appeared on the display "Anti skid service required" and "Reduced engine performance". During the errors the car had little power but all returned to normal after turning engine off and on again until next time error occurred. On taking car back to the Volvo dealer we were informed that there was a faulty injector seal on the engine. I challenged the diagnosis provided by the dealer as I read on forums that the Anti Skid Service Required error was caused by a faulty ABS module or wiring loom issues. The Volvo dealer insisted that the faulty injector seal was the only problem they could see. The dealer also carried out a service at this point at my request (Oil and filter change) at a cost of 220 euro. I had to return at a later date to have the injector seals replaced. Since the service I noticed that the "Anti Skid Service Required" and " Reduced Engine Performance" errors were no longer present which I thought strange as the injector seals were not replaced yet. I returned at a later date and after having the injector seals replaced and spending 350 euro I hoped my problem was solved only to return to the dealer a couple of weeks later with a total loss of power and the engine emissions light illuminated on the dash board.

The diagnosis this time was a cracked inlet manifold. The dealer said they had a crashed car in stock with a good manifold and fitted it to my car at a cost of 220 euro. The car then ran fine for about 2 months or 2k miles and recently the engine emissions warning light appeared again and disappeared and reappeared during the past week. My wife took the car to the Volvo dealer again and this time they say the inlet manifold is cracked again. They say it's being caused by too much pressure in the engine and they suspect that this problem was caused by the delay in replacing the DPF filter. The dealer says that they fear the turbo could die if this persists.

If there is a person with experience with this engine out there I would be very grateful if you have any thoughts on my problem.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

corkgsxr · 10-09-2013 01:15PM

Id be checking the egr valve sending too much into the inlet and also blocking the dpf with crud

mullingar · 10-09-2013 01:36PM

I'd go to an independent Volvo specialist. That main dealer is robbing you blind

R P McMurphy · 10-09-2013 01:39PM

mullingar wrote: »

I'd go to an independent Volvo specialist. That main dealer is robbing you blind

This is good advice but what you could do is get the basic service with authorised volvo dealer and everything else done independently. Can maintain your perks that way

mullingar · 10-09-2013 01:49PM

R P McMurphy wrote: »

This is good advice but what you could do is get the basic service with authorised volvo dealer and everything else done independently. Can maintain your perks that way

But its an 06 car, at that age a main dealer stamp means nothing and an independent dealer stamp will carry the same value.

but to throw my opinion on it, a cracked inlet manifold? I'd check the boost pressures across the full rev range to make sure the turbo actuator and variable geometry vanes in the turbo are working fine.

Anti-skid warning? I'd get an OBD2 reader and find out the exact code, it could be a simple ABS sensor that it starting to act up.

Diesel injector seals, these are just tiny copper washers about €5-€10 each, yes they can leak and cause carbon deposits around the injectors and wont cause any noticable power loss if it small , nothing to do with any ABD/Skid systems, but €350 to replace the seal? ouch

Sobanek · 10-09-2013 01:53PM

If you're in Dublin, give Mactronic a call: 014629800. They have DICE and VIDA, and will most likely identify the problem quicker than those utter pillocks at the main service. If you're in Dublin, I'm 99% sure which one you've been to all the time.

road_high · 10-09-2013 02:12PM

Sobanek wrote: »

If you're in Dublin, give Mactronic a call: 014629800. They have DICE and VIDA, and will most likely identify the problem quicker than those utter pillocks at the main service. If you're in Dublin, I'm 99% sure which one you've been to all the time.

Ah go on, give us a clue! Used to have an s 40 and sadly I had a lot of the same trouble with it.

ElKavo · 10-09-2013 03:07PM

For the anti skid warning check your tone rings or abs rings. I had a broken one on an s80 and it kicked the stc off all the time. The only way you could drive the car was to disable the stc. If you remove the sensor from the wheel you should be able to spin the hub ( out of gear for fronts and HB off for rears) You'll soon spot the broken / cracked ring. Volvo quoted me €1200 for a new drive shaft to repair but 2 tone rings ( 1 spare) delivered only cost me £8. and It took about 1.5 hrs to replace on my driveway.

R P McMurphy · 10-09-2013 04:00PM

mullingar wrote: »

But its an 06 car, at that age a main dealer stamp means nothing and an independent dealer stamp will carry the same value.

but to throw my opinion on it, a cracked inlet manifold? I'd check the boost pressures across the full rev range to make sure the turbo actuator and variable geometry vanes in the turbo are working fine.

Anti-skid warning? I'd get an OBD2 reader and find out the exact code, it could be a simple ABS sensor that it starting to act up.

Diesel injector seals, these are just tiny copper washers about €5-€10 each, yes they can leak and cause carbon deposits around the injectors and wont cause any noticable power loss if it small , nothing to do with any ABD/Skid systems, but €350 to replace the seal? ouch

Main perks are things like volvo cover once you service with them.

mullingar · 10-09-2013 04:35PM

R P McMurphy wrote: »

Main perks are things like volvo cover once you service with them.

Eh?, please explain how Volvo will cover a 7 year old car with just an oil/filter service?

R P McMurphy · 10-09-2013 07:21PM

mullingar wrote: »

Eh?, please explain how Volvo will cover a 7 year old car with just an oil/filter service?

It depends on your mileage. once over 200km and you get your car serviced at an authorised dealer you get volvo cover

edit 200,000 km that should read

mullingar · 10-09-2013 07:27PM

R P McMurphy wrote: »

It depends on your mileage. once over 200km and you get your car serviced at an authorised dealer you get volvo cover

edit 200,000 km that should read

And what do volvo actually "cover" on a car with >200k.km when they start to do the servicing?

R P McMurphy · 10-09-2013 07:38PM

mullingar wrote: »

And what do volvo actually "cover" on a car with >200k.km when they start to do the servicing?

I dont know, why dont you look it up yourself. Someone was telling me about it and lose the attitude

mullingar · 10-09-2013 08:04PM

Attitude? What attitude? I only asked a civilised question

I only asked as there is no way any dealer, main or indy, would dare to offer any "cover" on a car they never seen before that they start to service with over 200k.km as you indicated. Financial suicide

Your statement "someone was telling me" speaks volumes

greyv50 · 11-09-2013 09:27PM

mullingar wrote: »

But its an 06 car, at that age a main dealer stamp means nothing and an independent dealer stamp will carry the same value.

but to throw my opinion on it, a cracked inlet manifold? I'd check the boost pressures across the full rev range to make sure the turbo actuator and variable geometry vanes in the turbo are working fine.

Anti-skid warning? I'd get an OBD2 reader and find out the exact code, it could be a simple ABS sensor that it starting to act up.

Diesel injector seals, these are just tiny copper washers about €5-€10 each, yes they can leak and cause carbon deposits around the injectors and wont cause any noticable power loss if it small , nothing to do with any ABD/Skid systems, but €350 to replace the seal? ouch

Well I had my Volvo V50 back to the main dealer today to further investigate engine pressure problem causing inlet manifold to crack and the diagnosis from the dealer was as Mullingar suggested the variable geometry vanes in the turbo are not working properly and therefore the turbo is producing more pressure than required, resulting in the cracked manifold. The issue of the variable geometry vanes failing is thought to have been caused by carbon build up on the vanes due to the DPF filter change not being carried out in time by the previous owner.

The solution suggested by the main dealer is a turbo and inlet manifold replacement and an engine flush/clean with sump removal at a cost of 1500 euro approx.

I am stuck in 2 minds to either trade the car in for a different make or have the turbo and manifold replaced and continue owning this Volvo V50. The cheaper option assuming everything gets fixed and have no further problems is to have my car repaired as it is worthless as a trade in.

I must say I am totally gutted and frustrated and am very reluctant to spend this money as my trust in this car is almost damaged beyond repair. The dealer assures me that with a turbo replacement and engine clean my problems will be solved.

Has anyone any experience having turbo replacement done on Volvo V50/S40 and continuing ownership trouble free or is it time to get rid of this car and change to a different make?????

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

skyhighflyer · 11-09-2013 11:50PM

I personally wouldn't be spending a good 25 per cent of the car's value on a fix, especially not at the main dealer whose service hasn't been all that amazing from your story.

Sorry to hear about the problems you've been having with your car. As lots of people here will tell you, modern diesels need lots of maintenance and it sounds as if yours was neglected by its previous owner(s).

I'd take the car out of the main dealers, as others have said, no sense in paying main dealer rates on a 7 year old car. Check the cost of having a reconditioned turbo and replacement manifold fitted at an independent garage and then decide whether to get rid.

mullingar · 11-09-2013 11:51PM

My advice is never ever go back to that volvo dealer. Find a good independent garage who will do that work for around half that price.

Another thing I would do is connect a pressure gauge to tee into the turbo actuator hose pipe to see if it's getting variable pressure to control the speed of the turbo (tiny black hose under the turbo) . If it's not as it should be, it could be a cheap fix if the turbo control solenoid valve is faulty

mlmcelligott · 27-10-2013 11:00PM

Sorry to hijack this thread but im looking for some info from the guys here.

I bought a v50 1.6d two weeks ago and had no problems with it. Over the weekend it has developed an intermittent issue where it has no boost on the motorway but when you're driving around town its fine again. On the trip back from Cork earlier there was a 30 second boost delay when it didi boost but for most of the trip there was no boost. No dash lights came up either.

Car is 2007 with 180k km and full volvo service history.

Any ideas?

pred racer · 27-10-2013 11:16PM

Sounds like a maf or map sensor.

Row · 28-10-2013 01:22AM

Tbh it could also be many other things from a turbo control solenoid/blocked dpf/etc so get it plugged in to see if there are any fault codes logged and view turbo pressure/dpf diff pressure etc on live data to see whats happening..:)

timmy4u2 · 28-10-2013 02:00AM

I dont like being the bearer of bad news but I am led to believe that the 1.6 diesel engine fitted to these volvos is the psa engine developed jointly by Peugeot and Ford.
For these engines to function properly and to get any reasonable service life out of them they have to be serviced very regularly, at most not more than every 8k miles.
The only oil to be used in these engines is a 5/30 low saps oil. Preferably Total.

Earlier engines expired at quite low mileages because the service intervals were too long and the wrong oil was being used.
If you are very lucky you may get away with an egr valve but usually when the engine starts to show problems it is too late to do anything other than to replace the engine.

It is very important not to buy a car with one of these engines without having a full service record.
Have a look at this link to see what happens

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=psa%20carbon%20problems&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.assuredperformance.ie%2Fassets%2Fimages%2FPresentation-1.6-hdi-carbo-issues.pdf&ei=A7NtUtePH6n50gXY7YGoCw&usg=AFQjCNFFJ1p24B4NyrTNp2FyJqdkIa3ZPg

mlmcelligott · 28-10-2013 02:30PM

Row wrote: »

Tbh it could also be many other things from a turbo control solenoid/blocked dpf/etc so get it plugged in to see if there are any fault codes logged and view turbo pressure/dpf diff pressure etc on live data to see whats happening..:)

Car wouldnt start this morning but it turned out to be a loose battery connection that must have been causing the intermittent fault. I tightened it up and hopefully the turbo boost issue is gone now. Will take it for a drive later to test it out.

timmy4u2 · 28-10-2013 08:45PM

mlmcelligott wrote: »

Car wouldnt start this morning but it turned out to be a loose battery connection that must have been causing the intermittent fault. I tightened it up and hopefully the turbo boost issue is gone now. Will take it for a drive later to test it out.

I do hope it is for your sake.
Did you have a look at the link above.
Only good thing is its mileage. It would not reach that mileage unless it has a replacement engine or it was serviced properly

L-M · 28-10-2013 08:53PM

mullingar wrote: »

My advice is never ever go back to that volvo dealer. Find a good independent garage who will do that work for around half that price.

Another thing I would do is connect a pressure gauge to tee into the turbo actuator hose pipe to see if it's getting variable pressure to control the speed of the turbo (tiny black hose under the turbo) . If it's not as it should be, it could be a cheap fix if the turbo control solenoid valve is faulty

I dont think 1500 to supply and fit a turbo and inlet and flush the engine is mad money especially when those turbos are rare as hens teeth and expensive. Id imagine the Dealer would supply a lengthy warranty with the turbo, too.

timmy4u2 · 28-10-2013 09:15PM

Limerick man wrote: »

I dont think 1500 to supply and fit a turbo and inlet and flush the engine is mad money especially when those turbos are rare as hens teeth and expensive. Id imagine the Dealer would supply a lengthy warranty with the turbo, too.

Yes but these engines have a known fault in that they carbon up and then the carbon takes two routes to damage the turbo.
First route is through the oil I feed pipe. In cars up to late 09 there was a filter in this pipe at the lower banjo bolt. The carbon that broke away from the engine got trapped in this filter and starved the turbo of oil.
The second route was where the escaping carbon hit the vanes of the turbo and caused the turbo to self destruct.

Either way the turbo is not at fault; the turbo manufacturers know about this fault with the PSA engine and they will not replace turbos so warrantied and damaged.
The main dealer has to know about these engines.

L-M · 28-10-2013 09:17PM

From what I understood the Dealer didn't say the turbo was at fault, but it was damaged from what the fault was.

timmy4u2 · 28-10-2013 09:22PM

Limerick man wrote: »

From what I understood the Dealer didn't say the turbo was at fault, but it was damaged from what the fault was.

It will continue to be damaged because there is nothing you can do with these engines when they have reached the stage of loosing carbon from the engine. Have a look at the link.
Turbo manufacturers and or reconditioners will supply you with the turbo but they will not warranty them when so damaged

greyv50 · 29-10-2013 11:36PM

As the original poster on this topic I will give you all an update of my situation. Thanks by the way for all the comments and suggestions. I have learned a thing or 2 about my Volvo v50 1.6D.

I decided to have the turbo and inlet manifold replaced by the local Volvo dealer. The cost was 1450 euro and the work carried out included sump removal and inspection for debris or carbon deposits. Main dealer reported that sump was clean. The engine was flushed and an oil and filter change carried out and a new turbo and inlet manifold were installed. The car has since completed 3,000km with no issues (touch wood), however after reading recent posts and the link about the PSA 1.6D engines with turbo failure I would have 2nd thoughts about holding onto my car in fear of future problems.

The car has 160k km on the clock and I have had it since 140k km. I have spent a fortune on this car (4,000 euro) replacing the air inlet hose, rear door lock, dpf, turbo, 2 inlet manifolds, the injector seals, crankshaft pulley, battery and 4 new tyres. The car has had 3 oil changes including the one with the turbo replacement.

Having spent all that money and carrying out all the above repairs, I would almost begrudge selling the car and let someone else get the benefit of the repairs but having read the posts on this forum I also worry about holding onto the car in fear of future engine/turbo problems.

Problems aside, the v50 is a lovely car with good spec. Pity about the 1.6D engine choice.

Has anyone out there got a v50 1.6d (05, 06, 07) with high mileage with no turbo / engine trouble???? Would be interesting to know.

Row · 30-10-2013 12:10AM

greyv50 wrote: »

Has anyone out there got a v50 1.6d (05, 06, 07) with high mileage with no turbo / engine trouble???? Would be interesting to know.

I am running a 1.6 hdi 407 (same engine) with 130k mls (210kms) on its original turbo....but saying that it has been serviced on the button @ 9k mls.

I serviced another 407 a few months ago with 155k mls (250kms) and it was on its original turbo also.....tbh it was running fine with a dry engine.

These engines seem to survive once serviced on time and once the correct oil is used from day one.

road_high · 30-10-2013 12:24AM

Op I think after spending all that hold onto the damn thing and take your chances.

timmy4u2 · 30-10-2013 12:29AM

Row wrote: »

I am running a 1.6 hdi 407 (same engine) with 130k mls (210kms) on its original turbo....but saying that it has been serviced on the button @ 9k mls.

I serviced another 407 a few months ago with 155k mls (250kms) and it was on its original turbo also.....tbh it was running fine with a dry engine.

These engines seem to survive once serviced on time and once the correct oil is used from day one.

That is very true. Properly serviced and with realistic time span between servicing and the use of 5.30 low saps oil (Total is the only fully approved oil) these engines will give good service.
Big problem was that the manufacturers recommended 30k service intervals and did not emphasise The importance of the low saps oil.
These engines also benefit from higher revs so I would let it work harder through the gears
I think greyv50 that the gods might be with you as normally the turbo would be mush by now if the engine continued to throw out carbon.
Many of my extended family have cars with this engine from peugeots, 407 and partners to mini's and they are all now religiously using dipetane in the diesel to get a cleaner burn and reduce the chancesvof carbon build up.

2006 Volvo V50 1.6D Engine problems

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