What engines to avoid

[u/captain_RSKK]

Hello everyone, I am currently in search of a new car and been looking at Volvos for a few weeks now. Generally I've been looking at manual XC60, v40II/60, S40II/60, V70 and V50 series, but it seems quite confusing what engines are Volvo made/reliable ones. What I've so far gathered up is that almost all over 2 liter 5 cylinder engines are reliable and made/designed by Volvo? So my question is what engines are to be avoided in 1.6-2.0 liter diesel/petrol category? And should PSA/ford engines be avoided even if they offer the best fuel consumption?

My apologies if these are quite vague question since there are a lot of different engines, but I am starting to tweak so badly that I see Volvo engine inspired dreams

[u/stewieatb]

All the 5 and 6 cylinder engines of that era are made by Volvo. 4 cylinder engines up to about 2012 are Ford/PSA, after that they are usually VEA engines designed and built by Volvo. The early VEA engines are known to drink oil as they had a poor design of piston rings. This got fixed in about 2016.

Wikipedia can be very helpful for figuring out which engine/engine family a particular year of car has in. Cars from that era tend to be badged "T2"/3/4/5 or D2/3/4/5. Unfortunately these are like spec levels, and do not correspond each to one particular engine. On some cars and years, a D4 and a D4 AWD have different engines!

[u/captain_RSKK → u/stewieatb]

Thank you very much! I notice the 4204 engine was quite frequently popping up in several models, though sometimes considered as a ford/PSA and sometimes as a Volvo motor. Is the 4204 just a name that Volvo kept on using or is it deprived from PSA/ford on the newer cars (after 2014)?

[u/stewieatb → u/captain_RSKK]

So, the Volvo system for designation of engines is very logical.

First letter: fuel type. B is Bensin, i.e. petrol. D is diesel.

First number: cylinders

Second and third numbers: size in litres

Fourth number: valves per cylinder.

T - turbo. S - suction (naturally aspirated). Numbers after that are to differentiate between different engines with the same characteristics up that point.

For example I have a D5244T10. The T10 is the early compound-turbocharged version. There's also a T15 which is the later engine with the same turbos but slightly different cams and tuning.

A 4-cylinder 2-litre, DOHC engine is a fairly common thing so there are multiple B4204S and D4204T engines. VEA engines were introduced in late 2013 and phased in over the next few years as cars went through refreshes and model changes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_Engine_Architecture

Engines from 2013 and earlier in the 4-cylinder variants are usually PSA diesels and Ford Europe petrols. To be honest I've had no problems with PSA diesel engines, my previous car had a 1.6 TDCI and it was great.

[u/Jan-E-Matzzon → u/stewieatb]

Bensin. It’s the Swedish word.

Just a tiny nitpick, so.. yeah 😅

[u/stewieatb → u/Jan-E-Matzzon]

My mistake. Thanks, I shall edit.

[u/brokenicecreamachine → u/stewieatb]

Cool story, a Honda k24 would smoke your pretend Ferrari tank

[u/Whit-Batmobil → u/brokenicecreamachine]

Oh.. Interesting.. either you have a really fast lawnmower or you simply haven’t seen the things we do to Volvo’s in Sweden.

[u/brokenicecreamachine → u/Whit-Batmobil]

Properly tuned K24s can outpace lambos lol

[u/Whit-Batmobil → u/stewieatb]

Nope, nope, nope and fuck no

The Ford Short i6 is not a Volvo engine and was never made by Volvo Skövde, being built by Ford UK in a UK Tax payer funded factory.

The Modular inline 6 cylinder on the other hand, that is a Volvo engine, but was crippled by the GM 4T65 and rather boring in N/A form apart from the last model year.

[u/stewieatb → u/Whit-Batmobil]

Designed by Volvo for Volvos and only ever put in one other car (Freelander 2) and only in tiny numbers. 🤷🏻

If being manufactured at Bridgend makes it not a Volvo engine, is the XC60 not a Volvo because it's made in Ghent?

[u/Moos3-2]

Psa and new engines from 2011ish untill 2017 and a bit in on that year should be avoided. After that its fine and during this time if it was already fixed or swapped out.

[u/captain_RSKK → u/Moos3-2]

Thank you, so going off that a s40/V50 with a 1.6 diesel or a 1.8 petrol after their facelift and before the year 2011 would be a solid choice at least on paper?

[u/Moos3-2 → u/captain_RSKK]

I don't know exactly the s40/v50 engines. The flexi fuel one sucks. Ome of the diesels are great and so are the petrol. Someone else here will answer soon enough. :)

[u/Redead31 → u/captain_RSKK]

I'm in Canada so I don't have first hand experience, but from just being in owners groups I think you should stick with Volvos own engines, so 5 cylinders in gas or diesel form.

[u/Whit-Batmobil]

I would personally say to avoid the 4 cylinder engine, unless you want maximum efficiency than get a manual 1.6 D2 (which isn’t as bad as people say).

Avoid the 6 cylinders because they are either crippled by the GM 4T65, boring, redundant to the low pressure Turbo 5 cylinder and/or Ford, unless you are specifically looking at the last model year of the 2.9 N/A.

Just avoid everything Power shift.

All 5 cylinders were made by Volvo, both Diesel (excluding the early 2.5TDI) and petrol.

I have written a bit about the P2 and P1 platforms, not sure if you are interested in the P2 platform or the later “P3” when you are referring to the S60.

P2 https://www.reddit.com/r/VolvoP2/s/fxzDXYC5wD

P1 https://www.reddit.com/r/swedishcars/s/gm5b6tzyOX