Quick advice needed ASAP please.

[S1mon]

My Mum's 2.5 850 has just died so I need to find her a new car quickly. I'm hopefully going to view a '99 V70 2.5D this evening. It has 125k miles with FSH. It's just had a cambelt and tensioners but the diesel pump belt WASN'T changed. This is not the end of the world as that can be done. BUT, being a VW engine, all VWs I know of have water pumps made of cheese and the water pump wasn't changed as a matter of course when the belt was done. Should I be worried about that?? The cambelt change was done by a Volvo specialist local to the car (Volvotech) and he says he's never seen a water pump fail on a Volvo. That's all well and good but should this be viewed as a VW??

[partsforvolvos.com]

the water pump is not part of the service schedule, i have observed the pumps on these to be pretty reliable - unlike the t4/t5 transported diesel pumps you have probably heard of where the pump seal fails, letting the oil and water mix.

its one of those, where i might have checnged if it were just because the belt was already off but no other reason due to the mileage .

[S1mon]

Ok, thanks. Going to look at the car this evening. Have heard from some that the pumps are suspect and will smash the engine up if it fails, and heard from others that they're fine. Will see the car, make a decision and possibly run the risk!!

[T5frankie]

makes sure it revs cleanly, pulls well and no smoke, pump timing on these as to be checked/adjusted at every service and new belts if it goes outside -2.0 degrees

[S1mon]

Well, we bought it! It needs a bit of TLC but under the grime I think there's a good clean car! Runs quite nicely. Wouldn't say as refined as my D5, but I didn't expect it to be. Slightly smokey when cold but once warmed up, no smoke at all and pulls nicely. I'm going on holiday tomorrow, but when I get back ill give it a good service and a clean up and probably get the pump belt changed to be safe.

Thanks for the helpful replies guys!

[M-R-P]

Before and after pics if you can mate ;)

[S1mon]

Before and after pics if you can mate ;)

Naturally!!

[S1mon]

I also meant to say, one thing I did note is that it was hunting a little bit at idle for the 1st 2-3 mins after initial start up. No smoke, and runs clean at idle. Any ideas where to start looking for that??

[M-R-P]

Fuel filter and throttle body would be worth a look. Not sure how the EGR system works on these but the D5 lump suffers with clogged mixer pipe syndrome. Basically, take as much of the the inlet system off as you dare and clean it ;)

[partsforvolvos.com]

the most common problem i have observed that causes a scrap engine on the 2.5D is not changing the 5 bolts that retain the lower crank pulley on the timing belt- if not changed and torqued correctly they are sure to come loose resulting in the pulley adrift and major damage.
I even saw one where this occured during cranking(startup) and it broke the camshaft in 3!

[S1mon]

Fuel filter and throttle body would be worth a look. Not sure how the EGR system works on these but the D5 lump suffers with clogged mixer pipe syndrome. Basically, take as much of the the inlet system off as you dare and clean it ;)

I'll get on it when I'm back from holiday. My D5 was clogged to §§§§§§y and I saw a good difference clearing it through. Quite looking forward to getting my hands dirty on this one!


the most common problem i have observed that causes a scrap engine on the 2.5D is not changing the 5 bolts that retain the lower crank pulley on the timing belt- if not changed and torqued correctly they are sure to come loose resulting in the pulley adrift and major damage.
I even saw one where this occured during cranking(startup) and it broke the camshaft in 3!

Funny you should mention this, while it was for sale (end of Apr - beginning of May) the crank pulley did fail. Got away without damage and its been replaced with a new one by the above mentioned specialist along with new belt and tensioners.