Please help me. I was driving my 2015 xc60 t5 engine with 99870 miles at 70 mph when I lost power. The power loss is consistent not intermittent I drove it on home and took it to a local Firestone because I did not want to drive it 60 miles or tow it 60 miles to the dealership if it was minor. IT WASN'T. Firestone though it was just the spark plugs, and changed them. No change. It is not firing on cyls 1,3,4. The Volvo dealership thinks that a piece of the spark plug in cyl 1 broke loose and gouged the wall of the cyl and now I don't have any compression. They want to do a $5700 valve job and they won't guarantee that they will not have to replace the engine but say they wont know until they tear it down. Also, I have been taking my car to the dealership for my maintenance and they never recommended I change the plugs and now they say they should have been changed at 70000. At this point they are not accepting any responsibility. I now have a 2 year old Volvo under 100000 miles that is dead. (I thought a good Volvo should last 250000 miles if you take care of it) I have done what I thought was right in order to take care of it by taking it to Volvo to care for it. I have not ignored any lights or sounds. What do I do??

 

Also note that although I am female, in my younger days I rebuilt an engine and took auto shop. I thought that I should know about cars and we had a great shop teacher. My brother kindly threw a rod on his Monza while I was in the class, so it became a class project. That being said, that was in the days of carburetors and V8s. Not real versed on turbo engines with fuel injection but I am not an idiot. Something does not feel right about this and I don't think it is my fault. I need some opinions and options.

 

The diagnostics process for this would start with scanning the OBD2 fault codes. I'm assuming the car has a check engine light illuminated? ("not firing" on 1,3,4 would suggest a P0301, P0303 and P0304 misfire codes. Normally those codes are set by failing plugs or coil packs (you have 5 of them, one per cylinder or the spark plugs). Its not uncommon for the coils to be replaced after 100K miles. (VW turbos eat coils like candy so this is not a Volvo specific problem). Since plugs go for $10 and coils go for $50 each, the common thing is to start with the plugs. Now that would not explain the compression problem - as a scored cylinder wall on #1 would not show up as a misfire on 3 or 4. The next diagnostic would be to run a compression test. The tech will warm up the engine (get all the rings and piston fuly expanded) then remove all the plugs and put a pressure gauge into the spark plug holes one at a time to measure pressure. A T5 should show 160 PSI or more in each with consistency across all (non turbos should be 180 or more). If the reading is low, then the tech will drop a few tsps of oil in the cylinder (to help seal the rings) and see if that bumps the compression and for how long. If the compression goes back up to 160 or more you have a cylinder wall or ring problem. If the compression stays the same with or without oil, you have a valve or head problem. Finally the question comes up with whether the head gasket or cylinder head is to blame. There you'd expect a loss of coolant or signs of HCs in the coolant or a mixing of coolant and oil. There's test kits for HCs in the coolant should the tech suspect the head gasket is losing the compression. If no head/gasket issues, then the likely cause is a burnt valve.

So my first question is how severe is the loss of power? any surging etc or does the turbo not seem to kick in? If your model has a turbo boost gauge does it seem to go as far up as normal? A simple air leak in the intake can tell the computer to dial back the boost to about 1/3 of normal so the last test may be to have the tech put a boost gauge on the engine.

Note if your dealer did an analysis of the engine, the service manager should be able to tell you the measurements from the compression test (including any leak down test results). If they scanned for OBD2 codes, they should also tell you what those codes are. I would not ok a $5000 repair without an explanation of what tests were done and what the results were.

Let us know how you make out.

PS - I know it sucks that the car is out of warranty on such a major repair, so you may want to also ask the service manager or Volvo NA if there are any service bulletins or known problem areas for cylinder wall problems on this model. I had an interesting experience with VW when my 2012 CC suddenly started reporting low oil pressure at 49,000 miles (still under warranty). After checking the sensor they dropped the oil pan and found metal bits clogging the oil pick up screen. The dealer got the ok to drop in a new long block ($9000) under warranty - which made me wonder if there was a known problem area for that engine year/serial range. I would have been totally floored if it happened just a few thousand miles later.

 

Did they actually perform a compression test? Or put a camera in the cylinders to check for damage?

There are no bulletins for this. If there were, that does not mean it is covered if it happened out of warranty anyway.

However, this sounds like a case for Goodwill assistance, especially since they never recommended the plugs at 75k. But if you performed the 75k service at the dealer, they should have been replaced. Either way, I would contact Volvo Customer Care.

 

The check engine light did not come on until I lost power. I was on the interstate going about 75 mph but when I had the power loss the car would only drive 60. The loss is consistent, there is no surging. When it first happened it felt like I had a tire going down. . . a bump bump bump - even spacing between bumps. I slowed down (of course) and then the car would no longer get above 60. It was like it feels when you have your gear shift in 4th and you are only going 30. . . it just wouldn't speed up ... no sounds or vibrations.

I have no idea what tests they did but I will find out first thing in the morning. They tell me they cannot determine if I need a new block until they tear the engine apart and I find that a little difficult to believe. I asked the service advisor questions he could not answer so he sent me to his service manager. The service manager could not answer my questions either. He said he was going to educate himself more about my problem and call me back today (which he did not do). That being said, I have been doing a lot of reading and although I may still have to get a valve job or new engine, I do know that they jumped to the valve job/ring job without ruling out other causes. From your comments I can tell they did not do their job. I hope I have enough info now to make them go back and do the proper diagnostics and then I can make a decision. I will also call Volvo National and see if I can get help from them.

Thank you guys for letting me pick your brain. Maybe if I go at them with the right questions, I might get some honesty.

 

Most service writers I have worked with are absolutely terrible at communicating a problem to a customer. I cringe when I hear them try to explain something technical. Most people don't know any better so they get away with it. I'm sure the service manager didn't know anything about your car. He is probably going to talk to the technician to find out what happened and what was done.

Was part of the spark plug Firestone put in broken off in the cylinder?

 

Its funny you should ask that. They told me at Volvo that one of the plugs was cracked. He tried to blame the problem on the new plugs that Firestone put in. The firestone plugs were only used for diagnostic. That car never hit the road with those plugs in it. It was towed to the dealership right after they were put in. The service writer actually said that the porcelain from the plug was in the cylinder. I don't think that could happen because all of the porcelain is above the nut portion of the plug. But to answer your question, no. I still had the original plugs when the problem started. The original plug in cyl 1 was missing a small piece of the electrode (maybe a 16th to an 8th of an inch) and it was burnt. I don't think the other plugs showed the same damage.

I really have a hard time believing that a small piece of a burnt electrode could take down a whole engine. . . . They really had better explain that to me before I do any repairs.

As far as the service writer and manager are concerned, I was very disappointed in their knowledge of how an engine works. I did point out to the service manager that he was supposed to know the answers to my questions as he is the one running a car service department....

 

My service writer started our conversation with "Who put those after market plugs in your car?" Then proceeded to blame Firestone. After I corrected him he said "and anyway, you should have changed the plugs at 70,000 miles" Then proceeded to blame me. Again I pointed out that my car was in for service at 72,000 and again at 79,000. At no time did my service advisor advise plugs. Then he had the absolute gaul to say "If you had been my customer, I would have recommended them" basically blaming the other service advisors. I trusted them to do the recommended services at the recommended time and I did not go behind them and double check. BIG MISTAKE!

 

Yeah sounds like a lot of this should have been handled differently. What dealer, if you don't mind me asking?

 

We have 2 dealers in the Nashville area. One is Tune in downtown and they are very small and their service manager is a jerk. I think they only have one mechanic also. So I started taking it to Daryl Waltrip Volvo in Franklin, TN. They are huge and very shorthanded. I have also found them to be a little shady.

 

The service manager is telling me that they checked cyl 4 compression and it was at 150. They did a leak test on cyl 1 and they said I had 70% leakdown. What does that tell you?


Also this is the XC60 with the T5 engine.

 

What is compression on all cylinders? And leakdown?
And where is the leakdown going?
Have they used an inspection camera?

 

i just had an almost exact incident happen last week with my 2015 XC60. Got word today they are claiming that after replacing a fuel injector which caused my car to do the same thing yours did, that I have a broken edge on valve at cylinder 3. Which is what they discovered after the cylinder wouldn't hold compression. I have an extended warranty that will not cover it because the tech said it broke sure to carbon buildup. My car has 106k miles. I have no idea what the next steps are or the cost. I'm doing as much research as possible to try and figure out what my options are.

I might also add that I have done every single service required, at the time due, at the Volvo dealer.

 

Good luck! Keep us informed please. I hope it won't be too expensive.

 

carbon build up is a known issue with direct injection engines as the fuel goes directly into the combustion chamber and doesn't "wash" the valves clean. This is well known to the VW/Audi community as the 2.0Ts will all need cleaning at somepoint after 100K miles. There are services now that will clean off the valves and ports - check out some of the vids on Youtube about the various cleaning methods. An indy shop near me charges about $600 for the service on a VW/Audi I-4.

 

By now I must have seen all the commercials about this issue but very few look convincing to me. Several brands show the process of application of their products but much less the results...I've tried the Canadian Terra Clean on EGR and injectors. But it hasn't done much. Maybe a second application is necessary...
I'm about to try Bardhal at a local garage who is equiped with the machine for the same kind of process. I'm trying to select serious products but I feel like no one is really square about the way to deal and diagnose this problem of carbon build up. The diagnostic is never clear and the results never guaranteed. That's why I'm interested in hearing positive methods and results..
Can you tell us more about the methods you have tried and that work?