I own a XC90 T6 Momentum since December 2015. Now it has 111K miles on it.
During a recent trip, the engine started shaking and showed "Engine System Reduced Performance" alert (Turtle sign). We exited the freeway and parked it right away. We ended up towed it to dealer.

After diagnose, the dealer told me a spark plug blew out and at least 2 pistons came apart, probably broken piston rings. They recommended to replace the engine. The estimate is $21,000 total.

I filed a complaint with Volvo Customer Care. They contacted the dealer and the dealer provided the pictures as well as all my service records. The dealer called me yesterday and said Volvo is NOT going to do anything.

I am the original owner and all the services have been completed at Volvo dealer. The spark plugs were replaced at 60k service.

I owned 3 Volvos including this one. I have 3 close friends and relatives bought the new XC90 because of me.

It's a shame that the car dead at only 111K miles. I did everything I could as a owner to take care of this car but it fail on me. I am feeling nothing but desperate.

What options do I have now? It's a very tough situation to me and my family. We just can't afford to buy another family SUV.

Does anyone know the email/phone number to contact at Volvo? A company called Carbrain offered me $6500 to buy my car as is. Should I take it?




Error message

From dealership

 

Not sure if complaining to Volvo for a car with 111K miles - which is more than double the warranty will generate any good will. At this point you options would be to a) sell the car - KBB.COM will estimate the value for good condition but you'd need to subtract the cost to repair b) have the dealer replace the block c) use a site like car-part.com to source a used replacement engine and have either the dealer or an indy install the used motor. Option C may be most cost effective. Also I'm not sure what you meant by "two pistons came apart" was there more than one plug that burnt? Did the dealer do a compression test or a bore scope to see if there was scoring on the piston walls to suggest the rings are damaged or the piston crown itself was damaged? Is the car driveable now assuming the were able to install a new plug? Note, this sounds similar to what others have gone through where their cars were consuming oil due to ring issues and had to replace the pistons and rings at a typical cost of $5000. If the car is driveable you may want to consider taking it to another shop for a second option and to see if a rebuild is feasible.

 

So sorry you're having to deal with this.

I second the suggestion to get a second opinion from a shop other than the dealer. It may be possible to rebuild or source a used engine for much less than $21k.

 

My 2016 XC90 with 80K miles needs engine replaced for 20K - per Dealer because the fuel pump control failed and flooded the engine. Recently had piston rings replaced and fuel injectors replaced at dealer. Volvo corporate refuses to cover anything saying that it has nothing to do with the repair. What are my options ?

 

what's going on with your engine now? is it dead or does it run etc? Can the shop get a compression reading at all? I think your options are the same as noted above - Swap in a used engine (car-part.com can give you an idea of the cost to find a used replacement long block). Have a shop rebuild the engine - it really depends on what is damaged. Not sure what happened when the engine was flooded. Did it hydro-lock and blow out a piston or did it wash the oil off and damage the cylinder walls? final option sell the car for street value minus the estimated cost to repair (ie lowest cost option is likely find a used engine and swap it in.).

 

Had the piston rings replaced due to oil consumption and was driving on the highway when the turtle sign with reduced performance sign came on and the car does not start any longer. They also replaced the 4 fuel injectors as part of piston work.
Less than 1000 miles from the piston repair on first long tip.

Dealer diagnosis " Engine damaged by fuel - fuel pump module defective causing fuel to dump into engine. Fuel pressure sensor defective"
Does it make sense that a faulty fuel pump floods engine with fuel ? I am thinking bad repair job.

 

So sorry to hear this. A faulty injector can definitely flood a cylinder. I've had that happen in a BMW V8 engine, but that engine shut down that cylinder and injector when it detected the issue, which saved that engine and resulted in the whole thing being an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe. It concerns me that in the Volvo engine a bad fuel pump can flood the entire engine with fuel such that it ruins the engine and the computers don't detect this issue. If the fuel pressure sensor is defective, surely that should show up in a diagnostic code earlier before the fuel pump went bad.

I hope you're able to get some help with resolution. Assuming that mileage isn't crazy high (which I wouldn't expect on a 2016), maybe worth turning to Consumer Reports, Twitter, or other means to incentivize Volvo to engage more productively.

 

I suggest hiring a Lawyer this is a very common occurrence with this model year of XC 90. Volvo has not made it very well-known but they do a compression test to verify the compression on these and if it fails they do replace those piston rings but that’s up to 100,000 miles there is several class action lawsuits against Volvo due to this sort of thing currently.

 

Maybe both us can start a class action lawsuit

please contact me.

if you already have resolved issue please let me so I can plan for my car repairs.

thanks.

 

I had a similar experience one year ago. My 16 xc90 had under 60K miles. Total engine loss. Blown head gasket. Heat damage to auxiliary systems. I was driving under normal conditions. Insurance coverages do not apply to these losses, and I had a similar bill to buy and install a new engine. Total over $25K. The response from Volvo was, "cannot help you at this time." I am happy to join efforts with anyone seeking a resolution as a group. I was a brand guy for decades. I won't touch one now.

 

This is the world we live in, I guess. The XC is a very complex vehicle in terms of components in space, but piston rings cost a dollar. It takes a lot of time to take one apart and put one together, but you would not need a lot of expertise at all to replace that engine, and in fact you wouldn't need much expertise to repair the engine you have, depending on what was damaged.

So I would think $2100 would be a lot more fair than $21,000, but that's just the way things get priced now. A laboror is $1000 a day, but in this case it's more like $5,000 a day.

They certainly aren't going to help you after 9 years and 111,000 miles, but I understand it's disappointing.

 

Yes, what we live in. I think your point is well taken. The burr in my bathrobe is that it does not take much expertise to sell this brand nor blow up the engine, and that was 7 years 55k miles. There is so much redundancy in the engine - super turbofan. So convenient that it is the $1 piston ring that just so happens to fall in between total engine failure (without collision, of course), manufacturer's warranty, the Volvo sales contract, and owner's insurance. No one is to blame. It just happened to me once (and fewer than the number on the actuary table).