This does not make sense.

 

I suggest posting a copy of the invoice here from the dealer quoting 20K. I would also have the vehicle towed to a second dealer for another opinion (independent of the one who repaired engine). If you can pinpoint that Dealer #1 reassembled the engine improperly, then that dealer would be on the financial hook.

I would say we escalate this to Volvo Corporate, but let's first try to get the puzzle pieces together beforehand to see if the issue solves itself.

 

Copy of invoice below. Unfortunately there is just one dealer in town and I would have to tow the vehicle at least 200 miles to take it to someone else. I may do it if I get the car back in my possession. Even then, I suspect the dealers would try to protect each other. I have sent out emails to Bill & Casey at Volvo corporate and updated my original case about oil consumption with customer service.

 

I had to read this a couple times. I have heard of spark plug problems on earlier SPA XC90's like yours that would break (that was an issue at one point) but the rest of this is very hard to understand. These are very solid engines despite the oil consumption problem in 2016's. Did the fuel pump module lean out the engine? That's the only thing I can think of. Running rich is safer actually. It would have to dump a lot of fuel to cause damage to an engine because it would have to wash the cylinder walls i thought? Do you have any pictures?

 

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures and the car is still at the dealer.

 

If you want to see what the damage is inside the engine you can take the foam cover off and unscrew the coils and spark plugs, then insert a camera scope and just look around and see if you see anything crazy in there. Milwaukee makes one now too, (haven't used it yet) I don't know if you guys already have their tools but they work with their M12 battery system I believe. If there is a way you could post those pictures see we can see it would be very helpful. See if the broken one will come out at all, but go nice and slow.

 

Car is still at the dealer. No pics yet.

 

I agree with Tech, does not make sense. This is my opinion. Defective fuel pump module, should be the PEM. If the PEM fails, the in tank fuel pump turns off. No fuel pressure going to the engine. Too much gas going into the engine may cause the plug ground tip to glow red and melt off. There was a service action to replace the plugs on 2016-2017? at the next scheduled service. Did your plugs get replaced at the 60K service? If you have no record of plug replacement this could be an issue. It will not be easy to get the dealer to confirm if they had to remove the plugs during the oil consumption test and/or piston/ring repair. You need to get Volvo corporate involved since the piston/rings were just completed.

 

I agree with Tech, does not make sense. This is my opinion. Defective fuel pump module, should be the PEM. If the PEM fails, the in tank fuel pump turns off. No fuel pressure going to the engine. Too much gas going into the engine may cause the plug ground tip to glow red and melt off. There was a service action to replace the plugs on 2016-2017? at the next scheduled service. Did your plugs get replaced at the 60K service? If you have no record of plug replacement this could be an issue. It will not be easy to get the dealer to confirm if they had to remove the plugs during the oil consumption test and/or piston/ring repair. You need to get Volvo corporate involved since the piston/rings were just completed.


View attachment 195368
View attachment 195369

I agree with Tech, does not make sense. This is my opinion. Defective fuel pump module, should be the PEM. If the PEM fails, the in tank fuel pump turns off. No fuel pressure going to the engine. Too much gas going into the engine may cause the plug ground tip to glow red and melt off. There was a service action to replace the plugs on 2016-2017? at the next scheduled service. Did your plugs get replaced at the 60K service? If you have no record of plug replacement this could be an issue. It will not be easy to get the dealer to confirm if they had to remove the plugs during the oil consumption test and/or piston/ring repair. You need to get Volvo corporate involved since the piston/rings were just completed.


View attachment 195368
View attachment 195369

According to my service records and the advisor, spark plugs were replaced at the 20K service. Waiting for corporate to respond. Thanks.

 

Wait.. the dealer that did the piston ring and injector job contacted you without you contacting them? That doesn't make sense. The dealer you towed it to would have been the ones looking at it and letting you know. Which dealer is it at?

Normally the dealer you towed it to would tell you what happened and what it needs and if it does need a new motor, would be happy to accept your $20k through no fault of their own. It's quite possible the service managers know one another, but by and large a dealer is not going to "stick up" for another dealer. They could give each other a heads up if they found a problem, but if it was just mechanical failure this wouldn't happen. We all want to be the good guys in a bad situation. I'm confused by the timeline of communication here.

 

Correct.. I was surprised as well to learn of a dealer refusing to get paid. I was on my way from FL to GA when the vehicle stopped. The dealer in GA that I towed the vehicle to said that I would pay a diagnosis fee of $200 and I left the vehicle with them first thing in the morning. I did tell them that the piston service was done at the original dealer (FL). I did not hear from the GA dealer where the car was but heard directly from the FL dealer that they are going to pick up the car and take it back home (FL). Reason given was that the GA dealer did not have the manpower. I did not have to pay the GA dealer.

 

It's quite possible they didn't have room to book a big job, many places are booked out over a month, but the communication still is odd to me. It could be just bad luck on the timing (in most cases it actually is), but the too much fuel blowing an engine doesn't make a lot of sense, but I just dabble with wrenches. I learn stuff all the time from my techs and service advisors. I'd say it warrants follow up and a solid explanation you're comfortable with.

 

"According to my service records and the advisor, spark plugs were replaced at the 20K service as part of service action S29842. They were not replaced at the 60K service. Waiting for corporate to respond. Thanks."
S29842 also states, replace the plugs at the next service scheduled replacement. If the dealer did the 60K service and did not replace the plugs, this may be in your favor.

 

Interesting.. No spark plug replacements were done at the 60K service. Valuable piece of info. Thanks.

 

Spark plugs are not part of the 20k service but if the service campaign to replace them was open when you had your 20k done, then that would explain why they were replaced then.

Do you have your invoice from the piston job? I always replaced spark plugs during that job. So they might have also been replaced then.

 

This is the invoice from the piston job. Don't see spark plugs mentioned.

 

Never seen a fuel pump module go bad on a spa car causing fuel dump. When we do piston jobs we replace spark plugs regardless since your already tearing an engine apart. Old spark plugs used to break but new updated units rarely break like the old plugs but have seen them. Sounds to me like plug was defective and caused engine damage. But even if plugs break your car will run on 3 cylinders.
Sounds to me like warranty should cover repairs right after a rebuild too close and mysterious

 

Never seen a fuel pump module go bad on a spa car causing fuel dump. When we do piston jobs we replace spark plugs regardless since your already tearing an engine apart. Old spark plugs used to break but new updated units rarely break like the old plugs but have seen them. Sounds to me like plug was defective and caused engine damage. But even if plugs break your car will run on 3 cylinders.
Sounds to me like warranty should cover repairs right after a rebuild too close and mysterious

It didn't sound like there is an active warranty on the car for this problem unless the OP had purchased something. It's really a matter of if the last servicing dealer screwed something up or not.

 

So sorry this is happening to you. Ya I would ask corporate and see what's going on. This doesn't make any sense. The piston service with rings should have a warranty. You shouldn't have to buy an extended warranty to cover that. That would be crazy!

 

@sunilabraham90

Just to be sure you have proper emails, send one to each person here and use both of Mr. Caseys Emails. I'm not sure what to really write up here, so I'll defer to your expertise or understanding of the matter.

Be sure to include: My Car had the Spark Plugs were changed out at 20,000 miles under the Volvo Service Action (insert service action if anyone here can provide). At X Miles, my car had the Piston and Ring Job Performed by X Dealer. At X miles Engine Failed and was towed to X Georgia Dealer, who then subsequently sent the car to X Florida Dealer for Repair. I believe either the engine was reassembled improperly or the spark plugs cracked, resulting in a $20,000 bill to repair my vehicle. Given the nature of the failure, I believe Volvo should be responsible for paying for this repair and bringing my vehicle back to a working state.

Scott Doering
sdoering@volvoforlife.com

Bill Casey
wcasey@volvoforlife.com
william.casey@volvocars.com

Anders Gustafasson
agustafsson@volvoforlife.com

 

@MyVolvoS60 , thank you. Email to agustafsson@volvoforlife.com was returned. Do you happen to have any other email address for Anders ?

 

@DFrantz and @Tech

I wrote something simple above. Question. If the Plugs were replaced under the Volvo Service Action at 20K, then OP wouldn't need plugs at 60k, correct? Plugs have a 60K lifespan. Dealer who redid the engine, could have assembled things back improperly, I presume.

Question: Even if a spark plug cracked and failed premature, wouldn't this be on Volvo? Also, if the engine wasn't assembled properly by the tech, this of course would fall onto Volvo, too?

How exactly does @sunilabraham90 isolate the exact failure? My only thought is to Take / Have Towed to another dealer for a Second Opinion via Working with Corporate?

 

@DFrantz and @Tech

I wrote something simple above. Question. If the Plugs were replaced under the Volvo Service Action at 20K, then OP wouldn't need plugs at 60k, correct? Plugs have a 60K lifespan. Dealer who redid the engine, could have assembled things back improperly, I presume.

Question: Even if a spark plug cracked and failed premature, wouldn't this be on Volvo? Also, if the engine wasn't assembled properly by the tech, this of course would fall onto Volvo, too?

How exactly does @sunilabraham90 isolate the exact failure? My only thought is to Take / Have Towed to another dealer for a Second Opinion via Working with Corporate?

Well nothing a tech does is going to be "on Volvo"... it would be on the dealer.

 

I dumped my 2016 XC90 T6 Inscription 117,000 miles with massive oil consumption. Volvo sucks and we will never buy another one. I have fought with them for almost three years over this issue. We have driven Volvos for 25 years and too bad they won't fix the obvious oil sucking piece of ****. 16 quarts per 10,000 miles. I will never have a nice thing to say about Volvo.

 

I dumped my 2016 XC90 T6 Inscription 117,000 miles with massive oil consumption. Volvo sucks and we will never buy another one. I have fought with them for almost three years over this issue. We have driven Volvos for 25 years and too bad they won't fix the obvious oil sucking piece of ****. 16 quarts per 10,000 miles. I will never have a nice thing to say about Volvo.

Sadly, you would have been covered under the Volvo Settlement paying for Engine / Pistons on owners who reported issue within 8 yrs / 100K. Hindsight is 20/20, and you'd never known that such a settlement would have occurred.

 

While yes, plugs are due every 60k so if done under the campaign at 20k, they should last until 80k. But if I remember correctly, the campaign said to then follow regular intervals (probably just to avoid confusion).

As for determining cause of the alleged spark plug failure, there really isn't a way to determine much.

 

Not sure if this will help or not. The "message us", you type in your questions/concerns, on the screen.
The dealer gets forwarded the e-mails or calls. So they can report their side of the story to Volvo.
Be polite and share your information with Volvo. Have the VIN/mileage and repair information available.

Volvo Car USA Support | Contact us | Help (custhelp.com)

 

Politeness is key. Easy to get mad over this, but he needs Volvo Corporate on his side to get issue resolved.

 

Maybe they could meet him halfway or something? I mean 20k is a lot of money..

 

I just looked up prices on Carvana and they quoted 17K for a my suv. So, it does not make sense to me to put $$ back into it and worry about about breakdown. I guess I will wait for Volvo's response and decide.

 

Yeah I wouldn't have high hopes for a car that hasn't seen a dealer since going out of warranty. They don't gain anything.

 

But it tarnishes the brand. The founders built the whole company based off of safety and reliability. Those are some of their defining principals?

 

I don't make the decisions. Just speaking of what I've seen.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. I've seen full goodwill. I've seen 50/50 splits. I've seen 1/3 splits with Volvo, the dealership and the customer. But all of them had skin in the game. Not "I bought this used from a non-Volvo dealer and never brought it in for any service work".

 

And let's just take a quasi optimistic outlook and say by some miracle Volvo feels generous to do 50%, that's still $10k for a new engine on a used car OP picked up 2nd hand from a Nissan Dealer and now has 103k.

I'd take 17k from Carvana, cut my losses, and suck it up as a lesson learned.

 

Just looking at the market, the vehicles don't seem to commend too high of prices. If either customers are having problems and they decide to dump it because the cost to repair is more than it's worth they might not be out of a lot more if they buy a newer model XC90. Idk I think the lesson here is to research the models and specific years of the car you are looking at see this doesn't happen to anyone else. Very sad. Because you can have the most reliable car in the world like Toyota or Volvo and if it's a bad year or whatever it can really cost you. And it sucks! This was painful to read. My stomach hurts for these people. Unfortunate stuff.

 

What's the cost of a used 2018 engine without the piston ring problem? Under $10k I would hope. An independent shop would likely do it cheaper. If you're out of warranty, I wouldn't expect much from Volvo. There should be other options available. I don't think I would put a new $20k engine in an $18k car with 100k+ miles. I would find a decent used one and drive the car until it wasn't worth fixing at all.

 

You run into several issues on the oil burner years.

1. You need to find an engine in good condition
2. You need to find an engine that's already had the rings replaced

Given that these cars are now 7 or 8 years old, it gets harder and harder to source an engine. I doubt seller could walk away with a replacement engine and install for anything less than $10k on an $18k car. It then boils down to math.

Is it better to take that $18k and find something else or sink in another $10k into the car.

 

Here are some more. 2018's are not much more. And that one has 170k which seems high but that actually isn't a lot for a Volvo. You should be able to put close to 600,000 miles on one before you have to do big repairs. That's what they do in places like Sweden.

 

Good sign for Volvo (or a bad sign for the car market??) that a 170k, 5-year old XC90 is still work $20k. I do believe that the SPA cars are built to a high standard and will go the distance.

 

There is another option start call junk yards for an engine and maybe you can find one that low miles and put that in. Find an independent repair shop and you might come out with 7k to 10k and still have a decent car. A good shop would know where to source some good engines too that the source would warranty for a while. Also a good shop could rebuild yours as long as it can be. Dealers service centers are lazy they don’t rebuild engines or transmissions only like to replace.

 

Dealers service centers are lazy they don’t rebuild engines or transmissions only like to replace.

It's not lazy. It's what's cost effective in many cases.

 

Unless you are building a engine up for a specific purpose, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to do that. Because what if their is other damage that could have been missed or whatever, and to take on all the liability? Why? It wouldn't make any sense if they are just putting in a stock engine...

 

Finally heard back from Volvo customer service . They refuse to assist. Here's their response. I responded by saying that the fuel injectors were replaced during the piston job. That could be the failure point Do I have any other options ?

Your request was reviewed by our highest level of management.
As much as we truly desire to resolve all of our customer's requests to their satisfaction, it is not possible to meet every expectation. We regret that in this instance, Volvo Car USA is not in a position to accommodate your request; Capital Volvo replaced piston and ring due to an oil consumption concern as Goodwill. The repair was completed and the vehicle was picked up and driven approximately 1000 miles after the repairs. The retailer in Georgia contacted Capital Volvo after the vehicle was towed to Macon, Georgia. The Technician performed the diagnoses and found that the Fuel Pump Module failed and caused the Fuel Injectors to stay activated which basically caused the internal engine to fill up with fuel and damaged the internal components of the engine. This failure is not linked to the previous repairs performed at Capital Volvo.

@Tech Does this make sense ? Fuel injectors were replaced, perhaps incorrectly ?