Mercedes engine in Volvo?

You would be better off putting a 120-150 bhp VW four cylinder diesel engine into the 145. It would be better matched to the car and cheaper than the one in a Mercedes Sprinter van. However to get this sort of power and usability from a Mercedes diesel you would need one which weighed a bit more than the VW engine and would probably upset the balance of the car. You could also run into trouble with the gearbox/bellhousing/propshaft set-up. Better to buy a 240 with VW six-cylinder engine and put it into the 145. You could use the 740 turbo version or the 760/940 turbo with intercooler version complete with the ZF autobox.

Best of luck with whichever way you do it, Peter.

120-150 BHP? How? I know a guy with a number of Rabbits with that motor, according to him it's a whopping 55 bhp, and after riding in it I don't doubt it. The car is about 1000 lbs less than a 140 and can hardly maintain 50 mph up an incline. Or are you referring to the modern (and excellent) turbodiesel used in the recent Golf TDi's?

The 6 is rather long and quite heavy, not to mention the oiling problems in the cylinder head that lead to premature camshaft wear. Even the turbo intercooled version is only around 130hp, the N/A is 88. I'm not sure which would be easier, that or the Mercedes, but I do know that Mercedes has made some very good Diesel engines that are well known for being very long lived, VW on the other hand has made some rather poor Diesels, the 6 that Volvo used has an almost universal reputation of being a turd, just try to sell a Volvo with that motor in it, they go for half of less the price of a gasoline model.

He almost certainly means a new TDI (more then likely a Pumpe-Duese TDI too) - I'm a huge VW fan (as well as a Volvo fan) and their old diesel motors can barely move a VW, let alone a big Volvo (two people I work with own naturally aspirated 1.6L VW diesels........... their cars are scary slow to drive in - you basically have to drive them with the throttle as an on/off switch). If you had a NA diesel, with automatic and air-con, VW used to include a warning sticker about the lack of power - much like the airbag warning stickers of this generation of cars.

That would make sense, perhaps he's under the impression that the inline 6 Volvo used in the 200 and 700 series Diesel cars has something in common with the modern VW Diesel engines aside from the logo stamped on the block and the type of fuel. The difference between the old 1980's generation and the modern generation is like night and day.

Mine is a modern VW six diesel with turbo and intercooler and has been tuned to produce 145 bhp and an awful lot more torque than it had before tuning. Yes it is a mechanically fuelled diesel and yes they can produce gains as good as an electronically tuned diesel provided you know what you are doing or have a tame expert.

Cheers, Peter.

The more modern VW diesel engines pale in comparison to just about every other diesel available out there (including some available in the US of A). Spendy special tools, VW quality, no thanks. Not to mention noisy. I'll take a Volvo D5 any day.

As for the original subject, there are some Mercedes car diesels that would probably be a good match (the turbo five out of a W123 body comes to mind). The problem with a 140 is that the engine compartment was never designed to fit a long or heavy motor (unlike the 200 series chassis).. that's what the 164 was for.

If space is a problem, an XD2S or XD3T out of a Peugeot 505 would be an excellent choice. They're 2.3L and 2.5L, respectively, four cylinder turbo diesel motors producing about 80hp and 100hp respectively. Compact, powerful, durable, and ancient. Probably as good a fit as any in a 140 engine bay.

If a VW motor were a requirement, there's always the five banger D20 (and presumably the D20T) that Volvo used in some of their non-USA models --

2.0L five cylinder.. more apt to fit in a 140. Why anyone would go with such a clunker is a bit beyond me tho.

One of the problems with going with a more modern engine is that most of these engines were only used in FWD applications. In the case of the D5, this is less of a concern as you can still find RWD transmissions (from the 960) to mate up to it. The older motors (OM617, XD2S/XD3T, D20, etc) benefit from being used (almost?) exclusively in RWD cars.

-- alex

I think we were talking about Diesels available in North America, there's not much to choose from aside from big trucks, but the VW TDI is arguably one of the best available in a passenger car here. I'd love test drive a Volvo with a D5, I've heard good things about them but they're simply not available, never seen so much as a picture under the hood of one.

We had a flood of such nasty hack job Diesels back in the arealy 80's that unfortunatly they got a very bad reputation in general, the Golf TDI is helping to change that stereotype but it'll still take a long time for the general population to start accepting Diesel passenger cars.

The original poster is in .nl, with access to a wide variety of diesels. In the US, all of the diesels I mentioned were available (except the D5). The new TDIs I've heard out here have been somewhat noisier than I expected.

The *new* TDIs also require some frighteningly expensive tools to do the timing belts.. not to mention the dubious VW build quality (the older diesels were probably fairly reliable because VW hadn't stuck electronic engine management on them). It's pretty easy to label something the best when there's no competition. Sure MBZ may still be importing diesels, but they don't compete with the VW models at all.

There were some lousy diesels in the 80s (GM, BMW, and VW all laid some big stinkers) , but there were some great engines that never really got a chance. The Peugeot motors (XD2S, XD3T), the Nissan LD28 (of which we never got the turbo version), the Isuzu car motors, etc never caught on.

If you've never seen a picture of a D5 (it looks pretty much like any other white block), use Google.

-- alex

Pale in comparison? So why are they touted as some of the worlds most advanced diesels? My 99.5 Golf is catching up on our 93 Volvo in Kms (120k vs 160k), and it's had no engine problems - the VW quality problems affected the gasoline engines, and electric window regulators.... Diesels were unaffected, except by poor quality MAF sensors, this was a supplier problem, however.

There are a lot of V-dub drivers at work, no >

No wonder you Americans don't like diesel cars if they only put the non-turbo charged versions in the cars you buy. The one I am referring to is

1.9 Litres with Pump-Duse fuelling, which is about the latest offering from VW/Audi. They also produce a very good V6 diesel as well as a monstrous 5 litre V10 diesel for the Touareg and Phaeton vehicles. I think Audi use a V8 diesel as well. All of these engines make a few of your American diesels look sick, as do the BMW offerings in 4, 6 and v8 cylinder types. Best of all the European diesel engines (except for some Italian Marine engines) is the V16, four turbo, 16 Litre Volvo FH16 with 685 bhp and 2200lbsft torque at 1250 rpm.

Cheers, Peter.

The 1.9L 100Hp PD engine is pretty much the only diesel engine sold in a Canadian passenger car right now... My friend has one in his Jetta, it's a very nice and QUIET motor - plenty of around town power.

Where does Volvo use that V16? Trucks or for their Penta marine engines?

No, check out the Passat. It has the 2.0 Pump-Duse fuelling engine that Peter mentions. 134 hp and 247 lb-ft! I wouldn't buy a new Golf, etc. with the older 1.9, I'll bet they will get the new motor sooner rather than later.

At the top end of the price range, the Mercedes E class sedan is also available in diesel - the E320CDI. 201 hp and 369 lb-ft!

Also the V10 diesel is available in the Touareg - although that may not be considered a passenger car.

It is their latest tractor unit Rob. You can get sixteenth scale models from the Volvo accessory shop. I would love to get one with a maximum size box trailer and turn it into a mobile house!! What a caravan unit that would make. I don't know why they restrict the hp on their exports to the North American continent, it seems such a ridiculous thing to do.