Volvo xc90 d5 - died along the road and now won't start

Antoin

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7,280
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Portstewart
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E60 535d
Any ideas folks?
Was running low on diesel but not empty.
Died along the road and now won't start. Turns over but won't fire.
No way of reading codes but the management light is on.

Thanks,
Anton
 

mboyle290

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Maiden City
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'91 Corolla GTi
My s60 with the same engine did the same. Light just came on and it died. Never any bother after keeping it over 1/4 tank
 

Head Gasket

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Belfast
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Sender unit in the fuel tank is probably faulty. It sends the diesel from the passenger side to the drivers side where it gets picked up by the supply pump and fed to the high pressure pump. It's fairly common. When was the last time the fuel filter was changed?
 

Head Gasket

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Every car has its issues I suppose. When you get on top of the common ones associated with that Volvo, you will have a very comfortable and reliable motor.
 

Antoin

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Antoin
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E60 535d
My s60 with the same engine did the same. Light just came on and it died. Never any bother after keeping it over 1/4 tank

Hopefully that's he case. Did you have any bother getting it restarted?

Every car has its issues I suppose. When you get on top of the common ones associated with that Volvo, you will have a very comfortable and reliable motor.

Was going lovely. Hopefully it's an easy fix.
 

Head Gasket

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Belfast
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Volvo S60
Euro 3 D5 engines are relatively easy to work on compared to Euro 4 and above. A code scan would be helpful though just incase something else is to blame. The easiest way to find out is to put 10 or 15 litres of diesel into the tank, cycle the ignition 4 or 5 times for around 15 seconds each time without trying to start the car. You shoud hear the low pressure pump working in the tank. If the car starts after doing this then the sender unit is the most likely culprit. It wouldn't do any harm to replace the fuel filter with an OEM (Purflux) one.
 

Antoin

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Thank you gents, starting to put my mind at ease a bit more than I can get this sorted quickly and easily and cheaply.
 

Head Gasket

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Belfast
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Volvo S60
Brand new housing is about £160, but I've only ever heard of a couple of cases where the housing needed to be replaced, and these were as a result of overzealous attempts to replace the filter using incorrect tools. That's not to say that the housing can't develop other issues, but I just haven't seen one of these housings collapse
 

Antoin

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Gauge was showing 40miles to filling up. Is it likely the sender has just packed up cos of low fuel?
 

rupertfinch

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3,296
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Bangor
The thread gets weakened and rung and eventually collapses internally. It will pish diesel or at the very least weep like I did throughout xc90 ownership. When it goes, it will not restart. I’ve about £250 in my head for a new one.
But yours is a 2004 and those are the better ones, so hopefully something simple - they are a lovely place to sit.
 

Head Gasket

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Sender/transfer units will have to work harder/more often if the fuel level is always kept low. Keep the fuel level above 1/3 of a tank and you shouldn't have any issues. Providing the in tank pump isn't faulty, you could drive the Volvo for years with a faulty sender/transfer unit providing you keep the fuel level high enough.
 

Mark_C

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Brand new housing is about £160, but I've only ever heard of a couple of cases where the housing needed to be replaced, and these were as a result of overzealous attempts to replace the filter using incorrect tools. That's not to say that the housing can't develop other issues, but I just haven't seen one of these housings collapse

Its extremely common in the cars with heated filter, plastic goes brittle and it splits. The wife's did it at 230,000 miles. Think I paid £40 for a second hand housing.
Only just got the car so not sure I'll have to check the history.

Good start to Volvo ownership :sob:

Can you hear the fuel pump running?
 

Antoin

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Its extremely common in the cars with heated filter, plastic goes brittle and it splits. The wife's did it at 230,000 miles. Think I paid £40 for a second hand housing.


Can you hear the fuel pump running?

Was late and had to get the wife home so parked it up and didn't look much at it. Il have a listen tomorrow morning
 

Darren91

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3,725
My V70 of the same era is the only car which ever puts the fuel light off itself, common issue in them all.
 

Antoin

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Got it home.
Filled it half full. Cycled the ignition 4 or 5 times and then tried starting it with jump leads. Turns over quick enough but doesn't even want to try and start.
Couldn't hear the tank pump at all but then I'm not sure how loud it is or isn't to tell. Fuse for it is fine.
Perhaps the low fuel was the death knell for the pump 🤷‍♂️

Can I loosen off the fuel feed to the high pressure pump to see if it's getting diesel to diagnose whether it's the feed pump or not? I've no way of scanning it at the minute.
 

brendy7

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Yea crack the feed off and see if it's getting fuel up to the engine if not hit the tank a good slap sometimes that can kick the pump back into life for abit
 

Antoin

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Diesel filter housing is fine, no leaks or collapsing.

Used torque pro and it throws up code p0148 - fuel delivery.

Haven't had a chance to test the lift pump.
 

Antoin

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Antoin
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Yea crack the feed off and see if it's getting fuel up to the engine if not hit the tank a good slap sometimes that can kick the pump back into life for abit

Right took the low pressure feed off the high pressure pump and nothing coming out of it which would suggest it's a problem between tank and hp pump....lift pump or filter.
I don't hear a thing coming from the tank. Then again I've never heard a lift pump in any other car I've had?!
 
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