Is it true my Volvo has an Audi engine?

[misha]

Hi,

My V70 tdi has VW logo on the engine. I mean at the bottom of the oil pan.
They say it is from VW Transporter

It's a 5cyl.turbo diesel engine from Audi 100 C4 & A6 made from '94-'96.All Volvos with diesel engine have that 5 cyl Audi engine(D5).It's Audi's 2.5 tdi engine with Volvo's D5 logo.

[jimmy57]

The D5 badged 2001 and later are Volvo built engines. They quit the Audi/VW diesels as of end of 2000 model year.

[misha]

The D5 badged 2001 and later are Volvo built engines. They quit the Audi/VW diesels as of end of 2000 model year.

Yep....D5252T untill 2001 are from Audi & D5254T4 from 2001+ are developed by Volvo Car Corporation.

[quaspero_01]

Having worked on and owned a1995 Audi S6 (20 valve 5 cylinder turbo) and a number of 5 cylinder Volvos including a 98 V70 “S,” the two engines obviously have a common heritage. Although the Volvo is a side-winder and the older A6/S6 is longitudinal, both cars utilize cam bearings in the “valve cover” (if you can call it that) which is very unique. Offhand, I can’t think of another engine that utilizes that design, although I'm sure it's not unique to the Audi/Volvo. Incidentally, the Audi version was a fantastic, even legendary, engine and powered Audi’s Quattro to many world titles. I remember talked to a gentleman who raced 20-valve turbo Quattros for many years who claimed it to be the strongest engine perhaps ever made. Even with 35 to 40 psi of boost thrown at it, producing plus/minus six hundred horsepower for sprints, the turbo 20 valves not only held together, they didn’t require nearly as many, nor as extensive, rebuilds in a season as he had anticipated. He now races WRX’s because the old Quattro is no longer competitive, but said that if one boosted a WRX Subaru motor that much, it probably wouldn’t last a race. So the Volvo engine’s Audi heritage does nothing but say wondrous things about the 5-cylinder engine in the Volvo.
And yes, the mechanic who indicated that Volvo didn't make too many of their own engines had a point. The straight six diesel they offered years back was an Audi, and the V6 they offered in the early 80s was a Citroen/Maserati design that was also used in the "Back-to-the-Future" DeLorean, the Eagle Premier, various Renaults, the Citroen SM, as well as numerous Maseratis, including the BiTurbo. So Volvo does have a penchant for using other folks' engines, although their classic B-series, including the B30 straight six, and the overhead cam versions that followed were their own. The use of someone else's engines was not unique in the Swedish car industry. Their former rival, Saab, utilized the Ford V4, the Opel V6 and, at the bitter end, the twin-cam four made by GM. The "classic" Saab "B", "H," and 16 valve motors all originated from a Triumph-Standard design.

[joe_pinehill]

I remember an old Audi TV commercial from the 90's, guy with a heavy German accent saying "6 is too big, 4 is too small"

[jimmy57]

The V6 Peugeot-Renault-Volvo engine was not the same as the Citroen-Maserati engine.
The PRV v6 was a V8 that was quickly modded into a v6 when the Arab oil embargo of 1973 drove fuel prices up and struck fear into the hearts of consumers in Europe and around the world. The V8 heritage of the engine is why it is a 90 degree bank angle and shared rod journals resulting in the odd fire arrangement as it is known. Buick did this in the 60's so chopping a 90 degree v8 into a v6 had already been done. The 87 and later engines of this joint manufacturing agreement were still 90 degree bank angle but had splayed rod journals to get crank interval between TDC for all cylinders equalized.
Many engines of the same configuration and time period will have similar technologies. Audi and Volvo 5 cylinders were not related. Cam bearings being made of the parent valve cover casting was a new technology contemporary to the time these engines were being developed. Many other engines designed in that time used that. It was cheaper and better. Cracked cap connecting rods is another of these developments that appeared almost simultaneously on several engines in the 90's.

[rmmagow]

On Saturday I'm going to drive an 86 BMW 635 CSI with a 5 speed. I will probably buy this car and add it to the summer fleet. That being said, I plan to own Volvos for the rest of my life. A 6 speed, 2004~6 V70 R would be the ideal car for me. The BMW is one of those cars I promised myself I'd own one day. A 2002 Tii would be preferred but out of my range now. My neighbor's got a new Audi A7, nice car but too much electro nanny stuff. Then there's my 85 MB 300D, it will be my great granddaughter's car someday

[misha]

the V6 they offered in the early 80s was a Citroen/Maserati design that was also used in the "Back-to-the-Future" DeLorean, the Eagle Premier, various Renaults, the Citroen SM, as well as numerous Maseratis...

It wasn't a Citroen/Masserati V6...it was PRV V6(Peugeot,Renault,Volvo).

Since Citroen was in marriage with Masserati,in the era of the SM (in 70's),there is no chance that PRV engine was developed in that time.

True...Citroen & Masserati had a V6,but that wasn't in the 80's,it was in 70's,and PRV was born in 80's.

...Audi and Volvo 5 cylinders were not related...

I Agree...They have nothing in common.

[misha]

...Volvo does have a penchant for using other folks' engines, although their classic B-series, including the B30 straight six, and the overhead cam versions that followed were their own.

Volvo only used engines from Renault for their small series 300,400(1.4l,;1.6l & 1.8l) and for series 200 a 6 cylinder diesels from Audi. All other big engines from 2 litres and on were their own except a 2.5tdi from Audi in late 850 & s,v70 up to 2000.

In a late '90s Renault used Volvo's 5 cylinder petrol engine in their Safrane II...but that was the engine from early 850s up to '95.