Which Japanese Engine (With Gearbox) Can Fit To Volvo S40 Turbo Diesel And Convert It To Automatic Transmission?

Sampath Gunasekera · May 23, 2012

Dear Experts,

We have a Volvo S40 1.9 Turbo Diesel (Manual Transmission) imported brand new in year 2000 under permit scheme.

After first 30,000km done , it gave some engine problems and agent Swedish Trading replaced a new engine at free of cost under warranty as it was a manufacturing fault. (Heard that agent replaced around 8 engines under warranty scheme due to same problem.) However after using new engine for 70,000km, we had to do overhaul the engine. After 45,000km from the engine overhaul, now we are getting various problems.

Now we are looking avenues for fixing a Japanese engine with a gear box and convert it to Automatic transmission.

My questions are,

(1) Is it possible to fix any good Japanese Engine (Eg. Toyota, Nissan) with Automatic transmission gear box?

(2) What are the suitable Japanese engine models?

(3) Any disadvantages can hope in future?

(4) Can you suggest any good place to get this service?

Details of the vehicle are as follows.

Make and model: Volovo S40

YOM: Late 2000

Engine Capacity: 1.9 (1870CC) Turbo Diesel

Transmission : Manual (5 forward)

Unladen Weight: 1325kg

Thanks in advance.

Supra_Natural · May 23, 2012

Question, did you use Super diesel throughout? Or did you do what most people do and assume normal diesel is "good enough"? And was the overhaul done by someone who knew Volvo engines using Volvo genuine parts or was it done by a maka baas with parts that "would fit"... There could be so many reasons for the issues

Anyway, the best advice would be to sell the car and go for a Jap diesel. The conversion will be a LOT of time and effort and honestly it doesn't seem to be worth the trouble. Mounts, electronics, wiring will all have to be changed. Even if everything is done there's still no certainty that it will be trouble free.

So you are definitely better off selling and going for a japanese car.

Sampath Gunasekera · May 23, 2012

Question, did you use Super diesel throughout? Or did you do what most people do and assume normal diesel is "good enough"? And was the overhaul done by someone who knew Volvo engines using Volvo genuine parts or was it done by a maka baas with parts that "would fit"... There could be so many reasons for the issues

Anyway, the best advice would be to sell the car and go for a Jap diesel. The conversion will be a LOT of time and effort and honestly it doesn't seem to be worth the trouble. Mounts, electronics, wiring will all have to be changed. Even if everything is done there's still no certainty that it will be trouble free.

So you are definitely better off selling and going for a Japanese car.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, we used Super Diesel only. Also engine overhaul done by the agent Swidish Trading.

Supra_Natural · May 23, 2012

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, we used Super Diesel only. Also engine overhaul done by the agent Swidish Trading.

In that case its definitely a flaw with the model itself. Surprising really because even here in SL several S40 diesels have been used trouble free for awhile. Anyway machan I think its best that you dispose of the thing. Its already 12 years old so everything from the trim to the electrics will be aging by now. All of that will cause problems later, especially if you make changes to the harness when fixing a different engine and gearbox.

So once again overall I think its best to just sell the thing and be done with it.

harshansenadhir · May 23, 2012

Second Supra's suggestion. The conversions from one genre to another nowwadays is very tricky and troublesome. It's not something like you convert Petrol Montero to Diesel, using a kit delkanda/Kurunegala fellows are selling.

The electronics used are inter connected (one circuit feeds input to another and so on) and this might demand a complete replacement of engine and in-dash harness and even if you do so, the indicators, gagues will not work properly. However, still such conversions are being done at the compromise of proper working gauge/instrument cluster.

JadeyBlitzen · May 23, 2012

I totally agree with supra and harshan. The cars old, its not worth much, the cost of conversion is relatively massive, and resale value will go down further.

BUT the thing about some european cars, namely volvo, is sometimes they use Jap gearboxes. like Aisin. I don't know about the gearbox in your car, but there's a chance it might be compatible with a jap engine. Its still quite a bit of work finding a match even if its compatible. If you find an engine with a mechanical pump you'll be able to keep most of the electronics unchanged. heck you might even find an automatic box that's similar. not trying to send you on a wild goose chase. just saying there's a possibility.

Clark's son · May 23, 2012

Please don't destroy the car,

Sell it to a person who'll take care of it and buy a japanese as supra said.

You'll be able to go for a ce110 for the price or may be a carina diesel, or bluebird,

But from the japs I'd go for the Galant

But if you hate the ugly and common looks of the japs (but the galant looks reasonably good)

you can go for an audi A4 or VW Passat TDi.

Unlike volvo they are of good quality and i've seen examples with more than 200 000km on the clock without major repair.

And if you did only 145000km for 12yrs you could go for a petrol as the maintainance of an old petrol is cheaper

Sampath Gunasekera · May 24, 2012

Thanks friends for your valuable ideas. Now it is very clear to me and I gave up my idea. Let it be as it is and will sell after some times. Thanks a lot again.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Sampath Gunasekera

Crosswind · May 24, 2012

Machan just my two cents.... did u consider sourcing a used Volvo engine from the UK? It may not be the cheapest option but if you have some sentimental value for the vehicle, you may want to try that without creating a frankenstein out of your car. You might be able to get help from Harris of AL for that.

You also mentioned that you plan to convert it to an Auto tranny... Any specific reason for that?

Sampath Gunasekera · May 24, 2012

Machan just my two cents.... did u consider sourcing a used Volvo engine from the UK? It may not be the cheapest option but if you have some sentimental value for the vehicle, you may want to try that without creating a frankenstein out of your car. You might be able to get help from Harris of AL for that.

You also mentioned that you plan to convert it to an Auto tranny... Any specific reason for that?

Thanks for the information Machan. We are looking for that option too. I will contact him. Of course she is full of sentimental value.

I just thought because my uncle (owner) now prefers A/T than M/T and now he use this as his second car. But I love to drive this car in M/T. Superb pick up and excellent fuel economy. This cost us around Rs.2.2 million under permit scheme in 2000 and we ordered with a lot of added features.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Sampath Gunasekera

The Don · May 24, 2012

Thanks for the information Machan. We are looking for that option too. I will contact him. Of course she is full of sentimental value.

I just thought because my uncle (owner) now prefers A/T than M/T and now he use this as his second car. But I love to drive this car in M/T. Superb pick up and excellent fuel economy. This cost us around Rs.2.2 million under permit scheme in 2000 and we ordered with a lot of added features.

Do you know the specific reasons as to why an overhaul was needed at only 70K kms? Did the vehicle start burning oil?

rangerover · May 24, 2012

If i am not mistaken the Volvo s40 has a few components common with mitsubishi models, as the company was owned by mitsu during the time the car was produced. The chassis of the s40 is the same as the Mitsubishi carisma

jdnet · May 24, 2012

I might be lost here, but, what exactly are the problems you have with the car right now?

Edited May 24, 2012 by jdnet

The Stig · May 25, 2012

Mmmm are you sure you cant just polish the piston heads, replace the piston rings etc and get away with it ?

Devinda_Z · September 7, 2013

Looks like someone else had the same idea !

http://autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=128812

Edited September 7, 2013 by Devinda_Z

Crosswind · September 8, 2013

Looks like someone else had the same idea !
http://autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=128812

I checked out that car for a friend of mine over a year ago. It was up for sale even at that time.

Unfortunately the conversion job is not as perfect as the owner claims it to be

Sampath Gunasekera · May 12, 2016

Almost 4 years passed after I opened this thread.

We wanted to stay her with Volvo Engine but no positive end can be seen. Car is idle in the garage over an one year period.

We tried for a used Volvo engine but that is also not seems happy and also we don't have any reliability on that engine model as already two units of engine wasted our time and money.

Also maintain this Volvo engine is not very easy, special technical people, special technical places, and special technical tools and cost also not worth.

My uncle has different mind on this car than what others think on it. He has only sentimental value on this vehicle.

He doesn't think about second hand value of the car. (Also it is no point for thinking on second hand value of Volvo car market here as value is lower than used Maruti Alto.)My uncle has a brand new diesel Hyndai Santafe and brand new Nissan Bluebird Sylphy at home other than this. But he want his old pride ride back.

This Volvo engine type is a cancer for years (This is common failure of late S40 diesels of this model here). So we don't worry on removing a body part and save a life. Hence we decided to install a Japanese engine and convert it to auto transmission. It may be a do or die decision, but my uncle wish to spend few hundred thousand rupees than keeping her idle inside the garage for years. Also my uncle does not wish to sell the car to some other person with such troublesome engine and make the buyer in difficulty.

So, guys please forget about secondhand values and other points against conversion, but please help me make success this project as much as possible. We wish to install complete set of Japanese engine with automatic transmission system.

I have few questions to be sorted out and I am gathering information now.

(1) My mechanic suggest Toyota 2C turbo engine or 3C engine. And he requested about two months period for the job as many small things need to carry out.

I have seen similar project done with a 2C engine and it was for sale on Autolanka few years back.

Originally it is like this.(This is not our car but similar one)

not%20ours%20volvo_zps7mmiyafu.jpg

Well known Volvo technician spoke to us and they recently installed a 3C engine to a Jaguar.

What are the advantages over 3C engine over 2C engine?

(2) When selecting another brand engine model, what are the criteria we should check/think?

(3) What are the possible common problems/failures may appear later (if someone has any previous experience)

So experts looking for your comments.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Sampath Gunasekera

Supra_Natural · May 12, 2016

Almost 4 years passed after I opened this thread.
We wanted to stay her with Volvo Engine but no positive end can be seen. Car is idle in the garage over an one year period.

We tried for a used Volvo engine but that is also not seems happy and also we don't have any reliability on that engine model as already two units of engine wasted our time and money.

Also maintain this Volvo engine is not very easy, special technical people, special technical places, and special technical tools and cost also not worth.

My uncle has different mind on this car than what others think on it. He has only sentimental value on this vehicle.

He doesn't think about second hand value of the car. (Also it is no point for thinking on second hand value of Volvo car market here as value is lower than used Maruti Alto.)My uncle has a brand new diesel Hyndai Santafe and brand new Nissan Bluebird Sylphy at home other than this. But he want his old pride ride back.

This Volvo engine type is a cancer for years (This is common failure of late S40 diesels of this model here). So we don't worry on removing a body part and save a life. Hence we decided to install a Japanese engine and convert it to auto transmission. It may be a do or die decision, but my uncle wish to spend few hundred thousand rupees than keeping her idle inside the garage for years. Also my uncle does not wish to sell the car to some other person with such troublesome engine and make the buyer in difficulty.

So, guys please forget about secondhand values and other points against conversion, but please help me make success this project as much as possible. We wish to install complete set of Japanese engine with automatic transmission system.

I have few questions to be sorted out and I am gathering information now.

(1) My mechanic suggest Toyota 2C turbo engine or 3C engine. And he requested about two months period for the job as many small things need to carry out.

I have seen similar project done with a 2C engine and it was for sale on Autolanka few years back.

Originally it is like this.(This is not our car but similar one)

Well known Volvo technician spoke to us and they recently installed a 3C engine to a Jaguar.

What are the advantages over 3C engine over 2C engine?

(2) When selecting another brand engine model, what are the criteria we should check/think?

(3) What are the possible common problems/failures may appear later (if someone has any previous experience)

So experts looking for your comments.

So many things are wrong with that sentence I've highlighted, don't know where to begin. Who is this "well known Volvo technician"? I would like to personally set him on fire.

As for the rest of your question, just re-read what we said back when you first asked this question. The answers are still the same.

In Sum: Dropping a bloody toyota diesel will ruin the car so don't. It will also give you endless headaches due to incompatible systems that won't work properly. Either import a used volvo engine (or even a complete car) from the UK (quite a few sources do that now) or just disclose the information and sell the car cheap to someone who will sort it out.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Supra_Natural

RViji · May 12, 2016

The cost of a used S40 engine from Europe is higher than cost of Jap conversion?

Now that you have made your mind,still I would like to point out the disadvantages of Jap.

1.Vibration:mounts may be damaged often if you drive on highway etc.The Jap engine has never been tested on Volvo chassis

2.power may be too less or too much:drive shaft,Gearbox damage

3.electronics issues:even if everything works fine,you will still have a fully lit dashboard errors

4.Abs,instrument panel computers may not work or even be damaged

In my case,I would fit a original Volvo engine and sell after a while

Sampath Gunasekera · May 12, 2016

Thanks guys.

So Don is helping me to sort out this problem and hope find a good engine from UK. Had a long discussion with Don little while ago.

First of all we had to sorted out the engine number code. In this car all documents including shipping documents engine code starts with "B".

But it should be "D". According to the wiki. (B for Bensin (petrol/gasoline engines) or D for diesel engines for Volvo engine codes) . So physically it it should be "D" and the mistake done by Volvo at the beginning. And this engine is made by Renault. Correct engine code should be D4192T. Few things still to clarify. And thanks Don for your kind support.

Supra_Natural · May 12, 2016

Thanks guys.
So Don is helping me to sort out this problem and hope find a good engine from UK. Had a long discussion with Don little while ago.

First of all we had to sorted out the engine number code. In this car all documents including shipping documents engine code starts with "B".

But it should be "D". According to the wiki. (B for Bensin (petrol/gasoline engines) or D for diesel engines for Volvo engine codes) . So physically it it should be "D" and the mistake done by Volvo at the beginning. And this engine is made by Renault. Correct engine code should be D4192T. Few things still to clarify. And thanks Don for your kind support.

Good to hear. The Don will hook you up. For less than the cost of doing the jap crap conversion and sorting out all the headaches that will cause, you can probably import the parts from two whole S40s in the UK. They are cheap as chips there and now there are plenty of breakers who can bring the whole lot to your door here.

Sampath Gunasekera · May 12, 2016

Good to hear. The Don will hook you up. For less than the cost of doing the jap crap conversion and sorting out all the headaches that will cause, you can probably import the parts from two whole S40s in the UK. They are cheap as chips there and now there are plenty of breakers who can bring the whole lot to your door here.

If so , I wish to get some other parts also from UK. What do you think about conversion to A/T with Volvo pars?

Since even engine number is messed up by Volvo, we have to be assure the exact engine code. That S40 diesel model has different engine series T2, T3,T4 etc...

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/TB17.pdf

According to this engine model is T3.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Sampath Gunasekera

maersk · May 12, 2016

Sampath, there is a Garage close to SLIIT and they do only Volva cars. It started with just 1 car but now at anytime there are 6-7 S40/60/80 cars in front of the place. Thought should let you know, just in case. Worth check with them about what they can do isn't it?

matroska · May 12, 2016

Sampath, there is a Garage close to SLIIT and they do only Volva cars. It started with just 1 car but now at anytime there are 6-7 S40/60/80 cars in front of the place. Thought should let you know, just in case. Worth check with them about what they can do isn't it?

yes it's called V*LMEC you can get their contact details from FB they have a page if i remember correctly

RViji · May 12, 2016

Good that you decided not to create additional issues and not ruin the car. So the breaker/shipper will take care of everything including SL customs guys?

Sampath Gunasekera · October 27, 2016

Eureka !!! Eureka !!! :dance2:

After waiting for months, found the correct heart from UK..... low mileage Volvo 1.9 Turbo Diesel T3 Engine pulled from a V40

A big thank to our moderator The Don , whom spent hours on this matter and helped me to find the correct engine.
So T3 engine + gear box(M/T) and some other components are on the way.