Hi, I'm new here. Great to be on this forum.

I found my perfect i6 recently, black, 84,000 miles. Then I did a bit of digging around and it turns out that the car has had a head gasket repair in 2013 and a dealer who had the car in 2016 told me that the engine block has a crack .

This is evident when starting from cold, or if the car has been sitting for a while. It starts up roughly, then soon settles down as the water is driven out. It doesn't overheat.

Initially I thought that there might be a loose engine mount. Then I had a conversation with the dealer who had the car two years ago, and It all came out about the block.

Is this a common problem - anybody else out there come across this issue?

I can’t help re the problem but if it’s recent purchase I would have thought you’d be looking for your money back or a trip to the small claims court? Derek Hill
2009 FL2 HSE TD4 Auto

Hi Delboy,

Thanks for your concern but the dealer is behaving like a gentleman and will take the car back with a full refund.

cheers

then I would go that route and walk away. unless you can change the engine yourself (If you can find a decent i6 engine that is) then you will be looking at thousands of pounds to sort it.

I don't think its a common issue but as there aren't too many i6 FL2 in the UK not many will have experience of the engine

take the money and run !!

Mr. I6,

A common problem with the 3.2 is the failure of the thermostat.

When it fails the position of the recirculation port could be open or closed.

If the recirculation port is blocked during startup then the thermostat may not open quickly enough and the engine may overheat causing the type of problem that you encountered (failed head gasket or cracked block)

If you want to have a discussion about the 3.2 the Volvo boards are more active

I posted some pictures on the Volvo board.

Freel2 is excellent for everything except the 3.2 the interest here for the 3.2 is small (but we are a resourceful group)


Link to thermostat discussion

Scroll down and look at the pictures

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/v...mp;t=86205


For reference the I6 3.2 is a B6324S


And it was made in the UK at the Ford plant

Good Luck

Paul

Thanks for the info Paul although I'd guess you should get fair warning if the thermostat is going i.e. temp fluctuations or some sort of evidence before it simply goes and blows the head gasket - cracking a block is pretty serious and I would have thought unlucky ?? that's what the gasket is supposed to prevent i.e. overpressure will blow that before cracking the block anyway.........

Eye Six - you've certainly been busy since joining !!

Paul do you know if a Volvo block might fit the 16 i.e. traying to geta "genuine" OEM FL2 i6 block might be like looking for rocking horse doo dah but I'd guess there are plenty of Volvo 3,2l blocks out there - just a thought ? F2 3.2 i6 for the white stuff
F Type 3.0 V6 AWD for the fun stuff

Quote:

Engine Block
Thanks for the info Paul although I'd guess you should get fair warning if the thermostat is going i.e. temp fluctuations or some sort of evidence before it simply goes and blows the head gasket - cracking a block is pretty serious and I would have thought unlucky ?? that's what the gasket is supposed to prevent i.e. overpressure will blow that before cracking the block anyway.........

Quote:

Paul do you know if a Volvo block might fit the 16 i.e. traying to geta "genuine" OEM FL2 i6 block might be like looking for rocking horse doo dah but I'd guess there are plenty of Volvo 3,2l blocks out there - just a thought ?