VOLVO D12

biggest thing I don't like about a volvo engin is you can only get parts and service at the volvo dealer

 

I've purchased parts online and had them installed by an independent diesel mechanic.

 

That's fine and dandy but when you are broke down and loosing money by the minute I prefer to not have to order parts online and wait for the ups man. Guess it depends on your operation.
I know I was driving a volvo a few months ago and we had to replace the s cams and the brackets and they had to be ordered from Europe and it took a few weeks to get them so go make your own decision.

I've always found the vlvo motors to run good but they seem to be low on power.

 

I bought a Volvo 660 2003(D12) ( traded with my Mack ) hopping to get better fuel mileage , but the strange thing is happening...
The avergae MPG on this Volvo is 5.7
I Started like 8.3 when i bought it ( i guess the previous guy did 400 mile bobtail and reset it to zero before he started(!) ) and after 4000 miles it droped to 5.7
I was doing the same MPG with my Mack and that truck was paid off , now i have monthly payments...
Can anyone tell me what the hell might be causing this ? My buddys , they all have Volvos ( 2001 - 660 ) and their average MPG is 6.9 - 7.0
It's not the driver foot by the way , because i'm driving that thing.
For the record , i am pulling tankers and they're pretty heavy but still , my other truck a Freighliner Century 2000 is pulling the same thing and the average MPG in that truck is 6.7

Anyone has any answer ?

Second question...
What does the law says about buying a used truck ? Is there a time limit where you can undo your deal ? ( or choose another truck ? )
For the record , i bought it from Nextran

 

The volvo d12 is an rpm'r, meaning it doesn't make power as well down low like the other engines on the market its up top. I had one in my volvo when i drove a company 670 for 3 months and everyone said there d12 sucked and always got out pulled by the ones with the cummins in it. I out pulled a 10speed cummins (mine was a 9 speed) on cabbage patch with the same exact load with more fuel and an extra body with more crap in the cab. We were neck and neck when we started and i left him almost two-three truck lengths behind when we hit the top going east bound. If your looking for power on the hills your gonna have to wind it up like a rubber band. Thats what i found to work. I seemed to always out pull the 400hp cummins motors with the d12, I did notice it would spool up later than the cummins and from a dead stop they allways got me, off the start they had me but i would get'em in a run.

 

ive been driveing volvos for the last seven years. now in a 07 d12 with a automatic trans. and the only way to get fuel mpg.up is to keep it under 1500 rpm.loaded or not i pull 40000 all the time and avg.6.3 mpg. we do have 1 driver getin over 7 mpg when i asked him how he was doin that he said he sets the cruez on 60 mph. and im just not goin to run 60mph i guess to each his own.

 

Propably the best engine ever made. EGR versions might have some problems though, so I've heard, we never had them.

 

My company had 04-06 Volvos with these engines, never had any trouble with the engine, but the rest of the truck was a nightmare. Try driving in the night when its around -50F out and the passenger power window goes down on its own and wont come back up

And yes, that did happen on more than one, those Volvos are like driving a giant computer around imo, too complicated. The 01 Mack I drive now may not have anywhere near the ride or power of those Volvos, but I'll take reliability over anything else anyday, gets pretty lonely out there when you're a night time driver...