Volvo S40/V40 VVT Pulley For Sale

The Volvo S40 and V40 are great cars that are reasonably reliable and very solid. But like a lot of different makes and models of cars, some have common faults.

At some point in their life quite a few of the Volvo S40 and V40 model of cars may suffer from a failed VVT Pulley. The models most prone to this problem are Volvo S40/V40 1997 -2000 and 2000 – 2004 models. If you are planning on buying a Volvo S40/V40 made in those years check it carefully. Amongst all the regular checks that you would or should go through when buying a used car make sure to listen to the engine bay on any Volvo S40/V40 made between 1997 – 2000 and 2000 – 2004.

Check part availability

The sound you don’t want to hear is very similar to a rattling piece of plastic, and you would be forgiven for thinking the rattle was nothing more then a bit of plastic in the engine bay if you hadn’t done your research before hand and your not aware of the VVT Pulley problems on 1997 – 2000 and 2000 – 2004 models of the Volvo S40 / V40. If you do go and view a Volvo and notice that it has the rattling noise coming from the engine bay it’s probably best to move on and find another Volvo.

There’s no shortage of good examples around. Either that or point out the fault to the seller and make sure you get a hefty discount. VVT Pulleys are for sale and can be bought for around £140 – £180 brand new. You may be able to find a used but fully working VVT Pulley on eBay that’s come from a Volvo being broken down for spares. You can find this part widely for sale on eBay UK.

Sadly, the VVT Pulley is not an easy part to replace yourself. This is because in order to correctly fit the new VVT Pulley the timing belt /cam belt has to come off. So while replacing the VVT Pulley it’s recommended that you just fit a new timing belt / cam belt at the same time. This is a fairly complicated job that requires some precision so it’s best left to a good independent garage or a Volvo specialist.

If your Volvo S40 /V40 has a strange rattling / ticking noise coming from the engine bay the chances are that you need to replace the VVT Pulley. Symptoms of a failed VVT Pulley include higher petrol consumption and a decrease in car power. Some people drive their Volvo S40/V40 with a broken VVT Pulley, and some drivers have even reported that they have been running the risk and driving their car for months with this problem in full force and the car had not broken down.

However, there are a handful of people who have had the unfortunate luck of engine failure due to a failed VVT Pulley. An engine failing because of a broken VVT pulley is rare but has happened. This happens because without the VVT Pulley in fully working order it can lead to starvation of oil to the engine. How long it takes to result in engine failure is unpredictable and seems to be different from car to car. If it's not the Pulley that's broken what else can it be? It could be the solenoid, but most of the time it is the VVT Pulley that needs replacing.

You can either run the risk and see how long you last or get it fixed as soon as possible. I suppose it depends on how much you value your car, and also how much breakdown cover you have just in case the worst happens. I had this problem with my own Volvo S40 when I first bought it. Once the car developed the dreaded VVT Pulley failure I parked the car up and left it until I had the time and spare money to get it fixed. I refused to drive the car with this problem because at the time I didn’t have any breakdown cover and I also didn’t want to cause more damage to the car by driving it with a fault that has the potential to cause engine damage.

Autotrader Scammers Emails

At the moment I have been trying to sell my car. The obvious places to list the car online to try and get a quick sale are Auto trader and eBay. Well, my experience so far has not been a good one. I have had no problems with eBay except an almost zero response..I put this down to the current climate. People don’t want a big engine car at the moment with petrol prices being at an all time high.

And then there’s Auto trader. The only people interested in my car have all been scammers. The first time I had an email from one of these people I didn’t realise it was a scammer, so I replied to his email and sent some pictures of the inside of my car..His follow up email was something along the lines of “yes car looks nice and I’ll buy it right now for the asking price”. ” Only problem is, I’m at work and really busy etc”, so can only pay by Pay Pal, so if I could send my Pay-Pal details name and phone number he’ll buy the car ASAP and send someone to pick up the car in a few days.

Obviously I said no because it sounded very suspicious. I asked him why can’t he just come and buy the car after work, but he avoided answering the question. I told him I will only accept cash on collection of the car because Pay Pal does not protect the seller from charge backs. He tried for a little while longer to persuade me, saying things like “I can only pay by Pay Pal online..” I just said “Look mate, You’ll have to try that scam on someone else because it won’t work on me”. I never had a reply after that.

After doing some research on this scam I quickly found out that what they want is for you to accept their offer,they then claim that they have sent you the payment and an agent will be out soon to pick up the car – BUT the agent requires the princely sum of £800 up-front which YOU need to transfer via Western Union Money Wire Transfer. Needless to say, if you fall for this scam and wire the money, you will never hear from them again. Do not fall for these low lives.

Their scams are ridiculous, but some people do fall for them so that’s the reason of this post. People need to be aware of these fraudsters. If you get a suspicious email from anyone on Auto trader ALWAYS copy and paste the email address into the Google search bar and see what you come up with. Be careful though, it’s very easy to just make a new email address, so if you don’t get any results in Google don’t just trust that and think everything’s OK, they could still be scammers, just ones that are using a new email address that no one has wrote about yet. So always be on your guard.

Here are the ones that have tried to scam me:

willliaambriigghtt@gmail.com

dennis.watson17@gmail.com

al.woods198772@gmail.com



Feel free to post yours so that others are aware.

Mazda 323F 1994-1998 Model Cars

The Mazda 323F (1994-1998) model car was way ahead of it’s time. The car looked so much different to everything else on the road at that time. Even today, the Mazda 323 is widely admired, by owners and onlookers alike. Many people still look at the 323 with a face of pleasant confusion. It’s not the kind of car you see all that often, so when you see one, specially a well kept one, it’s a nice sight. But it’s not only the look of the Mazda 323 that owners love, it’s also how reliable this car is.

Almost every person that has owned a Mazda 323 1994-1998 model car has only good things to say about it. Many owners are gutted if they have to sell theirs, and always pine for the opportunity to own another one. Of course, there’s a bad review on every car in the world, including the Mazda 323, but we must not forget that any make or model car that’s not properly maintained will get problems sooner or later.

The Mazda 323 1994-1998 is a very tough car, from the chassis to the engine, it takes abuse extremely well. I have seen Mazda 323′s that were never serviced and they just keep going and going. So if you do service the Mazda 323 and take good care of it, the 323 will reward you with many years of trouble free motoring, with the only money needing to be spent on the car being for regular wear and tear items. The Japanese reliability has really shone through in this car.

One downside to the Mazda 323 1994-1998 is parts. If you do need a part they can be pretty hard to source, also quite costly. But the good thing is, the Mazda 323 1994-1998 model are so reliable that you hardly ever need to source major parts. And if you do, it’s pretty easy to find a Mazda 323 that’s being sold as spares or repairs in the UK, so you can get your desired parts for a much lower price.

The reason why this outstanding car is being mentioned on this website is it’s price! You can pick up a Mazda 323F 1994-1998 for anything as low as £400-500! For what your getting this is more than a bargain, it’s actually daylight robbery for the seller. This price applies to all engine sizes, 1.5, 1.8, and even the 2.0L V6 ZXi.

But if you want a well maintained Mazda 323, with full service history, look to spend £800 – £1200 and you can’t go wrong. If you can get one cheaper than that, your laughing. If you want a different looking car, with not many of them on the road, and with super reliability, the Mazda 323F 1994-1998 model is the car you should be looking at. A true gem of a car to drive and own.