Re: History of PRV

[rbrogren@xxxx]

Thanks Bill, that made for some interesting reading!

Evidently the original design was started as a joint venture by Pegueot and 
Renault in 1969, then they joined forces with Volvo in 1971 and the three 
formed a joint company, PRV, PLC, in Douvrin, France. The first engine was pruduced 
in 1974. Each of the companies made some changes and evidently it was Volvo 
that messed up the oiling system in their pre-1980 versions. I guess we have to 
thank them all for the asinine coolant distribution system!

The most interesting part is that the original design was intended to be a 
V-8! 
I have copied a part from "Swedish Bricks" below about that, but what he 
didn't say is that Volvo fixed the oil pump, oil galleys and camshaft hardening 
problems before the Volvo-PRV engines were shipped to DMC

Thanks again!
Roger


>>>>>>
In a message dated 12/18/2003 10:38:03 PM Central Standard Time, 
dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bill Robertson) writes:
Subject: Re: History of PRV

See:

http://members.fortunecity.com/perttim/therenault30file/id20.html

Douvrin produced nearly 1 million PRV's. Production spanned quarter
century. Engine definitely has quirks and honest to goodness
weaknesses, but reputation undeserved. See related discussions in:

http://www.swedishbricks.com
http://www.brickboard.com

My DeLorean burns a Renault PRV BTW (European equivalent of B27 in
your Volvo). Original owner melted factory block.

Bill Robertson
#5939
>>>>>>>>>>>>.
The following is snipped from the "brickboard".
I sensed a general feeling of 'dislike' towards the Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 
engine, and couldn't help but to get the idea that some people blame the 
french manufacturers for it's downsides. Now, I happen to own an '85 Renault 25 
with the 2664cc PRV engine, and I haven't yet heard a bad word spoken of it. Now, 
if you'll allow me, i'd like to clear out a few things about this 
controversial piece of machinery...

First of all, the engine was mostly done in cooperation amongst Peugeot, 
Renault and Volvo, and it was intended to become a V8 originally. Imagine what had 
happened if that had succeeded... 3.5 liter Hemi-V8's, can you say FUN??

So what went wrong? The oil crisis struck, and they figured they'll make a V6 
insted, and sawed off the existing cylinders from the already cast blocks, 
marks of this can be seen in the first production blocks. The manufacturers took 
what they had created and all went their separate ways and finished the 
engine on their own, so everyone's version is a little bit diffrent than the 
others. Volvo ended up screwing the oil system and therefore the Volvo PRV V6 which 
can be found in the DeLorean (it has a Renault transmission however) is not 
exactly the most durable thing around. How about the French versions then? They 
are the B20's of V6 engines, the blocks are virtually indestructible ( quarter 
million miles is no big deal for these, mine is approaching this mark ) and 
pack a quite nice punch. At 2.7L size, the Renault generates 144hp with K-Jet 
FI and Peugeot is right there with them. Not bad for something designed in the 
70's.

Okay, so the HP ratings don't vary that much, but the diffrences in 
reliability are dramatical. True, similarities exists too, and costly repairs are just 
that. When this puppy blows it'll be the simplest choice to drive it off a 
bridge or something, also for the reason that anything that says 'Jaeger made in 
France' should be gutted out and thrown into the lake.

Allrightey.. all done with venting, thank you for all of those who managed to 
read all the way down here. Now hopefully you remember in the future that 
it's the Volvo PRV that has the reliability problems, not it's french 
counterparts.


-Matti Ronkko,
Finland


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