Scania 16-litre V8 engine (DC16): versions, fuels and ratings

The Scania 16-litre V8 is the eight-cylinder diesel engine, its cylinders set in a 90° V, that Scania CV AB of Södertälje, Sweden, builds for its trucks and also offers as an industrial engine. Scania’s documents designate it DC16 and give a displacement of 16.4 litres; its releases of 2017 and 2018 print 16.3 litres for three of the engines. It runs on diesel and HVO, and in Scania’s current tables the 590 hp version also on biodiesel. Scania’s documents give the truck engines as Euro 6 engines with SCR; its UK specification pages also list 16-litre ratings under Euro 5, Euro 4 and Euro 3. Scania’s current V8 brochure lists four ratings, from 530 hp (390 kW) to 770 hp (566 kW). On this site it is the V8 engine of the Scania R-series, S-series and XT.

Status as of 26 October 2026. Scania’s V8 brochure (Edition 2025.02), its press release of 4 September 2017 and Scania France’s press information of 2018, both with DC16 technical data, Scania UK’s R-series and S-series specification pages, Scania Namibia’s V8 specifications page and Scania’s data sheets for the DC16 085A and DC16 086A industrial engines were read on 26 October 2026. Each figure is given in the units its document uses, hp, kW and Nm; how the units relate is explained in kW, hp and Nm: how to read a truck’s power figures.

What the 16-litre V8 is

Scania names each version by family and number. Its release of 4 September 2017 lists the Euro 6 V8s DC16 116, DC16 117, DC16 118 and DC16 108; Scania UK’s R-series and S-series pages list the DC16 120, 121, 122 and 123; the two industrial data sheets read are for the DC16 085A and DC16 086A. The documents read do not explain the numbering.

The base data below are those Scania prints in each document; a dash means that document does not give the item.

Scania UK’s R-series page describes the DC16 as “a V8 diesel engine equipped with Scania’s XPI injection system with unit injectors and 4 valves per cylinder”, fitted with “a fixed geometry turbocharger, charge air cooler and Scania’s SCR system”. Scania’s industrial data sheets describe XPI (Extra High Pressure Injection) as “a common rail system”. The two documents describe the injection system differently; this page records both.

The industrial data sheets describe a cylinder block “containing wet cylinder liners” and individual cylinder heads with four valves per cylinder, and list steel pistons, connecting rods as “I-section press forgings of alloy steel” and a crankshaft of alloy steel.

Fuels

Diesel and HVO. Scania’s release of 4 September 2017 says that all of Scania’s Euro 5 and Euro 6 engines “can run on a mixture of up to 100% hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) and any proportion of diesel and HVO, regardless of engine family”; Scania France’s release of 2018 says all of its diesel engine types can run on HVO. Scania UK’s R-series page says of the DC16: “These engines can run on HVO without any modifications being required.” Its S-series page, in its 16-litre paragraph: “Our Euro 6 engines run on up to 100% HVO.” The V8 brochure gives HVO as the renewable fuel of all four current ratings. What HVO is is set out in What is HVO?

Biodiesel. The 2017 release says: “All of Scania’s Euro 6 diesel engines are already certified for a mixture of up to 10 percent biodiesel in their basic configuration”. For a biodiesel version, Scania names one rating of the current V8 range: the R-series page says “The 590 hp V8 can be specified for biodiesel use”, the UK tables give the DC16 121 (590 hp) the fuel “Biodiesel/Diesel/HVO” and the other three “Diesel/HVO”, and the brochure lists “Renewable fuels: HVO, Biodiesel” for the 590 hp. Scania Namibia’s V8 specifications page also gives “Biodiesel/Diesel/HVO” for a 580 hp V8, and Scania France’s 2018 release marks its 580 hp column, labelled “DC09 117” in its DC16 table, as also available in a 100 percent biodiesel version (FAME, for example). Under their Euro 5, Euro 4 and Euro 3 tabs, the UK pages give “Diesel/HVO/Biodiesel” for every 16-litre rating.

Gas and ethanol. The documents read list no 16-litre V8 for gas or ethanol.

Emission class and aftertreatment

Scania’s documents give the 16-litre truck engines as Euro 6 engines: the 2017 release lists the DC16 116, 117, 118 and 108 in “Scania’s current engine range in Euro 6 for the new truck generation”, and Scania UK’s specification pages list the DC16 120 to 123 under their Euro 6 tab. The steps of the standard are explained in Euro VI (Euro 6) and Euro 7 for trucks.

SCR only, except the DC16 730. Scania’s release of 4 September 2017 says that, with a few rare exceptions, Scania now uses “only selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for exhaust gas after-treatment”, and describes the engines as built “with a fixed geometry turbocharger, and without exhaust gas recirculation in the form of an EGR system”. Its 9-litre section says that, like all the other engines in the new truck generation, the DC09s use only a fixed geometry turbocharger (FGT) and only SCR; a footnote to that “all” reads: “Except for the DC16 730”. The release’s DC16 table gives the DC16 108 (730 hp) as “Scania EGR/SCR” and the DC16 116, 117 and 118 as “Scania SCR”. The V8 brochure gives “Emission control: SCR” and “Turbo: FGT” for all four current ratings. How SCR and AdBlue work is explained in SCR and AdBlue.

Twin SCR: the documents differ. Scania UK’s S-series page says “The latest 13- and 16-litre engines feature the Scania Twin-SCR system”, while the engine tables on the same page and on the R-series page give the 16-litre’s emission technology as “Selective catalytic reduction (SCR)” and keep “Twin SCR” for the Super 13-litre and Super 11-litre; the V8 brochure gives “SCR”. The documents read do not settle which applies to the V8.

Euro 5, Euro 4 and Euro 3. Scania UK’s S-series and R-series specification pages have tabs for Euro 6, Euro 5, Euro 4 and Euro 3, and list 16-litre ratings under each; the Euro 5 and Euro 4 ones with SCR, the Euro 3 one “Without SCR” (see the ratings below).

Industrial engines. The DC16 085A data sheet is headed “US Tier 4f” and lists an SCR system in its standard equipment; the DC16 086A data sheet names no emission standard and lists no SCR system.

Generations and versions

DC16 108 (730 hp, EGR and SCR). Scania’s release of 4 September 2017 and Scania France’s release of 2018 list the DC16 108, of 730 hp, beside the other Euro 6 V8s, with a displacement of 16.4 litres, a compression ratio of 17.4:1 and “Scania EGR/SCR”. The documents read do not say when it was introduced.

New V8 generation (June 2017). Scania’s release of 4 September 2017 says: “In June, Scania showcased a completely new generation of 16-litre V8 engines”. It says the V8s had undergone the modifications Scania first showed on its 13-litre engines when its new truck generation was premiered in autumn 2016 (see Scania 13-litre engine). Its DC16 table lists the DC16 116 (520 hp), DC16 117 (580 hp) and DC16 118 (650 hp) with “Scania SCR” and the DC16 108 with “Scania EGR/SCR”; the release does not say by engine ID which of them make up the new generation. Scania France’s release of 2018 lists the same four in a Euro 6 range of 23 engines for the new truck generation, which it says Scania launched in August 2016.

Current V8 range: DC16 120, 121, 122 and 123. Scania’s V8 brochure, Edition 2025.02, lists four ratings, 530, 590, 660 and 770 hp, each with a swept volume of 16.4 litres; Scania UK’s S-series page says “The Scania V8s are available with power ratings of 530, 590, 660 and 770hp”, and the UK tables give them the engine IDs DC16 120 to DC16 123. The documents read give no date for this range; the brochure carries an edition number, not a launch date. Scania Namibia’s V8 specifications page speaks of “The new V8”, and lists the brochure’s four ratings and the 520, 580 and 650 hp ratings side by side, seven in all, without saying which are current.

Industrial DC16: DC16 085A and DC16 086A. Scania’s industrial data sheets list two DC16 engines of “566 kW (770 hp)”: the DC16 085A, headed “US Tier 4f”, with a variable geometry turbocharger and an SCR system in its standard equipment and a weight of 1340 kg without oil and coolant, and the DC16 086A, subtitled “Fuel optimized”, with a weight of 1375 kg without oil and coolant. Both give the rating as IFN, intermittent service: the rated output is available for one hour in every six-hour period, with unlimited hours a year at a load factor of 80%. The sheets carry edition numbers (07 for the DC16 085A, 04 for the DC16 086A) and no date.

Ratings as Scania states them

Scania UK’s R-series page sums up the current 16-litre as “power outputs of 530-770 hp, and torque outputs of 2,800-3,700 Nm”.

Scania Namibia’s V8 specifications page lists, without engine IDs, 520 hp with 2700 Nm, 530 hp with 2800 Nm, 580 hp with 3000 Nm, 590 hp with 3050 Nm, 650 hp with 3300 Nm, 660 hp with 3300 Nm and 770 hp with 3700 Nm, all with SCR and an engine PTO of 800 Nm.

Braking and power take-off. Scania’s releases of 2017 and 2018 give an exhaust brake of 297 kW at 2,400 rpm for the DC16 116, 117 and 118 and of 320 kW at 2,400 rpm for the DC16 108; Scania UK’s R-series page says of the current 16-litre: “The exhaust brake is rated to 300 kW @ 2,400 rpm.” Scania’s specification pages list an engine PTO of 800 Nm for every 16-litre rating. What an exhaust brake is, and how the law groups it with retarders, is explained in What is a retarder?

Trucks and buses on this site with the Scania 16-litre V8

Three model pages on this site carry the Scania 16-litre V8 in their engine records, all of them trucks; no bus on this site records the engine. The figures below are those of each model’s own page and of the Scania source that page cites, in kilowatts and newton-metres as the site’s records keep them; they are not the engine-level tables above.

The XT page keeps the two V8 ladders as separate engine records. Its upper figure for the 520/580/650 hp ladder, 478 kW, is the one its own source gives; Scania’s releases of 2017 and 2018 print 479 kW for the 650 hp step.