gilow
Philia Bear,
Thank you very much for that analysis, I feel I have a tiny understanding of what I have bought now.
Regarding the 5500rpm, given the mileage of the engine (200,000km), could this be risky, given the chance of lips on the cylinder walls? I have no sense of how it was driven previously, aside from the overall condition of the car, which suggests someone competent (no scrapes or scratches on corners) but a bit lazy (a lot of crud down the back of the seats, general sense of not having been kept clean inside). I know it's bit of a long bow to draw, but from this I get the sense that the car was driven pretty sedately as a shopping trolley until the 18 year old son drove it, which apparently was not for very long because the trans promptly died. Perhaps he pushed it too hard or perhaps, from what you say about the transmission, he was just the unlucky guy holding the bomb when the ticking stopped..
Matt
gilow
FWIW, I thought I should add this photo, because it is more likely to be appreciated here than anywhere else... This is the choice that greets me each morning, I could think of worse.
I wonder which you each would choose...
Ex850R
Two white wagons!! Ace!
XC if the V is NA , but the NA can be a good drive too....
gilow
The V is a NA, no road burner that's for sure, and the10 valve engine, not the 20, but it is oh so very, very comfortable. Oh yeah, it is on gas too, so there goes another few HP.
Vee_Que
It wont have lips on the bores. They aren't old iron block ford and holden motors With poor oiling.
gilow
OK, I guess some of my mechanical knowledge is starting to look a bit dated... :^(
Rob
I have not seen a lip on a whiteblock ever.
gilow
That's odd, I was expecting someone to tell me to take the wheelie bin as first choice...
Philia_Bear
Rob;44366 wroteI have not seen a lip on a whiteblock ever.
I have, but only on the early B6304's
Ben
gilow wroteCan anyone shed some light on how I should evaluate the likely lifespan of this car...
Hi Matt. I'm not particularly mechanical, but I owned one of these and it screwed me big time. I've only heard the occasional good story about the car, otherwise they have a myriad of recurring problems that are never truly fixed. The only guys that don't seem to have problems are the expert mechanics on the board.
I warned Jay before he started having troubles and I'll say the same thing to you: Sell it while you can and while the car is good. It is a beautiful car, but it will turn into a money pit at some stage. The other guys have listed a lot of great info, mine is just a general owner's experience =)
Cheers,
Ben
gilow
Ben, I do hear you.
Sound advice, and I will most certainly not start throwing any serious money at this car. if it gives trouble, it can go. It was not my first choice of car, that's for sure, I would much rather have bought something older and more reliable, but buying it through a mechanic I trust was just too tempting and beat the heck out of going and looking at dozens of under maintained bits of crap. (We drove 20 cars before we found the V70, and none of them was worth touching. People just do not look after their cars.)
It is only our backup car (we have the V70 for the Adelaide to Melbourne trips, plus two other registered vehicles in the garage) so as long as it remains safely driveable around town I will keep using it, but if something serious fails, it's a goner. (Or if I find very good 740 for sale.) So no money on aesthetics, the windscreen... well that's more of a safety issue, sun glare etc, so I think I will fork out for that. If I thought it was a keeper, I'd put some better tyres on it, but the Kumo's on it have plenty of tread so they'll have to stay.
One thing that is abundantly clear from this thread, it has the potential to be a real money pit. I am just trying to get a feel for when to pull the plug. If the resale mattered, you are right, now would be the time to sell it, but I can afford to give it a chance, it owes me very little now, and I will keep it that way. I paid less for it than I was willing to pay for a good 740 wagon.
Matt
P.S. I took the V70 out tonight, first time I have driven it in a week, and I have discovered that driving the XC70 has totally messed up my driving of the V70. Very strange. None of our other vehicles have done that to me.
Ex850R
To me , the XC sounds like the best bet for long distance as this is better for the gearbox?
As in , they fail a lot quicker in city driving.
240Joe
My sister in-law's sister had a XC, it caught fire on the street. It was something about a fan still running and was one of the recall items.
I'm not sure if that was a happy or sad ending...
gilow
240Joe;44449 wroteMy sister in-law's sister had a XC, it caught fire on the street. It was something about a fan still running and was one of the recall items.
I'm not sure if that was a happy or sad ending...
Yes, that did my head in the other day. About an hour after parking the car in the drive I heard a seriously powerful fan start up. I rushed out to find the car humming away. I looked in the manual and it seems there is a function to dry out the aircon circuit after use, runs for seven minutes. I like the idea, it does appear to prevent that musty smell you get from time to time when you've been using the aircon, but overall it seems a disaster waiting to happen.
Matt
gilow
Ex850R;44448 wroteTo me , the XC sounds like the best bet for long distance as this is better for the gearbox?
As in , they fail a lot quicker in city driving.
From what I am reading here it sounds like the trans is going to fail regardless. And keeping this car at the level I like for high speed work would be too expensive by the sound of it.
Also, we have an injected LPG system on the V70 which means we can drive from Adelaide to Melbourne for just $40 in fuel, which is hard to beat.
Matt
jaykenneally
gilow;44459 wrote240Joe;44449 wroteMy sister in-law's sister had a XC, it caught fire on the street. It was something about a fan still running and was one of the recall items.
I'm not sure if that was a happy or sad ending...
Yes, that did my head in the other day. About an hour after parking the car in the drive I heard a seriously powerful fan start up. I rushed out to find the car humming away. I looked in the manual and it seems there is a function to dry out the aircon circuit after use, runs for seven minutes. I like the idea, it does appear to prevent that musty smell you get from time to time when you've been using the aircon, but overall it seems a disaster waiting to happen.
Matt
Scared the absolute crap out of mum and I on the first day we had it as well. She came rushing upstairs being like "Jeremy your cars fan is still on its gonna flatten the battery or burn out" so we rush out and hit every button and switch but nothing changed anything, so out comes the manual "it's a feature" it says.
If you are worried you can ask a Volvo dealer to turn it off, I believe.
The other one that got me is after a long/hard drive, I always let the car idle for a few minutes to cool the turbo, but once you turn the engine off, the radiator fan usually continues to run for a few minutes too. Also normal.
gilow;44460 wroteEx850R;44448 wroteTo me , the XC sounds like the best bet for long distance as this is better for the gearbox?
As in , they fail a lot quicker in city driving.
From what I am reading here it sounds like the trans is going to fail regardless. And keeping this car at the level I like for high speed work would be too expensive by the sound of it.
Also, we have an injected LPG system on the V70 which means we can drive from Adelaide to Melbourne for just $40 in fuel, which is hard to beat.
Matt
I can confirm the XC70's HATE city driving. It's a big car with a not so big transmission, with a not so great trans cooling system, and they just overheat so much. It will certainly kill it alot faster. It would probably be wiser to fit LPG to the XC and use that for long distance if you prefer the whole cheap LPG thing. The P80 series do much better in city. The XC is nicer on the highway anyway, more comfortable seats, quieter and so on.
Slowbrick
JeremyK;44566 wrote
Scared the absolute crap out of mum and I on the first day we had it as well. She came rushing upstairs being like "Jeremy your cars fan is still on its gonna flatten the battery or burn out" so we rush out and hit every button and switch but nothing changed anything, so out comes the manual "it's a feature" it says.
You two must be easily frightened. Its just a little humming sound that I wouldnt even really notice if it wasnt pointed out to me hahaha. Modern cars make all sorts of stupid noises so i just ignore the ones that dont sound like its blowing up.
jaykenneally
Well we used to own old cars that never did that. My XC70 was our first "new" car and we didn't know if it would shut off haha. It's not a big noise no but if your not familiar with it then it's a bit disconcerting
gilow
The fan on ours was loud enough to be heard from inside the house, sounded like the climate control fan running at about 80% to me.
As for LPG on the XC70, I wouldn't risk it. It takes around two years to pay off an LPG conversion, and it sounds like this car is a timebomb. It may give me the next five years, or it might spit something expensive tomorrow. Better that I don't put any money into other than that which contributes to safety or reliability. LPG does neither of these things.
Still, loving driving it, I really am, and I was thrilled to discover that the Thule roofracks I bought for the V70 fit even better on the XC70 rails. This is doubly important as I sold my ute before I bought this car, and I am missing it badly.
Thanks for the great advice guys, I feel I have a much better handle on this car now, and how best to treat it. I agree with the sentiment about highway use, but the money to spend to get it to that level would just be a risk. I'll take my chances that the Adelaide traffic is light enough to keep it sane, and at least I live in the flat bit of Adelaide, so it really does not have to work the trans that hard.
Matt
Ben
Good to hear your eyes are open and you have a solid plan! =)