Should I keep my '01 V70 XC?

**hamlyf** · 03-04-2014, 04:24 AM

Hey guys,

My first post. I did a bit of a silly thing and purchased an '01 V70 XC with 250k odd km's on the clock from a private seller without a roadworthy certificate. State law states every car must be sold with one but neither of us were too concerned about this at the time. He assured me it would only be $500 or so. I bought the car for $3300 AUD.

I took it to my local mechanic (not a registered Volvo dealer or specialist) who worked on my old BMW before it died (he did a great job on that, (not a joke)) to get it road worthy and he gave me some rather alarming news. A list of to-dos totalling between $2500 and $2800 worth to repair. Attached is what he listed as needing doing. There are also big oil leaks coming from somewhere under the front of the car. The shroud the guy removes at the start of this video was covered in oil. The quote he gave me does not include fixing those. He said he might be able to do something about them but he had fairly grave concerns.

There are no service log books with the car, so I have no idea of it's service history. That's a real bummer.

I guess I'm in a spot now where I have to choose whether to keep the car, or sell it. I really love the car and it actually drives amazing in my opinion. I'm happy to spend another $3K on it if it means the car will give me a couple of years of good use. I actually don't drive that much but want to be able to rely on the car to go on big adventures in (I'm sure you guys understand that).

I assume I'll have to also get a transmission flush and software update. I'm not sure about doing the flush myself but will investigate further. I don't know anything about cars but I can get my head around most things ;-)

What would you guys do?

Thanks!
Ham

**Xheart** · 03-07-2014, 04:55 PM

Interesting...
I would say do not spend all that money at once.
The list makes sense but none suggests it will stop running.
Ask mechanic if he could prioritize it for you with a 24-36 month repair schedule.
If you are a DIYer then take your time. Do not forget to enjoy the drive.
Start with your safety on the road.

**Swagger XC** · 03-08-2014, 12:10 AM

You can do the flush your self and I would agree with the above that you should spread out and prioritize the maintenance. We did that with our 02 xc70 and over a period of 3 years we spread out about $9k in maintenance to make it ABSOLUTELY perfect. Sure it may not have made much sense but at that time we had owned the car for 9 years and since it was wonderful and we have not had a car payment in 10+ years it made sense. When you spread out $9k over 36 months it is much less than the payment for a used camry and its such a nicer car.

You should only do this if the interior/exterior are really good and the trans can be fixed through a flush or if it already is shifting fine.

**Xheart** · 03-08-2014, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by hamlyf

What would you guys do?

Here is Mike Lucas, no... not a cricketer, but not far from you Ham.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVwx-...ature=youtu.be

**PierreC** · 03-09-2014, 01:37 AM

Originally Posted by hamlyf

What would you guys do?

I would confront the seller and "split" the cost with him. You were both wrong to sell/buy without RWC but unless he can substantiate his "$500" estimate he shares liability.

Having said that, not all the issues noted would have been picked up during RWC tests I assume?

I assume the car is in good shape (body and interior wise ...) otherwise you would not have bought it. So having been confronted with similar expense on my 2002 XC70 owned since new (so I had nobody to blame but fair wear and tear!) I have decided to bite the bullet and do it.

I would like to add to the list of things to do and fix, though:

Definitely do a Gibbons method flush on the car. Use Toyota T-IV ATF - its the same stuff as Volvo sells - and if you can install a Magnefine inline fiter in the transmission cooler return line.
Check and replace the PCV system - I had neglected mine (i.e. not heeded the advice to renew it at around 160,000km) and the resukt was blown cam seals ...

Good luck and keep us posted.

**hamlyf** · 03-10-2014, 03:35 PM

Thanks guys for the reply. Sounds like this Mike Loucas guy knows his stuff Xheart.

The problem is that it's actually a legal requirement (Victorian state law) to have all this stuff done up front so I have to bite the bullet. The car has gone in, I think the mechanic is looking at it today and I pick it up Saturday (hopefully).

The trans shifts fine which was something I knew about before test driving. You can't even really tell when the shifts are happening so that was a good sign. The interior and exterior are a little grubby but will come up well with a bit of TLC.

Will try the Gibbons method PierreC and investigate those other things to replace.

I sent the a text to the guy who sold it to me suggesting that exact thing PierreC, that we split the costs as we both shared responsibility for the RWC but he didn't want to have anything to do with it. At the end of the day I paid $3300 for the car which is bottom dollar.

I really love the car, so I don't mind spending the money. I just hope I have something at the end of all this I can rely on, or at least sell with minimum loss.

Ham