2500 mile road trip, and getting the XC70 sorted out for it

[brenglxc70]

I don't have a ton of cool pictures for a trip report, but I thought this might be useful for someone who is curious or concerned about taking a long trip in an "older" XC70.
This summer my wife and I completed a 2500 mile trip from NC to Maine in our '04 XC70, hauling kayaks on the roof and a ton of outdoor gear and luggage. We had no issues whatsoever with the car, and it was very comfortable even with 12-hour days of driving. It is amazing the amount of stuff you can haul in one of these cars if you drop the back seats (I actually removed the back seat bottoms too so they would lay flat). We averaged around 23mpg on 93 octane with the kayaks on top.

Arrived at our destination after 2 days on the road (The XC70 is just barely in the photo)


Unloading kayaks in Blue Hill, ME:


We bought this car in Feb. 2015 with 42k miles on it and have since put about 22k more on it. It was well maintained and already had a recent coolant and brake flush, so I haven't done that yet. Despite the mileage, the suspension was fairly well worn out. It also still had the original Pirelli tires on it, in pretty rough shape.

However here are some of the maintenance, repairs, and mods I did in the months leading up to this trip. It should give someone an idea of the type of things required to fully sort out one of these cars, even a very low mileage example. Quite a bit of money invested in all this, even doing most of the work myself, but in the end it has been an awesome automobile for road trips.

Maintenance and repairs:
-Michelin Latitude HP tires
-Sachs struts all around with IPD heavy duty front spring perches
-Lemforder lower front control arms, comes assembled with new bushings and ball joints.
-Xemodex rebuild of the BCM (brake control module) after it started throwing a code. Diagnostics using VIDA's test procedure concluded that it needed to be replaced. )
-Bosch replacement throttle body (The brushes in the original were worn out and gunked up, causing some odd throttle response symptoms, and ultimately it failed and went into limp mode a few months after we got the car. I disassembled and cleaned it up, which lasted a couple of months until I had the money to buy a new one. )
-Full 'Gibbons' style transmission flush with Mobil 3309, followed by draining and replacing the 2-2.5qts that drain out with each oil change.
-Timing belt, tensioner, front oil seals.
-Checked the PVC system, but fortunately it is still in good shape.

Modifications:
-Added a B&M auxillary transmission cooler for 'insurance'.
-GROM VOL01N2, allows aux audio connection to factory stereo, and direct USB streaming from Android phones.
-Added a heat sink to the CEM and removed the metal case around the chip. Whether this is really needed or not, I don't know, but I wanted to minimize the risk of getting stranded or having wacky behavior with an overheating CEM.
-Removed headlight wiper blades and disconnected the motors, they stopped functioning correctly and I had no need to repair them.
-Valentine 1 hardwired in (old school, but still useful)

The only thing currently wrong with the car is the darn security module warning, which is next on my list to fix (or rather disable or remove).

[giorgio]

Thank you for condivide your experience !!