I did not have to break the A/C system when I replaced mine. It went in and out the top. IIRC (it's been awhile), remove fan, undo all the bolts and get the radiator out (tilt back a bit and work it out). If you look at the V70 video posted above there is several inches of clearance behind the radia...

I just replaced my drivers seat belt (it jammed) and it was $250 for the part from the dealer (shipped & tax included) (for my pre-facelift car, didn't price the later belts they are all different). Getting the trim out is a bit fiddly (watched YouTube video), but the seatbelt itself is just 2 b...

I put in a set of aftermarket Xenon bulbs (with included ballasts) in my 2001 V70 and it really brightens them up. I did not get the special cancelling add on and occasionally they would trigger a bulb out warning. I fixed that by drilling a 3mm hole in the mini-plug in board on the CEM - I can find...

IMHO the plastic radiators are only good for 12-15 years. Anything longer is borrowed time. Mine blew up at a stop light. Turned off immediately and got it towed home. I did overheat the car last summer as the cooling fan controller died - it was OK except in traffic, as I found out by the blinking ...

If you have an autozone near you, you can rent a similar axle popper and get your money refunded on return. That's what we did on my 2001. Wasn't much of a fight, so probably would have been easy anyway. https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-specialty-tools/loaner-axle-popper/p/oemtools-axle-remov...

I know the 2.5 on the R is susceptible to cracking - reportedly any 2.5 with extra boost or a hard life. The 2.3 are better in this regard and there are two versions of the 2.4 (small bore, long stroke and large bore, short stroke - small bore would be stronger). Sounds like most often cracks are be...

The earlier C70 were 850 (P80) based. The later are P1.

There was the upgrade to RN motors around 2000 - the RN blocks are largely the same (minus the R motors). Cooling should be the same. The heads and manifolds are different between the P1 and P2 though.

I typically just drain and refill. Gets around 1/2 the fluid typically.

I picked up an 850 years ago with 85K and original fluid and did this 3 oil changes in a row - that should replace 87.5% of the old fluid.

I do it every 15K miles as regular maintenance.

Love my P2. Bit of a problem child compared to my redblocks.

Really nice to have (cheap) VIDA/DICE available - if nothing else to reset the airbag lights.

My understanding is you need the serial # for a key to be programmed. Typically you need a new key to get that number for the transponder on a key (unless someone bought a key and kept the box/bag it came in?). And yes it typically needs to be programmed at the dealer (though a few can do this after...