Since this is my first post I'd like to share you my lengthy horror story.
I have done plenty of reading throughout the forum and most of my questions have been answered, but I do have a few questions and recommendations to ask pertaining to my situation which I did not want to bring up old threads from the grave. Questions are on the bottom if you want to skip the story.So I got into Volvo a couple years ago when I bought a 99 s80 2.9L. I got it for 600$ because the passenger CV axle was sheared off from drunkenly turning the tire into a curb?? That's what the guy I bought it from said. Anyways it was an easy fix and drove the car for 2 years. In those two years I have seen the car fall apart in many different ways, noises come and go, stuff likes to work on and off. Definitely a bi-polar car, but it has yet to break down. Anyways in the past year it started developing a strange knocking noise and many different bad noises from the engine. The end is near for this Volvo, so I decided it was time to move on to a different vehicle.
After about two weeks of searching and doing research on the s60's I decided to apply for a loan and start doing some test drives. My main criteria was it had to be mid 2000's, AWD, and around 5000$. I live in Appleton, WI, and there really wasn't much to look at around here. There was only one for sale within 25 miles, and that car was in rough condition all around. They wanted 4900 for a 2001 Volvo s60 2.4T AWD with 154,xxx miles. I told the guy it was way over priced compared to what I was seeing online. Besides multiple vehicles located in IL, I found one in the middle of Milwaukee and they recently dropped the price down to 4290. It's a blue Volvo S60 2.5T AWD with 160,xxx miles. I thought it sounded like it was worth it to go check out, but also had in the back of my head something must be up with this car, it's been listed for 2 months, and I had seen other cars get sold within a few weeks to a month. It also had a 2.4T badge on it which really confused me.
On Friday I took a 1.5 hour drive down to Milwaukee to look at the car and take it for a test drive. All around the car looked great, there was paint chips and a few minor dents, interior was in perfect shape with all the buttons and lights working great, no rips or tears in the leather, smelt great, and engine bay and underbody looked super clean. I then take the car for a test drive which was about a 5-10 mile trip through city and on the freeway. The car had great handling, accelerated real quick, and no bad noises. Then at the very end of the trip pops up "low oil pressure, pull over immediately." My dumbass let it slip by because I came across this message in my S80. On my s80 I found out I was burning oil when the car basically burned all the oil up. I just added 5 quarts of oil and was on my merry way and that was a year ago when that started. On the S80, I was reluctant to work on the vehicle because it was so old, falling apart, and wasn't worth putting time, effort, and money into it. I figured for the price and shape of the rest of the car, it was worth the time, money, and effort. I figured Id simply add some oil, get the car home, and I would deal with it later.
The end total I was going to pay for the car was 4500 and the bank valued it at 6000. Also seen other cars privately listed in the 5500 price range that were in perfect shape. After the test drive I talked to the salesman about the problem, we checked the oil and turns out it was low and needed a quart or two. I threw all that to the wind because this was a tiny dealership and they played dumb the whole time (which I also threw those facts to the wind.) I agreed to the price they had set and we wrote up a purchase contract. I went home and signed for the loan. I asked the guy at the bank if this was common to see cars sell for way under the value and he said yes. As I was home I did a little more research on the car, common problems and such, trying to find the hidden red flag that other people must of seen, but never did once did I come across the low oil pressure problem threads. I didn't even think to double check that error message. Lone behold that error message would be the redflag that went sailing past me.
About mid-day on Saturday I hitched a ride with some friends that were on their way down to Milwaukee to pick up a friend from the Airport. They dropped me off at the dealership and made their way to the Airport. I payed, signed, and started making my way home. Then just like the test drive but a little farther, I made it to Menomonee Falls, WI when the the light of doom reappeared. 20 miles I made it. I instantly got off the highway and somehow made my way to an Advance Auto Store where I added 2 quarts of oil because I thought that asshole never filled it up like he said. Figured I solve the problem, but the light came on again, so I rechecked the oil and sure shit I way overadded the oil, yikes. Then it brought up a code which then I learned that Advance Auto does not do code checking anymore. The guy then directed me to the nearest O'Reillys Autoparts Store, where I meet Mark, where he did a code check and P0027 came up.
Thankfully I made it to a very safe area of Milwaukee, the store was open for awhile, and I had a very helpful employee to help me through all this. So I just turned 28, I'm basically all by myself, it's 8PM, raining and getting dark out, 100 miles from home, I have a car that should not be moving, and a very low phone battery which I can not charge because I need the car to be on to charge the phone (did not want to risk a dead battery or a dead engine.) This is also not my first escapade of being stranded somewhere far from home, and with as much experience I have in these situations, they are not fun and very scary. Getting a tow truck would be between 500-1000$ which I really did not have. Thankfully I have the owner/saleman's cell number, my friends are still at the airport, and I have Mark from O'Reillys to help keep me somewhat keep calm and to get through this debacle. Mind you I am in like a very calm full panic mode, as simple as it may seem, it was rough to register this whole situation in my head at the time. I could not thank Mark enough because he stayed there for about 30 minutes after they closed to help ensure I made my way home safely.
Mark said I should call the owner/salesman and have him do something about it. So I did, I called Ram the owner/salesman up and he kept trying to play dumb and wasn't sure what to do. He said he wanted to help me out but first by telling me to leave the car where it is, to go home, and he will take care of it tomorrow. I said that's a dumb idea to leave the keys to a car in the hands of people I don't know. I was dead set that I did not want my car nor myself anywhere near the neighborhood it came from and especially at night. Granted it didn't seem as bad as north Milwaukee but it's still not a risk I'm willing to take. I gave him a full on bitching demanding the car be towed up to Appleton at his full expense. That's like a rare event for me where I get to the point where I have to speak up like that and get my way. Eventually he gave in and had a tow truck come to get it, from a tow truck place he was partnered with. In the moment, I had the thought that I'm dealing with a really shady business, and if they are shady they must be dealing with other shady businesses. The only guy I trusted at the time was Mark. He ensured me I would be alright.
Eventually I came up with a plan to have the tow truck drive the car home and my friends would drive me home. Worried about being dead in a ditch, I wanted to ensure I made it home safely, I was not about to take a ride in the tow truck with this guy. The timing worked out great, by the time the tow truck guy got the car on the flatbed, my friends showed up. The only thing that made me uneasy was the driver just kept referring to the bossman really wanted that done that night, and he didn't seem to pleased about making the trip. So on an 1.5 hour ride home I sat worrying if the car even made it out of town. I had him deliver it to my shop which was about 15 miles west of Appleton. So once I got home, I then had to drive all the way out there to make sure it made it. Which it did.
You might ask, why didn't you just return the car and get your money back? There are federal laws and WI laws that provide protection from this. We did a little research at the time and it was wishwashy, nothing looked very promising. Also, at that time of night in central Milwaukee was not the best time to be handling that kind of business. I was not in the mood to stay the night or have to make another trip down there and back. The rest of the car is currently in perfect shape and the way I look at it, is that I have 1500 to spend before it starts becoming a loss. I do all my own work on my vehicles, I have access to a shop, cherry picker, soon a car lift, and all the tools I need. I felt going backwards was going to be as costly and same headache as going forward. Also I figured it would be pointless to have them attempt to fix it because I am positive it would of been the cheapest repair ever which would lead me to encounter the problem again. I also believe that sometimes in life it is best to take matters into your own hands. I've been let down too many times by other businesses and learned the headache is less when you take care of it yourself.
So far all I have is the no oil pressure issue, which seems to be common among high mileage cars that haven't been taken care of very well. Note that I have been buying beaters over the past several years and really never thought to look for service records. I also understand I learned many valuable lessons. 1. Keep patience 2. Have a second person there 3. Handle things earlier in the day. 4.If error messages pop up, car price was recently reduced, HUGE red flag that should be investigated. 5. Simply stay away from small dealerships. Even if they have all good reviews.
Anyways, I decided I am going to go through a full tune up and here are a few questions I have.
1. How hard is it to pull the engine out? Working on the S80 gave me many frustrations trying to work in really tight spaces.
2. If I find a bunch of sludge, am I doomed, is the engine worth keeping? Like say I get everything cleaned, new seals, pvc fix, and the whole shabang. Am I likely to re-encounter the no oil pressure light of doom, or should it be good from there on out?
3. How is it possible for the car to run fine for 20 miles without problem? Is it from me hammering on it and driving the rpms real high that caused something to clog the pipes?
Just like my s80, I buy a broken vehicle for cheap, and make the best out of it. This time it's just a little more pricey. Hopefully all will be well and I can look back and laugh about this wild ride that has already begun with this car.
Thanks for reading.
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