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Please advice about Volvo s40

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on S40 and V40. In this forum you'll find S40/V40-specific owners asking and answering questions on maintenance, ownership, repairs, tutorials and almost every do-it-yourself thing you can do to save money owning these Volvos.

1996 - 2004 S40
1996 - 2004 V40

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Mantas
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Joined: 21 February 2006
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Please advice about Volvo s40

Post by Mantas »

Hello,

I

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matthew1  
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Post by matthew1 »

I would get the newer -- the 2000, only because it's newer.

I'd get a manual only because it gets better fuel economy and is cheaper to replace when the time comes.

These cars are actually built by Mitsubishi, and they're pretty good in my opinion. They tend to eat brake pads, but those are expected to need to be replaced ("consumables").
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1998 V70, no dash lights on

1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace

2004 V70 R [gone]

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Mantas
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Post by Mantas »

Thank you very much for the advice. Just one more additional question. I have tested one S40, and it seems that it is very hard suspension. It is almost impossible to drive on the bad road, it is jumping, and it seems that the car will fall apart. Is it for all S40, or it can be something wrong. Maybe there is a problem with the suspension for that particular car, or all the S40 are very hard?
Beside that it is very hard to put first gear and the CHECK ENGINE light is on. Can it be that the gear box is broken? The car has something around 110K km.

P.S.
Sorry for such silly questions but I want to know as much as possible about S40:)

Mantas

recycler68
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Joined: 23 February 2006
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Post by recycler68 »

I bought a W.reg 2 litre auto S40 abou15 months ago and used it for a month then converted it to LPG . Best thing i've ever done now i do about 400 miles per week for about

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matthew1  
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Post by matthew1 »

Mantas wrote:Thank you very much for the advice. Just one more additional question. I have tested one S40, and it seems that it is very hard suspension. It is almost impossible to drive on the bad road, it is jumping, and it seems that the car will fall apart. Is it for all S40, or it can be something wrong. Maybe there is a problem with the suspension for that particular car, or all the S40 are very hard?
Beside that it is very hard to put first gear and the CHECK ENGINE light is on. Can it be that the gear box is broken? The car has something around 110K km.

P.S.
Sorry for such silly questions but I want to know as much as possible about S40:)

Mantas
Sounds like it needs new shocks and perhaps some work on the engine or emissions. I'd keep looking.
Help keep MVS on the web -> click sponsors' links here on MVS when you buy from them.

Also -> Amazon link
. Click that when you go to buy something on Amazon and MVS gets a cut!

1998 V70, no dash lights on

1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace

2004 V70 R [gone]

How to Thank someone for their post

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Vermax
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Joined: 9 March 2006
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Post by Vermax »

Mantas wrote:Thank you very much for the advice. Just one more additional question. I have tested one S40, and it seems that it is very hard suspension. It is almost impossible to drive on the bad road, it is jumping, and it seems that the car will fall apart. Is it for all S40, or it can be something wrong. Maybe there is a problem with the suspension for that particular car, or all the S40 are very hard?
Beside that it is very hard to put first gear and the CHECK ENGINE light is on. Can it be that the gear box is broken? The car has something around 110K km.

P.S.
Sorry for such silly questions but I want to know as much as possible about S40:)

Mantas
I'm also looking for S40 to buy and i've read some books and sites and I can say that S40's gearbox is his weakest part. It's french(by Renault) and the most popular problem is to put first gear :twisted: or when something "scraching" when changing between first and second gear.
I suggest you should keep looking ... as me too :wink:

1atlantis
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Joined: 8 August 2005
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Location: Coventry, United Kingdom

Post by 1atlantis »

I've had a few S40s recently. All had hard suspensions, but when the time came, passed their MOTs easily. I would say this is a generic volvo problem.

As for the engine check light, I'd say keep looking.

As for getting the gear into first, I know the selector on the S40 can be particularly irritating. Which is why my favourite S40 was the Auto one I had. Though, yes, I know the replacement costs would feed a village for a month.

This is what I know.
I love S40s, V40s & Audis

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