Just put a deposit down on a 04 xc90

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 14 Feb 2012, 09:27

So I sold my beloved 99 V70 t5 SE yesterday and immediately went and saw this xc90. Wish I could have kept the V70 but insurance is super crazy here in Toronto especially if you have 2 cars.

Anyways, the xc90 is 2004 2.5T. It drove nice and has brand new Firestone tires on it. Brand new brakes. The mileage although slightly to the higher side, 220,000kms (approx 137k miles) on it but the car was clean. small dent on the passenger door which i will get taken care of with PDR.

First things first, I wasnt able to track down whether the timing belt was replaced or not, so that will be first thing to check/replace when the truck is delivered to me. At the same time I will clean the PCV hoses behind the power steering pump. Aside from that, I cant seem to find the transmission dip stick?!?

Cosmetically I will get the windows tinted down the line as well as renew the headlight lenses because they are fogged up.

I was told that this is the entry level of this model (ie no power folding mirrors) Not sure what else is not included options wise. I bought it because it drove nice and was clean.

Any advices would be welcomed greatly.

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 06 Mar 2012, 22:59

Just a follow up after more than 3 weeks. I picked up the car around 3 weeks ago. I only had 3 to choose from in my price range within 2 hours radius, and this one looked like the best deal. I work in a community setting and have gotten compliments from everyone who has seen the car. Everyone thinks i bought a $25,000 car when i paid $8,500 for it. Lets just hope i got a decent deal!

Anyways after i got it home, I first checked the timing belt and was surprised to see that the timing belt had fine cracks in it. It should have been replaced at 168,000 kms but either it wasnt replaced or it was and the new one was in this condition but that is hard to believe that the new belt would be in this condition with only 70000-80000kms on it. Its also hard to believe that the belt did actually last 220000 kms! I do believe than the belt was never replaced after seeing the condition of thepulleys as they were making noise as well. I went to pick up the timing belt kit at the local Volvo dealer and the parts guy told me to stop driving the car immediately, saying the engine could go at any moment!! Knowing this myself, I slowly drove back home and started taking things apart to replace the belt. While i was in there i noticed the water pump had a small leak as well so that was replaced as well.

Since then I have also replaced the rear emergency brake shoes which literally fell apart and were making a horrible rubbing sound while driving. I have also replaced the spark plugs, upper and lower torque mounts, oil change and air filter.

Currently on my to do list is searching for the cause of a clunk sound when coming to a stop as well as replacing the stabilizer links which i suspect to be bad. I have plans to replace the pcv in a few months as well as doing a transmission flush. I also plan on getting the windows tinted. Not sure if i should get the drivers and passenger one tinted or leave it. I might get the lightest tint on those and the rest 20%.

Overall the car drives very well and for a 2.5, it hauls for such a big car. the Firestone Destinations that came on the car are smooth and quiet and very comfortable.

Feel free to comment!

Post by **matthew1** » 06 Mar 2012, 23:07

huzzsaba wrote:I work in a community setting and have gotten compliments from everyone who has seen the car.

I would have been one of them. She's a beauty. Sounds like you know what you're doing with the maintenance, and given that, $8500 is a deal. And 137k miles isn't high. Average I'd say. Close call on the timing belt! Good thing you caught it.

Your experience with the white block motor will pay dividends with the XC90. Gotta love these engines. Good purchase! Keep us updated.

Post by **precopster** » 07 Mar 2012, 01:42

The XC90 is my ultimate family ride.

I've seen them here in Australia at auction houses as low as $11,000 but never less. They retail from $16,000 to $25,000 for a good example whether at dealers or privately.

Love the colour yours came in. Great purchase!

owl · Post by **owl** » 16 Mar 2012, 14:28

I bought a very similar XC90 a couple months ago. Same color, but my leather is black, my windows are tinted (not the drivers/passenger sides), and I bought it with 95k.

I also did upper/lower mounts, changed the stabilizer bar bushings, oil/filter. I also was having a clunk when coming to stop, it was very soft. It took me a week to get my wife to notice it. I could also feel it when accelerating, and when releasing/pressing the gas at low speed. It only happened when the car was warm, and it didn't happen on very very cold days (below 20). As it happened only when the car was warm, and it felt like a rough up/downshift, I thought it was the transmission fluid. I flushed with Toyota T-IV (same as JWS3309 but a lot cheaper), but nothing changed. After quite a bit of researching, I found the cause was the axle bolt getting loose. Re-torqued it and the clunk is gone. On S60s this is pretty common and the solution is to use XC90 axle bolts. Curiously enough, my XC90 didn't have the XC90 style axle bolts. Maybe they came out with the fix after my model year. I bought the new style bolts, but hadn't installed them yet. Anyway, it is worth checking, takes 5 minutes. Search for axle ping and there is quite a bit of information on S60s.

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 20 Mar 2012, 14:44

Thanks for the advice.I recently read about the service bulletin in relation to the axle ping and bought the revised axle bolt and the clunk sound is now gone. Hopefully for good. I only did the driver side. I dont know if these is one for the passenger side but no sound from that side.

owl · Post by **owl** » 02 Apr 2012, 14:40

My axle ping returned, so I went ahead and replaced the axle bolts with the new style ones. When I took the old ones out, they were all greased up. Were yours like that? It doesn't make any sense to me, as the first fix to the axle ping problem was to glue to bolt in place.

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 02 Apr 2012, 15:22

i dont remember if they had grease on them. did you replace with the updated bolt on both sides? I only did on the driver side and now i think i hear something from the passenger side.

owl · Post by **owl** » 02 Apr 2012, 20:45

I did both. First time I tightened just the driver side and still was getting the ping, then I tightened the passenger side and all was quite for a while.
Then it came back and I replaced both axle bolts, tightened to 50nm. I'm still getting the noise on the passenger side, that's why I'm asking about the grease I encountered. I don't know if I'm psyched or what, but sometimes I think I hear something similar on the back.