A couple who lives a few streets up from me has a 2002 XC70 which they bought about five months ago from an estate sale. The car has 188K and the interior and exterior is in very good condition. It appears to have all available options for that model. They hadn't been driving the car that much when at the end of April the oil pressure warning light came on. They first had a sensor (??) replaced and then the o-rings, but the light came back on after about 3 miles of driving. They do not have the maintenance history on the car, but know it was running synthetic oil. They suspect its the oil pump, but didn't want to spend any more money on it and have since purchased a new car.
The XC70 was offered to me for $1400 "as is". I know there could be a host of issues associated with that "oil pressure" warning and it does have 188K, but otherwise, it is in really great condition for a 2002. if the problem turned out to be something minor, I could have a great car and great price. But it could potentially be major/expensive. I am leaning toward offering $1200 and taking my chances. Should I step away, even at that price?
2002 XC70 Should I go for it?
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matthew1
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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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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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precopster
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Transmission is just about due for overhaul or replacement at that many miles. 01-02 valve bodies were awful.
Current cars VW Transporter 2.5TDI, 2010 XC90 D5 R Design
I recently bought a 2002 xc, and I love it. That being said, at that age and that many miles, you can expect quite a few things to be on the verge of needing attention. Front suspension, pcv, and transmission are just a few. If the car did not need immediate attention, it could be a worthwhile thing, but because you will need to spend cash from the get go, I would shy away. Also cars being sold with the "oil" light on, tend to scare me.
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tmcmilli
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I would also say stay away from it at any price, unless you happen to know an experienced Volvo mechanic who knows these P2 AWD Volvos, who can give it a thorough examination before you buy.
I bought a 2002 V70XC 6 months ago. Drove great, but other than timing belt and a couple of other repairs which the guy who flipped the car had done at a dealer, no service history available from about the last 6 years, and before that, only what was documented at a dealer on the car fax report.
It turned out when I had the transmission fluid flushed and replaced with Mobil 3309, that the old fluid looked like really dirty motor oil. My heart sunk. Fortunately after 2 thorough flushing sessions with only a couple of hundred miles in between, the transmission performs well so far (from 158K to now with 180K miles).
But, very early on I changed oil to Mobil 1 synthetic, and not long after that (maybe coincidence, maybe synthetic just flushing out some of the gunk in the system) I noticed oil leaking on the driveway. First I had the PCV system replaced which turned out was really gunked up so I thought, great, my leak will be solved. Nope. Next, the turbo was leaking oil inside, I had to have the turbo and all of its hoses replaced. Get it back, still leaking oil on the driveway. Next, the shop found another oil leak from a hose needing replaced, BUT they also found and showed me evidence that the head gasket needed to be replaced. So after all of that, I get the car back and it's still leaking oil. Grrrr. Finally they discover the turbo oil return line to the sump gas a small crack in it and only leaked under pressure. I think they had something to do with that last bit and I challenged that particular bill. I think everything else probably did need to be done but I also think that a more experienced Volvo mechanic could have gotten to the root problems more quickly.
So now it runs great, no leaks, and in fact even after these unexpected or much larger than expected expenses early on in my ownership, I still LOVE this car, and I plan to keep it long term. I'm just more aware of the fact that no matter how good the condition of a P2 Volvo is generally, they are expensive to own if you are trying to bring the maintenance up to date on a car that has been somewhat neglected and to keep it long term, especially if you cannot do all of the repairs yourself.
So I wouldn't dare start out with a P2 Volvo that you have no idea about the maintenance history plus what all else may be lurking besides the one problem that you know about; that is, unless you are prepared for the possibility that to fix the problem you know about and probably some others you don't know about yet, it might end up costing you a couple of thousand dollars just to make it roadworthy as a daily driver, with additional costs of hopefully a few hundred dollars here and and a couple of hundred dollars there of unplanned, non-preventive maintenance repairs to keep it over the course of time. That's just the reality as I see it from my experience and from what I have read so far that other people sometimes experience.
Hope this helps.
I bought a 2002 V70XC 6 months ago. Drove great, but other than timing belt and a couple of other repairs which the guy who flipped the car had done at a dealer, no service history available from about the last 6 years, and before that, only what was documented at a dealer on the car fax report.
It turned out when I had the transmission fluid flushed and replaced with Mobil 3309, that the old fluid looked like really dirty motor oil. My heart sunk. Fortunately after 2 thorough flushing sessions with only a couple of hundred miles in between, the transmission performs well so far (from 158K to now with 180K miles).
But, very early on I changed oil to Mobil 1 synthetic, and not long after that (maybe coincidence, maybe synthetic just flushing out some of the gunk in the system) I noticed oil leaking on the driveway. First I had the PCV system replaced which turned out was really gunked up so I thought, great, my leak will be solved. Nope. Next, the turbo was leaking oil inside, I had to have the turbo and all of its hoses replaced. Get it back, still leaking oil on the driveway. Next, the shop found another oil leak from a hose needing replaced, BUT they also found and showed me evidence that the head gasket needed to be replaced. So after all of that, I get the car back and it's still leaking oil. Grrrr. Finally they discover the turbo oil return line to the sump gas a small crack in it and only leaked under pressure. I think they had something to do with that last bit and I challenged that particular bill. I think everything else probably did need to be done but I also think that a more experienced Volvo mechanic could have gotten to the root problems more quickly.
So now it runs great, no leaks, and in fact even after these unexpected or much larger than expected expenses early on in my ownership, I still LOVE this car, and I plan to keep it long term. I'm just more aware of the fact that no matter how good the condition of a P2 Volvo is generally, they are expensive to own if you are trying to bring the maintenance up to date on a car that has been somewhat neglected and to keep it long term, especially if you cannot do all of the repairs yourself.
So I wouldn't dare start out with a P2 Volvo that you have no idea about the maintenance history plus what all else may be lurking besides the one problem that you know about; that is, unless you are prepared for the possibility that to fix the problem you know about and probably some others you don't know about yet, it might end up costing you a couple of thousand dollars just to make it roadworthy as a daily driver, with additional costs of hopefully a few hundred dollars here and and a couple of hundred dollars there of unplanned, non-preventive maintenance repairs to keep it over the course of time. That's just the reality as I see it from my experience and from what I have read so far that other people sometimes experience.
Hope this helps.
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