02 V70XC So many problems.. haven't owned a month

[nyurch]

Okay, I'm going to try to make this post as short as possible, but it's going to be rough.

I've wanted a wagon for a very long time, test drove 3 and never jumped the gun, then the timing belt jumped on my dd and as I'm replacing the head on my 99 s70 na, a neighbor says he'll sell me his 02 v70xc. Never even thought about it, at this point I was drilling out a stripped head bolt. Finally, got my s70 finally purring and figured I'd sell it to someone who has been hounding me for over a year and buy the wagon. I'm afraid I messed up guys.

I had to wait a week, po sent the dash out to get fixed because of typically p2 dash malfunctioning, I didn't mind, this guy was taking care of his volvo. I drove the car briefly before buying, but knew this guy knew his cars (he's building a baddass rat rod as we speak) and took her home. $2500, 139k perfect trans. (Now I can kick myself because when I drove the damn thing I was pretty much only concerned about the tranny).

Within a week: Rear brakes shot, rotors warped. Replaced. He told me spark plugs needed to be replaced, no big deal, did that (thought that was why it took so long to crank). Air filter compartment had more bugs and debris I have EVER seen even at the junkyard, cleaned, replaced the filter. Tried to fix a bad fob, and found that no, it won't work, only triggers alarm, but now I have the alarm system service message, along with the sunroof not working. Thule roof racks have no key, and when I was driving around 55mph the other day, one of the locks flew off to never to be seen again, I guess the prev owner tried to pop them off and stuck it back on there.

Within 3 weeks: Replaced the rear motor mount. Trans mount looks good- I have really bad acceleration when pulling into traffic or load on a hill. Control arm bushings are shot when looking underneath from the front of the car. I hear a bad click/clunk when going over bumps on the passenger side, only when 10-40mph and windows down, lol. I'm sure there's more but I'm sick of typing.

So- my alarm don't work, the sunroof don't work, still shakes like crazy when braking, especially on downgrade (control arm bushings obviously killed), I only have 1 key and a malfunctioned fob, clunking noise on pass. side, vibrates through steering wheel and driver seat when hard acceleration, takes a long crank to start, I'm probably am missing a few things.. but I honestly love this wagon and want to drive it for a while.

Note: for the sunroof issue, I have tried everything, I need to replace the alarm module. I'm going to pull 2 or 3 on Monday from the junkyard, pocket parts, but with my luck none of them will work

[Matty Moo]

I all honesty, that really isn't that bad.

[hansenjg]

I agree with Matty. Not a terrible list. I bought an 03 xc70 with 150K on it last year. Still catching up on some of the same problems. Mechanic told me the control arm bushings were worn. Said part is $75 but the labor was something like $700 because you have to remove so much to get to it. Instead I bought new control arms, new tie rods, ball joints, etc for both sides for about $500 (FCP EURO) and did the whole front end myself over a very long weekend. Made a big difference. I still have a thunking noise on the drivers side (much like yours on the passenger side) that my mechanic tells me is the spring seat on the McPherson strut. That is probably my next fix, but I'm going to let him do it, as I have had challenges with struts before. This past weekend I cleaned the PCV system, it was a mess. Might be responsible for some of your driveability issues. Again, it's a long day, but the parts aren't too expensive so I opted to do it myself. Still tweeking some vacuum leaks after that.

I still have a list of things to do (haven't started on the dash yet, needs a camshaft seal and timing belt, lower motor mount, and a few other things). But I'm taking them on one at a time and the car improves with each job. You only paid $2500 for a car with 130K on it, so that's pretty good. Put another $2500 in it and she'll be great.

[precopster]

Look for cheap parts as the second time you do this you may want better stuff when you can better afford it.

On Amazon control arms from Dorman or preferably Beck Arnley will sort the shakes (use the MVS link to support this site)

Have you searched for the cheap alarm module battery fix on this forum? Costs about $8 for two new batteries if the board is not eaten by battery acid.

There is a rear body module hidden in the rear luggage compartment (left side) which controls sunroof operation. Check the fuses on the rear body module.

Check the sway bar links; they usually clunk over bumps when only a litlle bit loose.

[regent]

If I may chime in, since there are Alarm System related messages, the Sunroof may be inop just because of COMM issues (the alarm module is dead, so the UEM would need to be re-sync'd to get back online once the syren's been fixed).

[GBS]

I'd be a little cranky too but at $2500 I suspect he knew some of these were issues on the car, I think you're still ahead. Personally I've done both struts and control arms myself. They're not hard but its a long day(s). I heard that FCP was going to make a kit to replace the strut, doing that would certainly be faster with no need for strut compressor.

Control arm were tricky for me, I used the strap method but the bolts were REALLY difficult to remove (the rear one in particular) but did eventually come off. I might go with just bushing replacement next time and keep my original control arm, that is if I find someone locally who can put new bushings in and not mess up the aluminum, AND if its an original control arm....

As far as bad acceleration, I had something similar on our XC70 03 and replacing the MAP sensor helped quite a bit, on mine its next to the transmission cooler so surprisingly hard to get to... on the V70 its by the intake manifold and much easier. I also cleaned the MAF sensor that's on the filter but this did nothing. I had no codes but sluggish, but MAP sensor replacement worked for me.

Vibration: I'd check if the wheels are balanced and ask the neighbor, if you guys are speaking, if he replaced the front axles or rebuilt the CV joints. I put a "remanufactured" on mine and it did just what you describe.

Personal preference but I wish I didn't have a sunroof, I never use it as I find it noisy, either cold or hot and sun gets in my eyes.... alarm sounds like a PITA, I've seen instructions on replacement and hope I don't have to go near that but not having a key fob would be annoying real quick.

I think you did good, hang in there and do one thing at a time, well maybe control arm and suspension at the same time since you're there.... I bet you won't regret doing it.

[abscate]

Personal preference but I wish I didn't have a sunroof,

Sacrilege!! My Admiral (SWMBO) knows better than to even look at a car without a sunroof or convertible. My Eurovan technically doesn't have one, but the top opens into a bedroom, so its gets a pass.Can someone point to the alarm battery replace thread? I think I need this on my P2 = occasional ALARM SERVICE REQUIRED message

Oh...



https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=17479

[oragex]

It must be a bit hard to buy a car and face so many issues all of a sudden.

On the other side, these are regular issues that most of us have already faced and fixed them by now, unless the previous owner has already taken care of.

The vibration and the sunroof thing are indeed annoying. I usually try the easiest things first. For the vibration, this would be checking the wheel lugs have uniform torque, and the calipers slide easily. The vibration at acceleration is either control arms, axles, or engine mount.

For the sunroof, the easier trick is to disconnect the alarm module or the alarm module fuse. Try disconnecting the + battery cable for 12h and go from there.

For the lacking acceleration thing that's more tricky. Maybe the turbo, or clogged injectors, or fuel filter, long list

[nyurch]

I tried everything with the damn sunroof! Disconnected the batt for 12 hours, took out the alarm fuse, locked and unlocked the car about 45 damn times, I'll get to that eventually, that's more of an ocd thing I have with things/lights working within the car.

I meant to write in my initial post that bad shaking upon acceleration into traffic or going uphill. I have good power, she's kind of a beast, just poorly mistreated in the past. The driver's side control arm looks fairly new, with volvo stickers still on it and readable. I am going to try to just replace the bushings for now. Pulling wheels off the front today. I know everything with the car isn't so bad, it's just the time to take to fix it all. Instead of going on vacation this summer I'll be in the garage.

No cel, no codes on my basic obd2. Some days it drives alot better than others, but that could just be my intolerance to the imperfections. Might change the fuel filter today, that appears to be easy enough, ha. I'm just spoiled with Volvos, never had one that gave me this many problems, other than my last that was just sold and that was only a cylinder head replacement because the tb jumped.

11098003_629027137232916_3030746886331173994_n.jpg (152.91 KiB) Viewed 1979 times

All perfect except my imperfect xc, the s70 in the back that you can hardly see was the one the got away. Not adding any until the xc is either perfect or crushed.

[GBS]

Sacrilege!! My Admiral (SWMBO) knows better than to even look at a car without a sunroof or convertible

Just to try it out again I drove home from work with it open, this day it was too warm so AC came on and hatch closed

I'll be really curious how replacing the bushings on control arms go, I replaced both my control arms with new at some added expense but the mechanic I knew recommended it over trying to replace bushings and failing... He said he only knew one who he'd trust to do it and he was in Portland but I wanted to get it done. I think I should have looked into it more but the mechanic is awesome so I take his warnings seriously.