2001 XC70 - Low Front Corner...

[RepairmanJack]

hey all! I've been taking a break from Volvo mechanics for some time now, but after falling in love with a nice low-miles 2001 XC70, I find myself looking at solving some new mechanical challenges.

First on my list in the odd sag that my new car has on the driver's corner. Either I didn't notice when I test-drove and purchase (and wasn't an issue when it was inspected for licensing) or I caused this problem somehow after I picked it up, yesterday. The driver's corner sits much lower than the passenger's corner. The rear sits very high, but as an AWD, I think that's normal.

First off... if the corner is sitting low, are there possibilities other than a worn-out spring? I know the C70 suspension pretty well, and it looks like the XC70 is very similar. From that knowledge, I don't that that much else could cause such a sag.

A "bounce" test is poor diagnostic tool, but doing it doesn't suggest any issues with my struts. The strut mounts also look good, there's no weird clunks or scrapes when I drive it.

So it's got to be the springs, right? What little I've found out is that the springs wear out on these cars and folks like to talk about pricey nivomats, but what's also jumped out is that there seems to be a wider variety of standards springs for these cars from places like eEuroparts. I want to restore the ride height to factory condition. So if it is the springs, what should I be looking at?

I've done the springs on my c70 and 940, so I have the spring compressors and know the drill. But before I order anything... am I barking up the right tree?

[oragex]

Assuming no spring is broken, could well be that previous owner has replaced a front spring with a fresh one. The XC70 are rather known to snap a spring once in a while. Either he put a used one - hard to guess which corner that would be, either a fresh one and the sagging corner would be the original old spring. Rust can be an indicator.

Same goes with the struts.