Keep or sell 1998 V70 T5?

paulklee · Post by **paulklee** » 30 Jun 2017, 18:39

Letter to Matthew's Volvo

Should I stay or should I go now...
I'm sitting on the fence trying to side whether to put another six or $700 into my Volvo or not

I have had a 1998 Volvo V 70 T5 for five years now
I'm right at that point…
I just put in new struts in the front – my buddy who help me with it told me the bolts should be replaced sometime "soon" where they bolt- into the wheel spindle
Pulled into a parking space and had to turn the wheel real hard to the right her to groaning noise and all the sudden bang – the half axle broke off -I felt very lucky – 10 minutes earlier I was flying down a Chicago expressway at 75 and had the bolt broken then… Well
-$120 tow later and the new half shaft and now I'm looking at this car that I used to love
I have a buddy who helps me work on the cars otherwise I couldn't afford to keep it
I am seriously considering selling it even though it still looks quite beautiful
It needs from what I can tell
Either a new turbo or work on the turbo – there is no boost
Fumes keep getting into the cabin of the car
Needs a timing belt timing belt cover and a waterpump
I was getting a check engine light code for smog pump which has mysteriously gone away – I'm not complaining – I just wonder when it's going to rear its ugly head again
Needs new tires in the front
Power steering pump is starting to sound whiny
The dashboard of course sounds like a sink full of silverware going down the garbage disposal
When I think about once again buying more parts for this car I question my sanity
It's writing very smooth at the moment which I have come to not trust
I really want to stay in Volvo world and I do believe this car is a classic I'm just looking for any input!
And thank you for all the help this website has been

Post by **scot850** » 30 Jun 2017, 21:12

While it may have been easier to start a new thread, I will give my opinion. I am (hopefully) reaching the end of a large resurrection of a badly maintained 2000 V70 base. It has cost me way more than I had hoped, but the PO had beaten the poor car so badly and had dumb ass cheap mechanics work on it who did more harm than good. Many of the repairs were unnecessary if the work had been done correctly in the first place. You have the advantage that you know the history of the vehicle and what has been done on it for the last 5 years. The way I view the process is I have spent about $3000 CDN stage '0' ing the car. Overall the car owes me in the region of $4000. But what do I now have. I have a car that has been gone through front to back, and while I am not stupid enough to think it will not need more work over the next few years, it has little depreciation left in it to worry about. I don't do a big mileage so buying something new is crazy as the depreciation is a killer. My wife has a car we bought new 2 years ago. I'll guarantee it has cost us more than this car will over the next 2 years in depreciation and will continue to do so. Add to the fact the people that I live in Calgary where the majority of drivers are a stupid bunch of careless assholes when it comes to others cars, having a new car would bring me endless stress. So what I would suggest is look at what it would cost to bring the car back to good using use and new parts v's what it would cost to buy a newer vehicle.

I reckon buying a Volvo over 5 years old will likely cost you $2-3k in repairs you never knew it needed in the first year added to the depreciation loss, you are possibly better off keeping the devil you know. I am looking at buying a Volvo SUV, but the dealer says they seldom resell them as the repairs are too high to make any profit on them so they send them to the local auctions in the hope of breaking even.

I wish you luck whatever you decide to do.

Neil.

rocketman4321 · Post by **rocketman4321** » 01 Jul 2017, 21:31

It's obviously a personal decision, and I'm biased because doing my own work makes it cheaper to "keep". A comparable new car (nice leather, drives well, big trunk, etc.) will easily be $300-400 per month, plus taxes and insurance. But it's new, and under warranty. A few year old used car might be half as much, but as scot850 points out, it'll need at least some work. No car is cheap to own, but, despite the bumps, an older car is often cheaper, and you'll know what it needs.

paulklee · Post by **paulklee** » 02 Jul 2017, 00:01

Thank you for the input.
I'm concerned about the turbo on this 98 V70 T5. - not sure if lack of boost is a sign it's completely failing and needs to be replaced or if it can be repaired without a huge expense. And has virtually no boost anymore
If I decide to keep it which I think is more likely now that I've read this posts, I'm looking at timing belt replacement, timing belt cover replacement ( also the bracket on the bottom of the timing belt cover, which I believe is called a "rear backing plate timing belt cover " seems to have mysteriously falling off the bottom of the timing belt cover.
Someone told me this was incredibly important to replace ASAP but that if you do this you might as well replace the timing belt at the same time-
any info on this particular part would be most helpful!!
Anyway the idea of doing the timing belt and then having to replace the turbo seems quite daunting
But then again ...
The car still looks fantastic and that does count
(And sorry about the "text talk" misspellings

on previous posting !)
Thank you

Post by **abscate** » 02 Jul 2017, 00:39

It's much more likely, 20:1 odds, that lack of boost is caused by something other than the actual turbo failure. Boost is controlled by the ECU and any number of failures will cause the ECU to inhibit boost

Post by **theWIFES_S70** » 02 Jul 2017, 09:03

Wow, your strut-to-knuckle bolts snapped?

Is this the first recorded occurrence of this issue...

I could understand why you're thinking of parting ways. A Camry or an Accord will almost ALWAYS be more affordable to maintain, but then you'd be driving a Camry or an Accord!

paulklee · Post by **paulklee** » 02 Jul 2017, 12:32

Thank you for your replies! Yeah it was quite a shock when the bolt snapped and the wheel completely collapsed
We were just really fortunate that happened in the parking lot and not on the expressway !
I'm still debating what to do – hoping to find a answer to how important this "rear backing plate timing belt cover "
Is. Has anybody out there ever dealt with one of these breaking off and how important is it to replace ASAP ?
Thank you!

Post by **j-dawg** » 02 Jul 2017, 13:45

If it's what I think it is, it's not hard to replace and doesn't take anywhere near as much work as the timing belt. You can pretty much remove all of the timing belt covers in a few minutes, though you have to do some finger acrobatics to get the bottom cover back on.

It's not great, but I've been driving around without any timing belt covers on for the last week or two and there's been no disasters. Make sure the area is clear of hoses and connectors and you'll be all right.

Post by **mecheng** » 04 Jul 2017, 08:38

What is the mileage on the car?

paulklee · Post by **paulklee** » 06 Jul 2017, 01:09

Odometer and speedometer are broken as of 2 months ago
Odometer reads 210,000
It's running strangely smoothly – I think it knows that I'm thinking about selling it