Preventative/regualr maintenance for S60 T5 w/Auto

[twilson380]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to MVS and new-ish to Volvo's (only owned one for about 2 years). So I was wanting to see what y'alls tips were for keeping these T5's in top shape. So, my wife picked up our 2008 S60 T5 before we got married with about 80k on the clock. It now has roughly 165k miles on it now, so I'm trying to gauge what else I need to do to keep this beauty running well over 200k miles.

Here's a list of what I've done thus far to keep it running ( previous owner wasn't good a keeping maintenance up, so it's been a Sh*tShow getting her cleaned up ) and just wanted to see if there was anything you guys would add to it.

• the obvious, Oil change every 3k miles full synthetic

• Air filter

• all 5 Spark Plugs

• PCV System replaced

• MAF Replaced

• Cleaned throttle body, intake, and intercooler while replacing PCV system

• Both front control arms

• Both front hub assembly

• both CV Axles

• Fuel filter

That's all the maintenance that I've completed so far. Is there anything else that y'all would think to through in with this?

I thought about doing a drain and fill on the transmission to try and extend the life (I don't believe the previous owner did it), but I'm a bit worried that would probably shorten the life. I know there are two schools of thought on this and with research on this site I think it will be fine to go ahead and move forward with, but I would be happy to hear peoples thoughts on this.?

I also have in my plans to change the timing belt and water pump, anything else to swap while I'm in there?
I might also rebuild the turbo as I think that the PCV system may have put too much pressure on the bearings and such. I found some decently priced kits to rebuild, but I'll take any advice on this as well.


Regards,
Tim

[oragex]

Not willing to launch a debate, but replacing a synthetic oil every 3000 miles is more like wasting it, unless the car is driven daily on many short distances. Even a mineral oil is still fine at 3000 miles on hard driving conditions.

As for the turbo, I would rather replace it - if needed - with a used unit because these are very reliable.

Changing half of the transmission fluid is an excellent idea - with the correct fluid type. The 2008 had the redesigned solenoids so in theory it was more robust for 'life time fluid' advertising. But we all know the fluid at 150k miles is not the same fluid at 250k miles, it certainly degrades at higher miles. It shouldn't hurt the transmission to run on half fresh, then maybe have another half change 6 months later. You basically don't have to drain the pan, just disconnect the upper line - check youtube - remove 2.5l, refill same amount of fresh, then repeat perhaps another 1 or 2 times to have about 4l of fresh at the end inside the transmission.

You may also check the exhaust mid and rear brackets and flange bolts, unless Volvo had upgraded these.

And perhaps a coolant, brake and p/s fluids flush would be a nice little present for the car

[Georgeandkira]

Have you inspected the handbrake shoes?

[abscate]

I think you are 65000 miles overdue on that timing belt.

At 165k, replace all 5 ignition coils when they come on sale. Keep your old ones as spares. Alternative method is buy one, and wait for the misfire code to hit, then replace it and buy another.

[Georgeandkira]

I don't want to launch a debate either but regarding the spark coils.....

Years ago, before doing plugs on V70 #1, I assumed the insulation of the wiring between the coils and their plugs would be hardened by heat and would crack away upon movement.
Wanting an idea of price I called a Texas based Volvo parts place and of our coils the fellow said, "We stock 'em and I've never sold one".
Indeed, the wiring resembled new, subtle silicone.
Never has a coil body 'burt through' or failed of function.
I'm not saying they can't, I merely report my trouble-free experience with them.

Grab one from a junkyard as a spare. Pop it in to check.
If something looks awry (i.e. all of 'em replaced with cheap copies) then plan accordingly.

[twilson380]

Not willing to launch a debate, but replacing a synthetic oil every 3000 miles is more like wasting it, unless the car is driven daily on many short distances. Even a mineral oil is still fine at 3000 miles on hard driving conditions.

I fully agree with you that you should be able to run full synthetic motor oil for well over 3000 miles, however, my situation is a bit different as the motor is ingesting at least a minimum of 1.5 qts per 3000 miles (Is this normal? I didn't think it was). While swapping out parts for the PCV system, I cleaned I'm not sure how much oil out of the intercooler (probably half a quart, I had to use av-gas to cut the more gunky stuff), more than what I wanted to see in there. I think the PCV system being clogged caused the seals to begin leaking in the turbo (however, shaft still felt somewhat tight, with very little play).

As for the turbo, I would rather replace it - if needed - with a used unit because these are very reliable.

I had seen a rebuild kit for about $150 online somewhere for good parts, I also saw a reman turbo from dorman for under $600, but i may look into one from a salvage yard if it's cheap enough.

Changing half of the transmission fluid is an excellent idea - with the correct fluid type. The 2008 had the redesigned solenoids so in theory it was more robust for 'life time fluid' advertising. .... It shouldn't hurt the transmission to run on half fresh, then maybe have another half change 6 months later.

That's good to know, I may work on doing that when I get back from my trip to AR. I've had a case of the Toyota ATF equivalent to JWS3309 (cheapest I could find around here) for about 3 months, but I've always heard horror stories about changing transmission fluid in autos, so I've been skeptical about actually following through with it. You've had a lot of great advice, Thanks!

Have you inspected the handbrake shoes?

I haven't yet! I did notice a difference between the hand brake in my car and my wife's. I'll have to check this out as well!
Thanks!

I think you are 65000 miles overdue on that timing belt.

I did take a peak at the timing belt at 100k or 120k and it seemed in great condition with no signs of fatigue, however, I did hear these are interference motors, so it's probably better to be safe than sorry in this situation. That'll be put up to #1 on my to-do list.
Thanks!

I don't want to launch a debate either but regarding the spark coils.....

lol, I hear you, I've actually only had to replace one so far, I notice the previous owner had attempted to remove them or something and had broke the female end off in such a way that it was still functional, but I didn't want to take any chances of it leaving my wife stranded so I immediately replaced it (and all spark plugs just because they were still original)
Thanks!

[June]

1.5 quarts of oil per 3k cannot be normal. I have owned two 2.3 5-cylinder turbo Volvos and neither used any oil between oil changes. Also both 2.9 NA and both 2.9 Turbo engines never used any oil either. My current Volvo is a 2004 S80 T6 which I got December 2003 hit 141K today and uses no oil between changes and still has all six of it's original coils.

I have always changed oil at 3k with full synthetic oil starting with the first new car I bought in 1986. Never have I had a pcv clog in any of the six white engines which includes the 2004 I still drive daily.

I was told by my mechanic at Volvo that the timing belt itself that Volvo uses on these cars is not what usually fails, but the water pump, or any of the other components the belt runs on/around actually eventually fail causing the belt to jump before the belt itself actually breaks. Of course damaging the engine.

When I had the belt changed on my 2004 I also opted to change the water pump along with all the rest of the components the belt touches and the thermostat and housing was part of the service.

June

[precopster]

I've had about 5 coils fail on 4 different cars but I always drive very high mileage cars.

Also I did a roadside repair of a faulty coil on a 2001 XC70 for the same reason. I stayed in touch with the owner for at least 6 months after the replacement (I used a Valeo brand on the day) and it stayed trouble free. Also another customer with a 1999 V70 non turbo has had at least 2 coils fail.

In the past I used to stock new rubber boots so I tried just replacing the rubber boot however I found that when they fail they almost always have a sizeable crack on the body close to the top of the coil so replacing the boot has little effect when they're arcing through the crack. I guess you could fill the crack with some epoxy and this may work but haven't tried it.
Some of them have failed with no body cracks.

Recently cylinder 3 failed on my newly acquired 2006 XC90 at only 177,000kms and the coil also had a large crack on the body. Boots were dry with no oil contamination.

Yet I have service customers whose coils just NEVER fail.....go figure.

[abscate]

June hit the timing belt issue exactly above.

You can run coils to failure or PM, both are good strategies that are dictated by use rather than fail rate. One of our cars is a 10 mile airport runner so we replace stuff as it break, the other cruise 500-1000 per week so it got all new coils at 100k, and a spare in the trunk.

I did 5000 mile changes on the P80, went to 7500 with synthetic and my PCV was about 10% clogged at 160k miles

Synthetic at 3000 is a lot of oil changes, do you save the old oil by any chance? Where do you live?

[oragex]

I was told by my mechanic at Volvo that the timing belt itself that Volvo uses on these cars is not what usually fails, but the water pump, or any of the other components the belt runs on/around actually eventually fail causing the belt to jump before the belt itself actually breaks. Of course damaging the engine.

When I had the belt changed on my 2004 I also opted to change the water pump along with all the rest of the components the belt touches and the thermostat and housing was part of the service.

June

I see most of your Volvos were P1. Was your mechanic talking about the water pump on P1 or on P2? Because the wp on P2 is almost never replaced with the first belt, even by most main Volvo dealers. This is important because all wp failures on P2 I've come across in the past 4 years on forums were aftermarket replacement units: people had replaced the original Volvo wp that could have gone until the second belt, with an aftermarket pump that failed within 30000 miles. To this day I haven't read yet about an original water pump on a 2001-2009 to fail. On 2001-2009 what 'usually' fails is the timing belt cracks and snaps when the owners neglected the replacement interval.