Looking at a 1998 V70 XC, advice wanted.

SparksLP · Post by **SparksLP** » 03 Oct 2024, 21:22

Hello everyone!
I'm new here, looking for advice on a car. I found a 1998 V70 XC with 68,000 miles, clean carfax, seems to look good. I've never owned a Volvo, but I'm very interested in it. What are things I should look at or ask the dealership about the vehicle? Any pros/cons to this year of car? It's a few hours away from me, so I haven't had time to look at it in person. Claimes to have replaced brakes, steering rack, and 4 new tires plus oil change. I'm worried about rubber/hoses because of aging, anything else that might need replaced?
Thanks for any help on this one!
SparksLP

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Post by **abscate** » 04 Oct 2024, 03:22

Tough call. I wouldn’t spend more than $2500 on that, though

The 1998 was the first model for the viscous coupling AWD and most of the rear suspension parts and AWD PARTS are not available new, junkyard parts only.

Fuel pump replacement calls for dropping the entire rear subframe which can crack or be a real fight due to seized bolts.

I fought through my 99 AWD in a thread here called the Resurrection of Ekaterina

SparksLP · Post by **SparksLP** » 04 Oct 2024, 06:30

$2,500? That seems really low considering everything else I'm finding online is $3,000+ with double or triple the mileage. I'm sure I can't talk them down that much. There really aren't any aftermarket rear end suspension parts available? That seems insane to me...
Aside from that stuff, are the rest of these cars pretty solid?

Post by **850 LPT** » 04 Oct 2024, 06:53

I have owned this exact same car, although with higher miles. It cost me a fortune to keep the AWD alive, and like Abscate says, at this point parts availability is a real problem.
This car looks very well taken care of, maybe it was even garaged all it's life. But at some point the steel fuel lines on top of the gas tanks will corrode, at which point you need to drop the rear sub frame. Same thing for fuel pump replacement, but again you might be good for a while given the low miles.
Not trying to scare you, but these first gen AWD Volvo's are not for the faint hearted. You need some deep pockets and gain a lot of knowledge here.
It's a very pretty car though, I can see the temptation.

Dirk

SparksLP · Post by **SparksLP** » 04 Oct 2024, 10:12

Thanks for the advice, between browsing on here and a Facebook group post that was 95% "that car isn't worth that much and would cost more in the long run ", so I'm not going to pursue this one. Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out!

https://www.eclectic-garage.com/invento ... 70/457965/

I'm still interested in getting into the wagon club, what years/models should I look at for a daily driver?

Post by **scot850** » 04 Oct 2024, 10:23

The AWD cars are a challenge. Abscate had a few challenges with his AWD mostly due to lack of parts availability.

I had to pull the whole rear end out of the car to replace a corroded and cracked aluminum sub-frame on my 2000 V70R. Lots of pictures and notes in there. Fuel system and bushes are the worst issues as none of the fuel lines, rubber hoses, several bushes or fuel pump are available from Volvo any more. Even things like the brake back-plates that the parking brake mounts to has been NLA for about 10 years. So lots of junkyard searching. The other option is if issues fail at the rear, then you could do what on member did and remove the whole rear end and install the FWD car rear suspension.

I had a 98 and it was a good car once I got it sorted and good to drive, and great in bad snow. However, if you don't do your own repairs, I would advise against it. I guess if it is cheap enough, then run it till it breaks and you are maybe ok for a few years. Rubber hoses and fuel pipes are the largest concern, as is unrealistic owners wanting a high price for a low mileage car.

Let us know if you go for it and of course we will do our best to help with advice if it is needed.

Neil.

Post by **matthew1** » 04 Oct 2024, 10:44

SparksLP wrote: ↑04 Oct 2024, 06:30 There really aren't any aftermarket rear end suspension parts available? That seems insane to me...

I get the feeling that car makers don't want the old new parts business. Beyond the bell curve of the volume of replacement parts sales, it's a ton of overhead and management for small revenue. After a decade or so of the car being out of production, it's almost certainly a lot of work to store and track parts for little benefit. Just my opinion, not insider information.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 04 Oct 2024, 13:13

My $0.02:
Any vehicle this old you need to look at the years and ignore the miles. The seller may want to jack the price because of the low miles, but I think it's a suckers bet. A car from the north east is likely to have corrosion and you are right about rubber parts needing replacement. Rubber pasts include suspension bushings, gaskets and window seals as well as hoses (including brake hoses).
I would also question why miles are so low. Did it set for many years (bad for rings and valves)? Did it get all short trips (bad for parts that do not get warmed to operating temperature)? Try to get service records and Carfax.
If you get it, plan to change all fluids and filters, including fuel.
volvolugnut

Post by **matthew1** » 04 Oct 2024, 13:31

It could be a flood car, and with low miles it may have changed hands at dealer auctions for years to finally find a home at this dealer. A sucker looking for a sucker. Pure speculation, but a possibility.

Post by **scot850** » 04 Oct 2024, 16:00

Back to your question on what wagon to buy. How old do you want to go, and how do you plan to use it (daily/weekend/sunny days), and finally your annual mileage.

Next is do you want front wheel drive (FWD) or rear wheel drive (RWD)?

If RWD the last cars made would be the 940's and 960/V90 wagons. I think the last 940 was around 1995 and the V90 around 1998.

Tough old engines but the 4 cylinder 'red block' is nearly indestructible and take high mileage as long as maintained.

FWD wagons started in North America with the 850 wagon around 1994. The US I understand did not get the 10V 5 cylinder motor (we did up here in Canada), then there was the 850 20V non-turbo (NA for naturally aspirated = non-turbo) and finally the 850 turbo wagon which is sometimes known as the 'Sportwagon'. We did not get the smaller 2 liter engine here I believe. only the 2.4/2.5 liter 5 cylinder.

Wikipedia is a good place to check all this out using the P80 chassis, which ran as 850's from 92-97 and V70 98-00.

As of 97 Volvo had a HPT (high pressure turbo), a LPT (low pressure turbo) and NA engine in the last year of 850's. These carried on into the V70 with various tunes in the engine.

NA cars are good and are the easiest to live with for the most part. LPT I like as well as the NA's as a good place to be.

The HPT and also LPT engines can tend to be more temperamental and higher maintenance costs due to greater complexity.

Finally some will argue to stay to the -98 year cars as a lot of electrical changes came in 1999 with OBD2, a change to the airbag triggering, coil packs not a distributer/rotor arm/spark plug leads. Finally the biggest issue people make is the change away from a throttle body to an unreliable (Italian made) electronic throttle management (ETM) which tended to wear out earlier than expected. To me none of these are really an issue as any car 14 years old or older will have issues.

Then in 2001 you move to the P2 model. Many carry overs to the last P80's including the ETM. There was also criticism on the 5 speed auto trans failing. They are more finicky, but again it is mostly down to lack of maintenance caused by Volvo saying they did not need serviced. This has now been retracted to 50,000 mile intervals. In 2003 they AWD system changed to a Haldex system in the line of what Audi use. Again, these can be reliable, but so need serviced around 125,000 miles.

There are a smattering of manual trans cars out there. Caution on any 'R' cars as they are (as I well know) expensive to maintain.

The details are mostly right above, but there will be others that will likely correct details.

If you are able to wrench on your own cars then these can be maintained for way less than depreciation and car payments.

The warning is, any old car will need work, no matter what the owner claims. I would recommend having $2500-3000 set aside in the first year for al the 'forgotten' issues the previous owner had, and all the servicing that has been missed out.

I am probably mid-way through helping a young guy get his 'free' 02 XC70 AWD back to a good reliable car. It needs tires, a windshield and ultimately an exhaust. There will also be some suspension bushes to do. We have done the struts/shocks, all the rotors and pads and then we still have catch up servicing work on fluids to do. So far this has cost us around $1000 US. With a decent set of tires, aftermarket exhaust and windshield, as well as suspension bushes we are still about another $2000-2500 US to go. This car was running and driving when it was handed over!! Car also has close to 250,000 miles on it and came with a whole bunch of engine codes. The car is now running sweetly engine wise for an outlay of less than $300 in parts of which O2 sensors were the biggest cost. I have access to junkyard parts as well as a bunch I have as well as other local enthusiasts which has kept down costs. The there is my 'free' labor. I estimate I have spent over 80 hours on the car so far. The owner is now running the car while saving up for the next round of repairs.

I am not trying to scare you away, far from it. More is about if you want an old car (any brand) there is the 'real' cost of purchasing not just the money you paid to buy it.

Good Luck!

Neil.

Good Luck!

Neil.