Rescuing Geronimo the 2000 V70

[scot850]

Well as long as you are going into it with that approach then anything is do-able, but at what price.

A $2500 XC70 may not be a good buy you are correct. If it has no service history, and even if it does, you have to look at that carefully. Before we bought ours, I did not know there was a 'big' service at 96,000miles. We bought it at 88,000 miles. Service was somewhere around $1300 CDN which at the time was the same value as USD.

Since then we found the original owner passed on the trans flush at 80,000 miles. We had issues with OE front rotors and then a failed vacuum pump in the evap system. It had the 4-C shocks which were replaced about 3 years ago as well as the rear springs one of which broke. Also did front springs and seats as well as control arm bushes.

Rear muffler is a bad design with a piece of tin holding the 2 halves of the outer shield together. It has been replaced once an now sounds like it is going again ($700 CDN).

Just had the Haldex system serviced by Volvo which needed a new pump so was about $1300 CDN.

Timing belt was also done. Car has almost a full Volvo service history with some work by myself. It has only about 110,000 miles now.

Good Value? The jury is out. But the devil you know.............!

Neil.

[FireFox31]

Thanks, this is great info. I've begun planning to refer her to a 2006-2007 XC70, but this reveals just how little I know about them. Hearing "4-C" and "Haldex" in the work list makes me shiver. Maybe a simple, non-AWD, non-turbo 2006-2007 V70 with great snow tires would be the cheapest and most reliable for her. I'll turn to the P2 forum for used car buying guides.

It must be tough trying to buy and maintain a car on a budget. Cheap cars may be junkers and proper maintenance eats money. I hope we can get lucky and find a P2 at a dealership or (the unicorn which resellers always snatch up) from a private seller with a service history.

[abscate]

If you are driving the average 12000 miles per year, you have to budget 6k a year for new/relatively new and 3000 for good used.

You can’t escape that. The less money you have the more aware of that you need to be

[scot850]

Phantom post gone missing again! A 03-07 V70 NA is a good car. No 4-C or Haldex to worry about and 03 on has the better ETM. They also seem to be pretty rust resistant unless accident damage repaired.

You can also get XC70's without the 4-C. Our car has it, but I don't think any of us has ever used the 2nd setting! Shocks are expensive from Volvo, but you can buy Munro branded ones. They are the OE supplier. Why anyone at Volvo thought they made good shocks I have no idea.

Neil.

[FireFox31]

Geronimo's owner has very little budget to repair the car, thus not enough to buy a replacement. I found a $4000 2005 V70 NA with 150k miles at an Infiniti dealership which looks solid, but it's unfortunately too expensive. I've offered solutions to get the 2005 but I think she would feel better to continue pushing her luck in Geronimo.

I'm trying to determine which are the most important things to replace on the car. I'm pulling four calipers from a junkyard, will supply my nice used pads, will buy new rotors (and caliper mounting bolts?), and keep her recently replaced front hoses. One or more belt pulleys sound terrible and the timing belt is way overdue so I'd like to replace the timing belt, accessory belt, coolant pump, and the idlers and tensioners. The power steering fluid tank is leaking everywhere so that must be replaced. I'd do a coolant flush, transmission fluid drain/fill, power steering fluid flush, oil change, and replace the spark plugs. New windshield and headlights are required.

Then there are the things we're planning to skip or delay. This all makes me cringe, but she's essentially not had these things for years and still passed inspection. First are the parking brake cables, simply removing the worn shoes. I'll wait on the PCV and intake cleaning since it passed the glove test. Fuel filter and air filters can wait, especially since the airbox flap is probably stuck closed. I'd like to replace the rear (and aftermarket) brake hoses, but they can wait. Shocks, springs, and engine mounts must wait or perhaps never get replaced.

Even if all the mandatory work costs $1500 in parts and labor, it still seems better to dig deep and scrape up $4000 for that 2005 V70. I can't seem to change the owner's mind though.

[volvolugnut]

When you do not have the money, hope is the only available strategy. Been there.
volvolugnut

[FireFox31]

The rescue of Geronimo has begun in earnest. It was towed to the Makerspace where I work on my car. This lets me put it on the lift and have my car full of tools right next to it.

After two consecutive unreasonably long days, it has new front brake calipers, pads, and rotors. Time was consumed dealing with age/rust issues like a rotor locating pin broken in its wheel hub hole, cleaning rust off the wheel hub faces, and wondering why a rotor locating pin causes 9/1000" run-out. I also replaced the power steering tank and fluid, swapped in some simple used parts, and dismantled the center console to clean the shifter.

I could use help on one worrisome problem. Whenever I start the ignition, sparks fly off the battery negative post. That post has two additional grounds added to it. One goes to the engine, replacing broken grounding straps. The other goes to a grounding point by the fuse box. The negative cable is broken at the transmission (I have a replacement). Could these alterations have something to do with the sparks? How could I begin to diagnose and resolve this one?

Both Geronimo's owner and I thank you all.

[abscate]

Sparks from the clamp? Wow. Where do the originate and where do they terminate?

Is the negative terminal clamp and post clean to shiny metal?

[volvolugnut]

The sparks sound like a poor contact and the sparks are the electrons jumping the gap. Clean and tighten the connections.
volvolugnut

[abscate]

12 volts isn’t enough to ionize air and jump a gap. There is dirt or some kind of wiring fault