Very low use/low milage 2007 XC70, need upkeep pointers

[JRL]

Aw gees your OIL temp has to warm up, not the water temp, that takes at LEAST 30 minutes of normal driving... (as was said).
If you don't do this, especially in the winter, SELL THE XC, don't ruin it

[Klech]

The water pump is generally replaced every second belt by Volvo dealers here in Sweden regardless if the belt is replaced due to age or mileage. The timing belt is 120000 miles or 10 years.

While it's correct that the power steering fluid doesn't have a replacement interval it doesn't hurt to replace it once or twice during the lifetime of the car. If it's still a clear green I'd let it be, if not replace. It takes about ten minutes to do yourself using a syringe to empty the reservoir, refill, drive around the block and repeat. Same with the transmission fluid, let it be as long as it's a nice clear red if you're looking to keep costs down. Coolant should have a specified life span of the corrosion inhibitors in the safety data sheet, somewhere in the region of 3-6 years depending on what kind it is. I think most normal people never replace it and obviously that works too..

As long as you keep the car garaged and don't do a lot of short tips in cold weather starting with a frozen engine I'd agree that an oil change every other year would probably be OK as long as you use a proper synthetic.

I personally wouldn't be too worried about a few cosmetic cracks in the sidewalls. That said tyres are also one of the worst places to try to save money since it's such a critical part for safety. I've had good tyres that were ten years old and still performed as they should. I've also seen almost new (but cheap) tyres look like your pictures pretty quickly and perform horribly when new.

An oil change every other year? That's absolutely insane you need to do it every 3000 miles or twice a year.

[Rattnalle]

The water pump is generally replaced every second belt by Volvo dealers here in Sweden regardless if the belt is replaced due to age or mileage. The timing belt is 120000 miles or 10 years.

While it's correct that the power steering fluid doesn't have a replacement interval it doesn't hurt to replace it once or twice during the lifetime of the car. If it's still a clear green I'd let it be, if not replace. It takes about ten minutes to do yourself using a syringe to empty the reservoir, refill, drive around the block and repeat. Same with the transmission fluid, let it be as long as it's a nice clear red if you're looking to keep costs down. Coolant should have a specified life span of the corrosion inhibitors in the safety data sheet, somewhere in the region of 3-6 years depending on what kind it is. I think most normal people never replace it and obviously that works too..

As long as you keep the car garaged and don't do a lot of short tips in cold weather starting with a frozen engine I'd agree that an oil change every other year would probably be OK as long as you use a proper synthetic.

I personally wouldn't be too worried about a few cosmetic cracks in the sidewalls. That said tyres are also one of the worst places to try to save money since it's such a critical part for safety. I've had good tyres that were ten years old and still performed as they should. I've also seen almost new (but cheap) tyres look like your pictures pretty quickly and perform horribly when new.

An oil change every other year? That's absolutely insane you need to do it every 3000 miles or twice a year.

I did say depending on usage and oil. A garaged car that's used very little won't wear the oil as much.

But 3000 miles is just a precaution to avoid legal issues with the really poor crude oil you call engine oil in NA. In Europe the early P2s have 20000 km and after 2005 its 30000 km intervals. Still yearly though. Enthusiasts do 10000-15000 km if they want to be nice to their cars. Again depending on usage. I do twice a year to get condensation and stuff out which works out to about 10000 km. I'd probably stick to twice yearly if I drove twice as long since that kind of driving pattern would probably include a lot of long drives that are easy on the oil.

[oragex]

It is interesting to read the information available over Internet - assuming it is accurate and in accordance with the specifications of the main dealer.

The difference in the oil change interval between Europe and North America which can be explained because the oil specified for the European vehicles is the 0W-30 - which is only synthetic (ACEA A3/B3/B4), while for the North American the oil is the mineral 5W-30 (ILSAC GF-4 API SL / ACEA A1/B1). That said, I would never keep a mineral oil for 12000km/7000 miles, unless I'm only driving for long distances in a mild climate.

scroll down on the linked page
http://www.volvohowto.com/volvo-s60-s80 ... l-engines/

[Rattnalle]

In Europe they went to long life Acea A5 oil in 2005 when they upped the interval. Though 30000 is more than I'd be comfortable with personally I think.

Before that it's A3 for hard driving and/or hot weather or A2 for regular driving though you can't really find A2 anywhere anymore.