about to pull the trigger on a 2009 V70

[Clemens]

After 15 years in Volvo 850ies I am about to buy a 2009 V70 D4 as a daily with 300.000 miles for 2500 euro that looks and feels decent, my indie suggested this car to me.
Only known issues so far are that the heated seats seem to be not properly working and that there seems to be a problem with a rear seat belt that throws a message in the instrument cluster.

Any general problems known to this platform?

[Vova585]

Rear springs-they last ok in v70, junk in xc60.
Tailgate springs- failing around 100k or so.
Rear suspension trailing arm bushing is known issue.
With diesel engine the engine heater(if equiped webasto or similar) known to have respurce "clock" after which they stop working. You either replace the unit or erase the "hours" which is done at your own risk.
Heater blower motor- (thank you ford for trash) is lasting 50-80k and needs to be replaced. Luckily in v70/xc70 it is a breath in comparison to xc60.

[Clemens]

The P3 is more stable in electrical terms than the 2001-2003 P26, right?

Is the AC system, especially the evaporator, good or is this on the liste of things to need replacement soon?

Also, can the heated seats easily be fixed like on the p80 platform or will working on the seats cause Sips issues?

And then, Vida: Coming from OBD1 cars, I never had to deal with Vida. Is it a hassle to work with, and are there cheap solution to aquire or download it?

[Vova585]

With every newer car you will have more modules( computers) that are prone to fail. Unfortunately, there is no way to keep old cars running forever, so sooner or later we all will have to "leap" into more advanced mode. P3 cars are now looking totally archaic in comparison to newer cars with multiple modules for every item. Vida/dice is an essential tool for any volvo owner prior to 2016(i am talking about affordable chineese clone of Volvo dealer diag tool. Can be bought on ebay for $100 or so and will save you ton of money). My p3(5 cars in the family) is thus far very good. I am over the top with preventative maintenance (it is cheap to service items that to try to buy new parts). No issues with ac system yet. One ac compressor shows signs of leaking(3.0 e gine), but still holds charge for 3 last years. Some rust on ac lines(lanolin based rust protection hopefully will slow it down). No other big issies...yet(outside of scrappy rear springs on P3 cars, but they take 2 hours to replace for a person with beer in one hand)

[scot850]

Tailgate latches, any plastics that need to be unclipped will likely break, don't know about D4 as we don't get diesels, but for gas powered ones, overheating or coolant fan running on caused by the radiator fan controller failing.

Neil.

[Clemens]

gentlemen, thank you for your advice. I bought it the other day and registered it today without having driven it at all. For 300.000 Miles it drives quite decent. The 2.4D is way less punchy than my 850 T5 or R, but for twice the mileage and a superior ride quality i hope together some good years out of it.

[Clemens]

Btw., the fuel gauge bar and miles to zero counter act weird.
After putting 10 gallons into the tank i still only displays a quarte full tank on the bar display in the speedo and the miles left counter displays wildly varying numbers.

[scot850]

Is the car AWD? If it is is could be it has the saddle tank and only one of the 2 level sensors is working.

Neil.

[Vova585]

I agree with scot850. Depending on awd vs fwd, car will likely will be equiped with 2 level sensors vs 1. Since we are not fortunate to have diesels in usa, my knowledge of this is limited. I would try to go to volvo oem parts website for Europe and try to search for parts based on your vin. This way you will see if your car is equiped with 1 or 2 level sensors. I would not jump into any assumptions since the car is new to you and you dint know what parts and quality of work were used prior. I would wait until the tank is about 50% full based on your educated guess and try to open the fuel pump/sensor assembly. Usually it will be below the rear seat on the passenger side. You may need special key to open the screw cap(likely it is a plastic tank and plastic screw cap design). Remove the cap and inspect if the level is installed correctly. Remove and inspect potentiometer plate(black plate that level rubs on with metal prongs). If you see deep groves, wear- replace with new or used good part. If looks good- inspect wiring and use multimeter to try to see if the reading is proportional to the "full" /"empty" levels of the tank. Good luck.

[Clemens]

It's fwd.
I'll try to look under the rear seats and see what's going on down there once the weather clears up.