I am considering coming back to Volvo after giving my 940 and 240 to my sons some years ago, and am interested in a Cross Country. I have found a 1998 with 126K miles with an asking price of $3,700 and the following partial description:

"Exterior perfect, interior great. Will need tires soon and check engine light indicates a P0030 code, H02S Heater Control Circuit, Bank 1, Sensor 1.(aka O2 Sensor). Air bag light is also on. Have no idea of what it needs. Don’t want to take the time to fix everything. Need to sell for my sister ASAP."

Is 1998 a good model year, and given the above description, should I run away from this wonderful car/fugitive from the boneyard?

Any advice welcome...thanks.

My dad has this same car wtih ~150k miles and I have the 'little brother' with 200k miles(V70 AWD - not the XC package. Same suspension and everything, the XC has more options like sunroof, the sport seat upholstery, etc).

If you do decide to get it all the regular 'take-over' maintenance will need to be done. Full flush of all fluids including bevel gear and rear diff. Probably ready for doing the PCV system.

The AWD system is a bit of a headache but certainly not the end of the world. It seems like the age of my car (~200k miles) is when some of the more long-lived stuff starts to fail - fuel pump, rear wheel bearings, engine mounts, etc. It's probably also a good time to change the water pump (I did this alr eady) and start thinking about the cooling system rubber hoses.

Seriously this car is a DIYer's car through and through. Most of the work is doable at 'home' if you have a decent set of equipment.

If you're not a DIYer you're looking at the wrong car - this car will suck up a lot of money in labour.

My dad's car has had less problems than mine thus far (we've had them about the same amount of time) but his has a lot less mileage too.

Depending on your area, I would try to get the price down around $3000 even. Expect to spend ~$1000 in parts over the next year. Double that easily if you're not doing the work yourself.

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1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

Good advice...I am not a DIYer and will be moving to an area where I will not have a garage, so this car doesn't sound like a prudent choice. Thanks for your advice.

If I only had room.... Easy fixer upper:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/1519756183.html

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

The O2 sensor is an easy fix. The Tbelt is 'scheduled' at 140K but it was probably changed at 60K. The SRS light needs to be dealer checked, only the dealer can turn off the light.

It will need 4 new tires. The AWD bevel gear is fragile and the bevel gear box needs a hole drilled into it to help flush the fluid. That is IF the car still has a prop shaft, some have taken it off, so look for the shaft under the car.

The AWD presents lots of extra parts that can go wrong. If you dont 'need' AWD, look for a FWD V70.

The car is old enough to replace the oil separator and all of the vacuum lines. Check the axle boots for cracks, the struts are probably weak, the end links are probably shot.

It might be a good car, but without maint history it will cost a bit to get reliable. Consider spending a few more dollars for a better, much newer V70. Just avoid 2001-2.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

Klaus,
Thanks for your insight and time to reply. I will need to rethink the use for this car. We will likely be moving to Massachusetts in the near future and were looking for AWD capability due to winter driving. This particular car would not be suitable since I must have my mechanical work done at a shop.

AWD bevel gear - I owned a 2000 XC. I loved the car but the bevel gear went out at about 100K and it was a killer to have replaced at the dealer. I would have a hard time now getting a 98-2000 with that particular set up. My own issues but for some reason I always got flat tires on that car and they could never be fixed so it seemed I was constantly buying a complete set of tires for the car. I probably went through 4 to 5 sets of tires in 80K total miles we put on the car. I don't think I've had more than 4 flats on all my other cars in 30 years. Some coincidence.

If you don't know you must keep the tires all within identical treadwear patterns. That is, the circumference of the tires must all be the same. Therefore, if you have to scrap a tire you have to scrap all four unless you can do some tread shaving.

The bevel gear on our car went out shortly after my wife had to drive about 50 mi on the small spare tire. Late Friday PM when all the tire shops were closed about 25 to 50 mi from destination. Ugly choices and ugly consequences.

My rec is also to go with a straight FWD V70 unless you really want/need an AWD.

Sorry about the horror story, just one man's experience.

Based on all of the replies which I have read on my post, I may set my sights on a FWD model. Thanks for sharing your insight.

I also wanted to straighten out a couple of slight misconceptions about the bevel gear.

First off, the bevel gear does sometimes fail. That said I have a particularly well ignored example in my car, and even though I /thought/ it had died, when it was inspected at a trans shop it seems it's actually in very good shape. All the bearings are in EXCELLENT condition, and the gears show basically no wear whatsoever - at 200k miles! With a little love and affection these parts can last a long time. Keep the fluid fresh and CORRECT (Fully synthetic 75W-90 GL-5), and don't treat it like a 4x4 by doing full throttle power slides and the like in the snow.

Also, the bevel gear CAN be rebuilt. You do not have to pay for the new replacement from Volvo at $5000 or whatever it is. You can get a used (warranteed for life) unit from Erie vo-vo for less than $1000. Also, you can buy all the parts required to rebuild for less than $200 if you dig around a bit (bearings and seals - if the gears are busted or the shafts are bent or the housing is cracked, etc, you'll need another unit...).

About this tires thing -
it's true that Volvo wants all four tires the same size, so that it doesn't put too much stress on the bevel gear and/or viscous coupler. And it's also true that wear can be enough to make one pair large enough to cause enough stress to cause damage. However, as long as the tires are not too far apart in size and the larger set is on the front tires, you should have no problem at all, as this will bias all the stress out of the AWD system. Although I haven't tested this in any way, I would guess that if you had tires of the same manufacturer, model, and size (ALL three things), two brand new ones on the front and two mid-life tires on the rear... I don't think you'd have any problems at all. This is also why you should never use the small spare on the front.

I think it's much more common for the prop shaft (front to back) to warp/wobble and for the CV joint at the ends of this shaft to wear out and need replacing. Also the fluid in the viscous coupler does have a finite life, but cannot be replaced, and these start to fail in old age as well. Many folks are living comfortably with a replaced CVs, rebuilt driveshafts, and VCs that either don't transfer enough torque to really make a difference or are nearly solid and cause funny noises in tight turns, etc....

Also, you can always remove the center prop shaft (easily).

My father has started doing this in the summer as part of a preventative maintenance program to try to squeeze all the life out of his AWD system that he can. He takes the prop shaft out in the spring shortly after he takes his winter tires off, and then puts it back in when he puts the winters back on in the fall. Makes sense to me! When I get my bevel gear put back together (working on it :P) I'll probably do the same.

You can also completely remove the bevel gear if you like ( as I have). For added weight reduction, or to work on it separately from the car (like I'm doing).

Here are few threads on this board where I've discussed some of these issues in the past.


FYI Bevel Gear 1998 & 1999 have unique gear ratio

Removed Bevel Gear - comments on the job

info on bevel gear rebuild

AWD bevel gear oil

AWD Rear Diff Fluid Change?

AWD - Rear Differential Fluid

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1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+