Hello,

After teetering on the brink of exiting volodom, we found and fell in love with a gorgeous V70 AWD. It comes from a Euro car dealer in Toronto and I bought a 2 year powertrain warranty and added the seals option. Should have bought some more options, but it kept adding up.
At any rate where should I start with the maint. program to keep her running A1. I just had the oil changed and will probably switch to synth. after the warranty (when I can do it). A tranny flush and filter is soon and so will the timing belt and a rust protection treatment will be next week. Service history is unclear as there are few stamps in the book.
There are no known problems, though the ride is less than stellar (pretty rough at low speeds over bumps- my Subaru with light truck tires rides smoother!) How is the ride intended to be?

Mike

Nothing further to add, but I am curious why you went Swede from Asian ?
Den
98 AWD 140 kilo
(89 245)

I've owned/own some older Volvos (740,240) and fell in love with the first one I bought about 7 years ago. About 2 years ago I needed to replace an aging Isuzu and went looking for a decent 850 wagon. None were available locally so we travelled to Toronto (2hrs away) to find one, after losing 2 cars to other buyers we got a little exasperated and came upon a Limited Outback that turned out to be one of the best cars I have owned! Now when the 740 has begun to show age and have some issues we started looking again- initially it was minvians, but neither my wife or I could swallow having one despite how practical they would be. So V70s became feasible and after looking at a few we settled on the 98 we purchased last week. The car is great all around, just a little bumpy, rougher than my 740 ever was when all the susp. was in good shape. To be honest, if Subaru made a car that was bigger than the Outback or Forrester I probably would have bought another simply because of the great experience I have had with ours, but my heart will always belong to Volvos.

Mike

Expect to put $2000 into it the first year just to get it up to snuff. Rough ride, yes but sporty though! If you want plush slop (boat), get a Lincoln Continental.

BB

THANKS!

Sporty is right- I almost had a stroke when I floored it on the highway last week while passing some "youts" in a VW!!!!!!!

I'm checking the tire pressure this afternoon, but I've noticed that it doesn't ride as smooth as my old 740 did when it was newish! Hopefully just tire pressure!

Mike

Welcome to the V70 club. Check your tire pressure, you want 32-35 in all four. If you are running 40lbs, you will get a rough ride. Make sure all 4 tires are the same size/brand otherwise you will have awd problems. It is almost due for a new timing belt, pull the cover off and check it for cracks, etc. Do not exceed 130K Km with the original belt! Very few issues with this car, just drive it.

Klaus
--
98 V70Rawd(101Kmi), 95 854T(85K mi), 75 164E(173K mi)

Thanks Klaus.

Tires are all Michelins, I'll check the pressure later. I know the garage who changed the oil last week adjusted the pressure. Maybe it's too high!

In the meantime I'll continue to run out to polish it every time I see a speck of dirt on her!!!!!!!!

Mike

Congrats on your new purchase. You can call your local Volvo dealership and give the service advisor your VIN to see if it has been serviced there. If so, then they should have all the service records that have been done at their dealership in their system. Have you owned a Volvo before? How many miles are on the car you purchased? I just bought a '98 V70 AWD with 102k miles on it. The car is rock solid. It drives like a brand new car. Most of the service book was stamped and I called one of the local dealerships and gave them the VIN. Everything checked out great with all services done including timing belt change. Enjoy your new ride.

Malmo99

'83 240
'92 745
'96 850
'98 V70 I love these cars!!!

Thanks. I did call Volvo Canada and all they would say is that there are no outstanding service campaigns. I'll try and call the Volvo dealer itself and see what they will tell me. This is Volvo number 4 (740, 760 & 240) but it's nothing like the 740 I honed my mechanical skills on for the past 7 years! I'm a little nervous with it as I've read all the horror stories associated with the V70 (bevel gears, a/c, engine seizing) and want to do whatever I can to avoid a catastrophic problem. I used to baby my 740; synth oil, volvo filter, bosch plat. plugs, had some turbo plumbing replaced with custom chromed pipes, weekends at the boneyard searching for upgrades, but eventually she aged and the problems became too numerous to fix and too costly to justify given her age. Now she is parked in my drive until the thaw when I'll sell her. This new V70 has only 102,800 Kilometers or about 60k miles. How is the suspension or ride on your V70? I find mine to be very chattery over the bumps at say about 30-50 km/h. I won't be surprised if the suspension needs some attention- I've had a less than stellar first week with the lot I purchased it from- already have an oil leak that needs attention.

Mike

Congrats,

I have a 98 NA V70 with 110k miles. I'd check the rear shocks for bounce, change the timing belt at 70k, check the engine mounts, check/flush the brake fluid and anti-freeze. Expect the ABS module to go out at about 90k. The rear door locking mechanism is notorious for breaking if the door-handle is pulled while being unlocked with the remote. VolvoSpeed has some info on this. If the gas pedal sticks, clean the throttle body. There are also a couple of rubber vacuum line connectors (elbows) that tend to rot.

Most of my problems have been minor, but numerous.

Have fun. There's a lot of work you can do yourself on a '98. I'm glad I don't have to deal with VADIS.