'08 Volvo XC70 D5 AWD

[Bailes1992]

I've purchased a known good second hand PAS pump for £60. Not looking forward to swapping that out again, but needs must.

Another issue we've had with the car is an "Engine Service Required" message. Plugging in a basic diagnostics tool showed 3 DTC's for defunct glow plugs in cylinders 2, 3 and 5. Weirdly, no engine management light.

I did a quick resistance check and found glow plugs 2 and 3 to have a very high resistance and glow plug 5 completely open circuit.

I whipped them out and it's quite obvious that 2, 3 and 5 clearly weren't doing an awful lot by how sooty they are.

So I threw in a set of Ridex branded plugs from AUTODOC with a decent-but-thin smear of FEBI 26712 (I recommend this to anyone for use on glow plugs, injectors, spark plugs etc).

And torqued to 8nm.

Good news is the DTC's cleared themselves on first start up, however we are still getting this message...

I've ordered a suitable cable for Volvo VIDA so I can look at whatever error code is causing this in more detail as clearly a basic ELM 327 isn't good enough and has led me up the wrong path. Or right path? Cause the glowplugs did need replacing. But not the path that's causing this error.

Those with keen eyes will also notice the SRS light on, that'll be because I had to move the car a few feet up my drive with the seats out and it registered an error and it will not clear. Again, VIDA needed so a worthwhile investment I think.

I decided to drain the oil. The stuff in here has been in there for 6 months and around 8,000miles so was about-due in my opinion.

Oil filter in a fantastic location and so easy to change too! Why don't all cars have top mounted oil filters?

Old filter...

New filter...

And torque'd to 25.5nm precisely...

And being that it doesn't have any low SAPS requirement, BITOG's favourite went in...

 

[Bailes1992]

Quick swap of the air filter. I was told the car was serviced with "all Volvo filters" but this was the old one...

Didn't realise Volvo used budget 'Blue Print' filters these days! That said, it was reasonably clean and I believe that it was changed 8,000miles ago.

In went a Ridex branded filter from AUTODOC...

Annoyingly, 3 of the screws won't tighten down. Looks like someone didn't know their own strength when they tighten them up. So that's something else on the list.

And then quickly swapped the fuel filter out.

Old filter out (was Bosch branded but forgot to take a picture)...

New filter in...

Current to do list in some kind-of priority order...

1. Replace front N/S brake calliper bracket, bolts and disc shield.
2. Strip, clean, inspect and rebuild rear brakes (for my own sanity).
3. Brake fluid change.
4. Replace PAS pump (again).
5. Gearbox service/oil change.
6. Bevel gear oil change.
7. Haldex service.
8. Rear differential oil change.
9. Replace rear drop links.
10. Wheel alignment.
11. Replace A/C compressor & re-gas.
12. Replace towing electrics.
13. Replace drivers front door locking motors and spring (common issue, sometimes the drivers front door doesn't lock).
14. Install spare wheel kit (this one is missing).

 

[meep]

Don’t lose hope. The car doesn’t have it in for you. You are going 5-star extra mile with everything you do. Flood damage wasn’t the cars fault.

Airbag light reset needs more than obd2, it needs a scanner which can talk Volvo. I assume you have one? Even disconnecting the wrong battery terminal first will set the code. I used an iCarSoft scanner with mine. It could read the signals and reset the airbags. Paid for itself. They make better ones now.

I wish we could get these in the diesels over here. I’d be all. over. it.

It’s a sharp looking wagon, one of the best. You did good, doing great, keep it up!

 

[Bailes1992]

Don’t lose hope. The car doesn’t have it in for you. You are going 5-star extra mile with everything you do. Flood damage wasn’t the cars fault.

Airbag light reset needs more than obd2, it needs a scanner which can talk Volvo. I assume you have one? Even disconnecting the wrong battery terminal first will set the code. I used an iCarSoft scanner with mine. It could read the signals and reset the airbags. Paid for itself. They make better ones now.

I wish we could get these in the diesels over here. I’d be all. over. it.

It’s a sharp looking wagon, one of the best. You did good, doing great, keep it up!

I know, it just feels like it. The car actually drives really well, so I'm sure there's a good car under there somewhere, it just needs a little love.

It's partly my fault, I decided to cheap-out on some parts which have bitten me in the butt. Example, the cheap Ridex boot struts are too-strong and when the boot is closing the motor thinks something is jammed as it comes to the end of closing cycle and starts to open again. It only needs a little push as it goes to close and at-least the boot no longer shuts on you randomly, but it's still frustrating.

I've ordered a generic J2534 and hoping to use VIDA, VDASH or P3Tool to read and reset the codes. I'll also need it to reset the fluid counter when I service the gearbox.

 

[Bailes1992]

Wooohoo, progress!

I picked up a second-hand power steering pump from eBay for £60.

Of course, being the sensible and forward thinker I am, I drove the car down a dirt track an hour before doing this job.

Belt off (again!)...

New old and old new pumps together...

And all in!...

Great news is the power steering is now totally silent, smooth and functional. In addition, the last few drain and fills the fluid has remained totally clear, so I'm happy the system is now clean.

I decided to add some Forte Power Steering Treatment. Forte are quite a reputable brand over here and I've used a number of their products in several applications with very degrees of success, but success none the less! The main decision for adding this product was to help condition the seals in the power steering system.

Nice to finally get a job ticked off the list.

Unfortunately on the way home from Bristol on Friday night, the O/S front wheel bearing started singing. I suspect it's gotten some water in it during the 'flood' as it has no play in it at all nor is it rough to spin. Although it is 'stiffer' to spin than the N/S.

Anyway, this month I'll do the gearbox service. Just waiting for my J2534 lead to arrive so I can reset the service counter. Then next month I'll have to look at replacing the front wheel bearings.

 

[Jetronic]

So here is where we are spending wise at the moment...

View attachment 244135

That's 5,251.40usd for those curious at todays exchange rate.

Hoping to have a well-sorted car for sub £5k.

no power steering fluid?

 

[Jetronic]

Not the next update I was hoping for, but my Wife came out of work to the car like this…

View attachment 245579

Quite a bit of water has found its way inside the car, luckily it’s limited to footwells.

View attachment 245580
View attachment 245581

I’ll wet vac it first thing in the morning and get a heater in there for the day. Luckily we have some sun forecast for the next week or so and very little rain. Little bit upset about this, not going to lie. I’m quite fond of the old bus already.

My biggest worry at the moment is the amplifier under the drivers seat. That said my Wife drove it home from work and the radio was just fine.

I’m glad I bought an XC70 rather than a V70. I don’t think a V70 would have survived this.

I wonder if the ZS floor would have been high enough, I think it's a bit higher than the volvo's?

 

[Bailes1992]

no power steering fluid?

I think that was done before I'd bought any. Current spend looks like this...

Reason for the odd quantity of ATF, I already have 5 litres of MVATF in the garage from when we had our Saab 95 that's unopened. I wanted to go with Maxlife but seems wasteful when I already have a decent quantity of this ATF already there. 12 litres in total should leave me with sufficient fluid to do 3 drain and fills.

I wonder if the ZS floor would have been high enough, I think it's a bit higher than the volvo's?

I think the ZS was possibly a bit higher. The XC70 is only an inch higher than a V70. Although if the water internally had been 1" higher we would have been in for a world of hurt as it would have ended up in the airbag module, amplifier plus a load of multiplugs etc. That said, the ZS struggled to start when it was dry so...

 

[Brons2]

Another enjoyable read, thanks for the updates!

 

[Bailes1992]

Started changing out the fluid on the gearbox. The gearbox was very smooth, although a little lethargic.

I purchased 7 litres of Comma MVATF Plus and a 10oz bottle of Lubegard Red. I had 5 litres of Comma MVATF Plus already on the shelf, meaning I now had enough for 3x drain and fills.

The fill plug was very very tight, so I'm assuming this has never been done before. I ended up having to adapt my T55 to a 1/2" drive and extend the ratchet up to a hight where I could really work it to get it undone, and when it went it went with a very loud crack.

First drain was jet black, but no adverse smells. What was really noticeable was the viscosity, which was like water despite being stone cold. I'm assuming it's sheared quite a lot over the last 148,000miles.

I then installed 4 litres of ATF.

I then ran the car cycling through the gears occasionally until the gearbox his 50°c.

And drained the ATF to level. This is the 'drained' fluid from the level procedure.

I then took the car out for a 10 mile drive. I picked a route with lots of gear changes and ensure all the fluid gets 'mixed-up' thoroughly.

And drained again.

And again, the fluid from the levelling procedure.

Interesting that the fluid isn't showing signs of 'cleaning-up'. The third drain and fill will be done in a few hours, but looking at the fluid from the levelling procedure, it's going to come out black. After 3 drain & fills there should be just 12.5% of 'old fluid' left in there. Regardless of colour, I'll be calling it quits after the 3rd drain and fill and resetting the fluid counter.

 

[meep]

That is some spectacularly dark fluid. Agree on 3 drain fills. Did we discuss an inline filter such as a magnefine?

 

[Bailes1992]

3rd drain still pitch black, although much more viscous than drain 1!

Popped a new O ring on the level plug because the old one was looking a little sorry for itself.

I wanted to change the washer on the drain plug too but didn’t have the right size, so just flipped the old one over.

Torqued the drain plug to spec and ‘nipped up’ the level plug for the final fill.

Lubegard Red in.

All the guides I’ve read suggest to add 4 litres of fresh ATF before running through the levelling procedure. However, both times I drained 1.3 litres during levelling which seemed a little silly. So this time I added 2.5 litres of ATF which when you add the LG Red brings the total up to just shy of 2.8 litres.

So when it came to levelling, I drained a much more reasonable 100ml.

And of course, I rest the fluid degradation counter.

But disappointed I never got the fluid ‘clean’, I think I’ll be doing another few drain and fills in a few months.

I will say that there is a marked improvement in the function of the gearbox. The gear shifts are faster and more ‘positive’, it just feels less slushy and more sure footed.

Hopefully the esters in the Lubegard will apply some love to the 16 year old valves, solenoids and seals in the gearbox and the improvements will continue!

 

[Bailes1992]

So Volvo progress has been slow thanks to me tearing my peroneal tendon. But there is a small update. The car is now over 150k and still plodding along reliably and happily.

When I installed the new air filter, I noticed the screws holding the airbox together didn't provide much confidence. I think only two tightened down successfully, some of them tightened so far then just span and a couple didn't tighten down at all.

I decided to drill out each of the screw holes and glue a yellow wall plug into each location. This worked a treat!

My Wife didn't like the wood trim, so managed to find some of the standard aluminium interior trim. It turns out the 'modern wood' trim we had is genuine veneer and quite rare in RHD models so need to get it on eBay!

I must admit, I much prefer the wood. The wood added a 'warmth' to the interior that the aluminium trims do not. But it's not my car so I have to do as I'm told.
I need to get my arse into gear and get some work done on the front end. I have new wishbones, wheel bearings and drop links to install, that along with wheel alignment is going to make a HUGE difference to the way this car drives.

I bought some 2nd hand hubs which I'm currently cleaning up. Figured getting spare hubs to install the new wheel bearings in will alleviate some stress on the day so I'm not running around trying to find a garage that can swap the bearings for me.

In the middle of needle gunning the new hubs ready for a coat of Bilt Hamber Epoxy Mastic.

You can see above where I've 50/50 needle gunned the rib facing the camera.

And again above you can see where I've needle gunned the collar where the strut sits and about half way down the section facing the camera.

Also did this while trying to get a box into the boot in IKEA...

So now need to find a new rear light cluster.

 

[Bailes1992]

Thought I'd do a little update, although it's not much. Really waiting for the weather to break a little bit so I can start swapping out the front suspension.

I want to give the front hubs a lick of paint for aesthetics reasons but also to have a play with a paint I'm hoping to use as a primer on the underside our Mini.

The paint is a 2 part epoxy mastic by Bilt Hamber which can be applied to mechanically cleaned rusted steel and dries to a rock hard powder coat like finish, in theory at least.

As in the photos above, the hubs turned up thick in dirt, grease and laminated rust which was all knocked off with the needle gun or descaler.

I applied Bilt Hamber Deox Gel to the hubs and wrapped in clingfilm for 24 hours.

This left the hubs looking like this with around 50% bare steel shown, some lighter surface rust or 'flash rusting' from the washing process and a little darker thicker rust.

I think another application or two and these would look brand new, but unfortunately I'm working away this week. So I broke out the citric acid!

It'll be interesting to see what they look like on Friday!

I think after this, no matter how much rust is left I'll be going for a coat of paint. I'm certainly far past the 'mechanically cleaned steel' requirement at this point.

 

[Bailes1992]

I left the hubs in the citric acid for 5 days and they came out looking like this...

The citric acid worked surprisingly well and I wish I knew about this trick many years ago as it would have saved me a lot of time and money in the past. I then washed them thoroughly in the sink with a wire brush, soap and water and dried them off in the oven...

I then mixed up some Bilt Hamber Epoxy Mastic and got painting...

Then baked in the oven...

I decided to go without masking up the hubs so had a bit of cleaning up to do. I used an angle sander and a coarse nylon roloc disc...

Then I got round to pressing in new bearings using my trusty vice and some Lucas grease...

And all done...

Just need some decent weather now!

 

[Bailes1992]

Didn’t take as many pictures as it was 1°c with 40mph winds whistling down out drive. I spent 4 hours with many many layers on like this…

I swapped out the O/S hub, drop link and wishbone with little issue. But the car had a new O/S shock and wishbone 3 years ago so it was little surprise really.

I went with Delphi wishbones and drop links as they seemed a safe bet.

I fitted a new disc backing plate as the old one was missing…

I also replaced the somewhat non-OE bolt improvisation from the brake change last year…

And all back together!

Took it out for a drive and it’s so quiet now that the failed wheel bearing has been swapped out!

Unfortunately I snapped the ABS sensor trying to get it out of the old hub so off to get a new one this morning and pop that into the new hub.

N/S wasn’t so successful. The pinch bolt for the strut is seized solid. My impact wrench won’t budge it and started to round it off with the breaker bar…

I think the plan here is to get new ball joint and strut pinch bolts and then I can remove the strut/wishbone/hub as a full assembly and I should be able to cut the strut pinch bolts to extract the strut. But that’s for another day!

I also want to replace the track rods and ends before wheel alignment. While they don’t have ‘play’ they do seem to be a bit sloppy.

But progress!

 

[Bailes1992]

It’s a shame there’s no easy way of conveying sarcasm using written words on a forum. If there was, I’d say something like “The ABS sensor installation went swimmingly well this morning.”.

Except I didn’t. A 10 minute job that should have involved popping a wheel off, shoving a sensor in a hole, screwing it down and sticking the wheel back on ended up taking me two hours after the mounting screw for the ABS sensor snapped clean off in my fresh new hub.

Managed to drill out the factory M5 x 0.8mm thread and tap it to an M6 x 1.0mm. Had to use an M6 machine screw with a hex head but couldn’t get a socket on it so use a grinder to make a slot to allow a screwdriver to nip it up.

So that’s all done, ABS light is off and all seems well.

Got a list of stuff in my basket on AUTODOC and will hopefully get the other side done next month now.

 

[dlundblad]

Good looking Volvo.

 

[Astro14]

Three thoughts on a job that went “swimmingly well”…

1. How did you snap the screw off? They’re torqued to like, zero NM. I’ve never broken one.

2. Do you have thread repair kits? I keep a helicoil set for 5, 6 and 8mm, at least, and Time-serts for when it gets serious.

3. Wouldn’t an Allen (internal hex) have been simpler than fabricating a fastener?

While sarcasm doesn’t read well, emojis, like an eye roll, sure help the reader to understand…

 

[Bailes1992]

Three thoughts on a job that went “swimmingly well”…

1. How did you snap the screw off? They’re torqued to like, zero NM. I’ve never broken one.

2. Do you have thread repair kits? I keep a helicoil set for 5, 6 and 8mm, at least, and Time-serts for when it gets serious.

3. Wouldn’t an Allen (internal hex) have been simpler than fabricating a fastener?

While sarcasm doesn’t read well, emojis, like an eye roll, sure help the reader to understand…

The screw was a bit of a nightmare to remove and I had to clout it with a hammer a few times which I'm assuming caused some fatigue. It took next to zero torque before the screw snapped flush with the top of the head. I started off by drilling a small hole and trying to knock a small torx into it to remove it but it just wouldn't budge. I then drilled a 4.5mm hole and tried to tap a new M5 x 0.8mm thread but it wouldn't hold so had to increase to M6 x 1.0mm which isn't the end of the world. I'd agree that a machine screw with an internal hex would have been better but didn't have one to hand nor a helicoil.

Just ordered new track rods & ends, pinch bolts for the strut and ball joint and another ABS sensor to get the passengers side done.