'08 Volvo XC70 D5 AWD

[Bailes1992]

My Wife's 6 month old MG ZS went back to the dealer on Friday and needed to be replaced.

My Wife said she'd had enough of new cars and wanted to go back to a beater for a little bit while she contemplated her options. We decided it needed to be Sweedish or German, have an old-fashioned slush-box and a big diesel engine. I scoured Facebook marketplace for options when I came across a 2008 Volvo XC70 SE Lux D5 AWD Geartronic in ruby red with black leather just 20 miles away.

I went on Friday to go take a look. It wasn't quite as tidy cosmetically as I was hoping, but when I got underneath I was greeted by a totally dry underside with no signs of any leaks, bangs or rust. The suspension was tight, with a lot of new parts on show and no signs of wear in any bearings etc. The engine fired right into life despite the car having sat for several months and it drove very well with no real surprises other than stuff the previous owner has already warned about. There was also a nice little pouch of service history and receipts including a timing belt change 3 years ago and 4 brand new Uniroyal all season tyres.

I managed to negotiate down to £3,450 or ~4600usd at today's rate.

For some reason, the previous owner (or one of them) has sprayed the alloys with bedliner which looks utterly horrendous. Not sure if I'm going to stump up the cash to get them professionally refurbished or if I'll rattle can them. They are quite offensive to look at though.

There's quite a few jobs that I'll be doing on this so if people are interested I'll probably use this as a diary as I do my Duster.

 

[joegreen]

Sweet looking ride

 

[AZjeff]

That seems like a good price. How many km/mi?

Was the MG a lemon or did you sell it back as a used car?

 

[Oillover]

Congrats on the purchase!
Those Volvo's generally last a very long time, so it's more of an "investment" than a "purchase"

 

[Astro14]

Solid car. Great price. Congrats!

And, please, for the rest of us, fix those wheels!

 

[fantastic]

Wonder if some paint stripper spray could remove the black layer off the wheels, then lightly sand, polish, then clear coat. You lucky dogs get the diesel burners. Enjoy, & sounds like it fit the bill for now. Nice not to need to travel too far out as well.

 

[meep]

I mean, when it was done the wheels probably looked not-so-bad, within the context of that kind of look. But yeah… I’d see how easily it comes off, maybe with a gas-powered pressure washer you might get lucky? If they didn’t prep the paint well it might flake off.

Great looking Volvo and you picked it up for a steal. Wish we had the diesels here.

 

[Bailes1992]

That seems like a good price. How many km/mi?

Was the MG a lemon or did you sell it back as a used car?

147,000miles on the clock. Around 300 of those we've put on it ourselves.

MG basically went back as a 'lemon' but we don't have lemon law in the UK, just the Sales of Goods Act 2015 that states any product purchased must be fit for the purpose intended and how businesses must deal with the situation if that proves not to be the case.

Congrats on the purchase!
Those Volvo's generally last a very long time, so it's more of an "investment" than a "purchase"

Yeah, I see a handful every day that are a good few years older than this one. I am starting to wonder if it will be something that hangs around for a while. As long as it proves to be reliable and doesn't leave anyone stranded then I can't see why not.

Wonder if some paint stripper spray could remove the black layer off the wheels, then lightly sand, polish, then clear coat. You lucky dogs get the diesel burners. Enjoy, & sounds like it fit the bill for now. Nice not to need to travel too far out as well.

I am planning to attack the wheels with some paint thinner first. Even if for-now I could remove the bed liner. It looks dreadful! If I could remove the DIY tints and paint the wheels silver again then the car would look 100x better than it currently does.

 

[Kira]

Best of luck with it! May I mention a few things...both good and bad?
You're likely aware of many.

Do a trans. drain & fill at the very least. You can assess the condition of the fluid (yeah, yeah, sight & smell ain't hard science).
Check the coolant as 17 years is beyond the "15 year life" we associate with the top-quality Volvo coolant.
I don't know the Euclid chassis, but control arm bushings on the P3 would be weakening if not perished by now.
I abhor the motorized fob swallower of that era Volvo...completely worthless toy. At least the 70 series cars didn't have the fantastically foolish pop-up screen.
I've read the HVAC blower is particularly well buried on the "P3".
Yours came with a dog guard! Great.
The 3.2 came with the READ (Rear Engine Accessory Drive) unit. There's a vacuum pump (on the petrols in No, America, at least) which has a seal which needs periodic replacement.

Also, the AWD unit is serviceable. There's a filter and fluid involved.

I do not know the solvent to clean off bed liner. Paint thinner might not touch it.
Something like lacquer thinner might eat into whatever clear coat was left on the wheels.
Dig deep into one wheel and see what shakes. Sand/bead/soda blasting might be your only route.

Note of Empathy: I pointed a kid to a very serviceable 2010 Honda I had maintained for >7 years. He painted the wheels black thus turning an invisible 4-door sedan/salon into a police target.

The kid is 18 and is wacky.
When he told me "...all these scratches came from driving through a fence", I cried.
Don't drive through fences with your new beauty.

 

[Oillover]

As for the wheels, I'd suggest checking out the local classifieds/craigslist/facebook marketplace.
Many post wheels and tires for Volvo's currently.
It would probably cheaper and easier to upgrade over refinishing the current wheels.

 

[fdcg27]

So you gave up on the Chinese MG and have gotten this Volvo as its replacement?
The price was certainly right, but this car is a long way from new in years and miles.
Your posting this as a diary thread would be welcome, since I know that I along with a number of us would be interested in how things go with this car.
Good luck with her and the car does look good.

 

[Bailes1992]

So the first job is out of the way but needs to be revisited.

I noticed in its last MOT (annual roadworthy test here in the UK) that there was an advisory for work front brakes, so I planned to change them. They were however, totally shot. There was significant vibration under braking and late last week we started to hear the noise of metal on metal from the front pads.

I started removing the front O/S brakes.

Unfortunately it was at this point a 1-2 hour job resulted in me driving around for 3 hours trying to find parts.

The bottom bolt of the calliper carrier had been cross threaded and I assume, gunned in with an impact.

After trying a few Ford and Volvo dealers, then some other car parts shops I came up short of a replacement bolt.

I ended up in a small hardware shop in Bridgend who sold me an M14 x 2.0mm tap and a suitable set bolt. The only issue being the unthreaded part of the set bolt (I’m sure it has another name, I just don’t know it) was a bit longer than the bolt from the car. Nothing a few washers couldn’t fix!

So I tapped out what was left of the thread on the calliper carrier, and tried the new bolt for size.

The new bolt was then cut down to size with the angry wheel.

I attacked the carrier with a needle gun followed by a wire brush and reassembled with some thread lock.

 

[Bailes1992]

And same again on the N/S except I didn’t take any pictures.

And the old pads…

Things to note…

Grub screws were missing from both discs.
Brake disc shield/backing plate missing from O/S brakes.

I’ve ordered a new carrier from a breakers and brand new carrier bolts from the dealer. I’m going to order a new backing plate late this week and revisit this job again. I’ll give the callipers a lick of paint while I’m at it.

 

[Kalle.J]

Nice estate!

Should be time to be thinking about new brake hoses after 16 years. Might need heat the get them off the break line.

Oh and here is a digital bluetooth adapter (fiber optic) with steering wheel control
https://www.mr12volt.com/products/p600-lp1606vo

 

[Kalle.J]

I always recommend putting 2K clearcoat on the headlights, they are expensive and very hard to change the plastic lens.

Looks like you need this aswell
https://www.skandix.de/en/spare-par...21ROSDKNlASvOSnpCpxGidQE7I7sRP9_ZLRuWZgSCq0qw

 

[meep]

Such a sweet ride. Love these! These could become true classics, a thing which is mostly years past.

 

[Bailes1992]

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

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

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

 

[Kira]

I have a detailed advertising piece about your car.
However, I cannot get it (a pdf) to link onto this post.
How does one do that?

 

[Astro14]

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.

That includes the purchase price as well, doesn’t it? Because the math doesn’t add for the displayed costs…

Also, I did not see a caliper bracket on there. You drilled it out and used a larger bolt, right? Will that pass an MOT like that?

I can get a caliper bracket over here for about $25 (20 euro) - and I would really recommend a replacement. Get one from a breaker/used car parts/ebay, whatever. They don’t wear out, so, used is great.

 

[Bailes1992]

That includes the purchase price as well, doesn’t it? Because the math doesn’t add for the displayed costs…

Correct! The total includes the purchase price.

The idea is to get it to a standard for ~£5k and then maintain it until we decided what we are doing with it.