2005 Volvo XC90 V8 - New Purchase & Repairs

[Devo242]

The missus has been wanting something a little more comfortable than the go-kart handling of her Civic coupe, and when this XC90 showed up on Craigslist a few months back from a private seller about 20 minutes up the road from me I had to take a look. I’ve got some decent experience with the Volvo P2 chassis and the Yamaha 4.4 liter V8 has high appeal to me.

The seller was no longer driving it, it belonged to his FIL since new and it was driven up from FL to PA years back and given to them. His mechanic was not too keen on working on it any longer, and the seller had since replaced it with an Accord for the sake of simplicity.

While it wasn’t abused, it certainly qualified as neglected. Faded hood paint, dried leather, and maintenance that seemed to only include engine oil changes. On the plus side, the body was remarkably straight and the miles were relatively low at 135k, so the $1600 price we settled on was where I wanted to be to take a risk without sticking my neck out too far if it ended up being a dud.

I have been working on it over the past 6 weeks with the help of a lot of FCP Euro shipments and quite a lot of wrench turning. A lot of work has been done so far and I took a good number of photos which I will include in subsequent posts here in case anyone wants to follow along.

Here is a photo as I found it upon pulling up at the sellers house:

 

[Kira]

Best of luck with it.
It sounds like you're on a fine trajectory.

Is this the V8 Volvo has used in the XC-90 from year 1?

edit: Service the AWD unit? Always check the parking brake hardware.

 

[Devo242]

First thing was the engine oil service, I have about 10 jugs of Castrol Edge 5w40 from a deal I got in the stash, so I used 6 quarts of that plus a quart of HPL 30w Engine Cleaner to meet the 7 quart capacity. The filter used was a Volvo OEM cartridge filter. I have it marked for next service in 3k miles.

I changed the engine air filter with a Volvo OEM, and the cabin air filter also received a fresh genuine Volvo unit. The old one was likely the worst I’d seen.

The folds on the old filter are a telltale sign the filter was installed upside down, the plastic bottom goes up first when inserting it into the housing. Even the FCP Euro video how-to show it being installed incorrectly. I used my boroscope to illustrate the plastic end going first into the housing to seal itself properly.

While doing the oil change I was not surprised to see the splash pan missing. Likely pulled off or damaged and simply discarded, so I ordered the “heavy duty” replacement from IPD as the cost was about the same as the OEM plastic one. While I don’t have the OEM one to compare, the HD version feels sturdy and should do a nice job of protecting things. Six new bolts and washers were also needed.

 

[Devo242]

Continuing on with bringing the car up to what I deem as safe and reliable I focused on the brakes next. The XC90s could be built with 16”, 16.5”, or 17” front discs so this needs to be determined before ordering. Simply measuring what was on the car was one option, but as the VIN will indicate this I placed an inquiry with FCP and they confirmed 17” discs were fitted from the factory, so this is the kit I ordered to cover R&R for all 4 corners.

I opted for a kit with Zimmerman zinc coated rotors and Akebono Euro pads, as well as all new hardware. The front tensioning clip for the caliper is $50 each for the Volvo part, but I wanted to do the job right as the old ones looked original and tired.

The rear rotors were grooved on the friction surface and pads were at end of life and fairly crusty with age, here is old and new for comparison:

The caliper slide pins on the rear were particularly stubborn, the grease had long since failed or washed out and I needed an impact wrench to convince it to release. The kit included single use size of Textar brake lubricant which I rationed out evenly on all surfaces which it is called for.

All back together:

Zimmerman rotors and Akebono Euro pads used along with the Dewalt impacts which were indispensable for the job where a lot of the hardware had been in place for what seemed like a very long time:

A quick drive around to run the break in on the new parts showed big improvement, they were whisper quiet and grabbed assertively.

 

[RooflessVW]

The missus has been wanting something a little more comfortable than the go-kart handling of her Civic coupe, and when this XC90 showed up on Craigslist a few months back from a private seller about 20 minutes up the road from me I had to take a look. I’ve got some decent experience with the Volvo P2 chassis and the Yamaha 4.4 liter V8 has high appeal to me.

The seller was no longer driving it, it belonged to his FIL since new and it was driven up from FL to PA years back and given to them. His mechanic was not too keen on working on it any longer, and the seller had since replaced it with an Accord for the sake of simplicity.

While it wasn’t abused, it certainly qualified as neglected. Faded hood paint, dried leather, and maintenance that seemed to only include engine oil changes. On the plus side, the body was remarkably straight and the miles were relatively low at 135k, so the $1600 price we settled on was where I wanted to be to take a risk without sticking my neck out too far if it ended up being a dud.

I have been working on it over the past 6 weeks with the help of a lot of FCP Euro shipments and quite a lot of wrench turning. A lot of work has been done so far and I took a good number of photos which I will include in subsequent posts here in case anyone wants to follow along.

Here is a photo as I found it upon pulling up at the sellers house:
View attachment 320101

For $1600 I'd have bought it too! One of these will probably replace the Touareg soon.

 

[Devo242]

After putting a few trips on the car we noticed at highway speeds over bumps the behavior it would show would be like a bounce-house movement from the rear. It wasn’t bump steer from worn shocks (though they may be worn anyways) because when the cabin of the car would move it would not require any steering corrections like a bump steer situation would.

After some research into causes I narrowed it down to the rear control arms which connect the rear brake knuckle to the subframe. They were designed with hollowed out portions to presumably allow for a balance of comfort and firmness. Fine for when the car is newer, but at 20 years old these were dry rotted and not safe any longer. I ordered a pair of Lemförder replacements which are solid in design.

Pic showing the original with the new style to be installed:

To remove and install the new bushing, I picked up the ball joint press loaner kit from Autozone, as this didn’t have the exact cup I needed I also ended up with their bearing press kit to combine together. $400+ in deposits but much better than buying the tool which I use infrequently.

Managing holding up the press, cup, and ends on the kit while trying to juggle the wrench to get things tight and then the impact to drive things in/out proved challenging. A second set of hands would have been welcome, but using zip ties to hold things in place proved to be a good secondary option.

The old and new again side by side after pressing out the old and getting ready to press in the new. I used a coat of Liqui Moly LM 48 installation paste on the inside of the control arm as well as the outside casing of the aluminum bushing to reduce the chance of damage during install.

Last step of installing the control arm bolt which passes through the bushing. I used an old compact jack to raise the the suspension up so the arm could align with the bushing and allow the bolt to be installed. I cinched it up and then torqued it down after I put the wheel back and the suspension was loaded.

A few trips since that job have shown the ride to be greatly improved, the bounce house feel I described before is gone, and the missus is very happy with the comfortable and predictable ride. I will say the shocks and struts are on my to-do list, but likely a summertime project.

 

[Devo242]

Now that the priority items for safety were addressed I moved onto some detailing. For the interior, I used a combo of my steam cleaner and vacuum extractor on the carpets and lightly cleaned off the leather. I treated the leather with Leather Honey 2 step clear and conditioner which brought some life back to it. Regrettably, I forgot to get some photos of this process but trust me when I say the difference was drastic.

Moving onto the exterior, the paint and trim needed a good bit of attention. The hood in particular was bad, having seen its share of what the sunshine state had to offer.

Here is a 50/50 of the hood with my crude tape line, I finished off an old roll that fell just short of being long enough lol. My process here was to cut it with my Flex rotary with a purple foam cutting pad and Meguiar’s M101 Foam-Cut Compound. Some of the white spots are compounding dust which there was no shortage of seeing how much work the paint needed, I was wearing my 3M respirator for this stage. The hood does have some crows feet on it after removing the oxidation, but overall I think the improvement was excellent.

The hood and the roof were the areas which required most of my time, the sides fortunate were in much better shape though still swirled heavily. These areas cleaned up nicely with my Flex rotary and Lake Country orange polishing pad with Meguiar’s M205 Ultra Finish Polish. Working at very low RPM allowed me to clean up the oxidation on the brightwork as shown as well.

The black piano trim on the B-pillars were showing their age, and a very light touch with the rotary on a small diameter orange pad with M205 returned them to their glory days:

I could detect the slightest buffer trails after M205 on the rotary, so I opted to use some Menzerna P085 I had hiding in the back of my detailing supply shelf. I combined this with the Flex 3401 DA and a Lake Country black finishing pad. Final shot after the correction steps and an IPA wipe:

I had some Dr Beasley’s trim restorer which I used on the trim which darkened things down a few shades and should provide some protection. I used Meguiar’s Hybrid Paint Coating which I have a few cans of, regrettably Meguiar’s has discontinued this product so I’ll be on the hunt for something reasonably priced and easy to use which lasts as long as this does. I also pulled the wheels and decontaminated them with Auto Magic MAGnificent then Meguiar's Iron Remover to get them clean, the they also got a coating with the Hybrid Coating as the paint.

 

[jsean]

The missus has been wanting something a little more comfortable than the go-kart handling of her Civic coupe, and when this XC90 showed up on Craigslist a few months back from a private seller about 20 minutes up the road from me I had to take a look. I’ve got some decent experience with the Volvo P2 chassis and the Yamaha 4.4 liter V8 has high appeal to me.

The seller was no longer driving it, it belonged to his FIL since new and it was driven up from FL to PA years back and given to them. His mechanic was not too keen on working on it any longer, and the seller had since replaced it with an Accord for the sake of simplicity.

While it wasn’t abused, it certainly qualified as neglected. Faded hood paint, dried leather, and maintenance that seemed to only include engine oil changes. On the plus side, the body was remarkably straight and the miles were relatively low at 135k, so the $1600 price we settled on was where I wanted to be to take a risk without sticking my neck out too far if it ended up being a dud.

I have been working on it over the past 6 weeks with the help of a lot of FCP Euro shipments and quite a lot of wrench turning. A lot of work has been done so far and I took a good number of photos which I will include in subsequent posts here in case anyone wants to follow along.

Here is a photo as I found it upon pulling up at the sellers house:
View attachment 320101

Congratulations on the XC90! Solid choice with the Yamaha V8. You got a heck of a deal for $1,600.

 

[fantastic]

Think the transmissions were the issue in those early years? I've seen that FCP video where they install the wrong width cabin filter. The 3.2L & 4.4L take two different sizes. You did really good for that price. Thanks for posting your story here. Well written.

 

[CleanSump]

That paint reno is amazing.

 

[trd1zz]

Not familiar with old used Volvo pricing but $1600 for any runs and drives car seems like a great deal. Good luck with it.

Depending on how hard you hit that 20 year old paint don't be surprised if the clear coat goes out quick.

 

[meep]

Incredible value, safety, and longevity in these cars. The leather can handle a lot if it’s not torn. With Volvo bolsters I usually have to sew them back up, using the factory holes, with carpet thread.

You did really good!

 

[Astro14]

A fine choice and it looks great!

 

[VolvoZ]

Super nice rig! Been looking for one myself. Both of my sons have the Volvo S80 with that V8 in it. They are sweet sounding and drive super nice. I believe the pre-2007 models suffered from some sort of balance shaft bearing issue if water were to get into the engine (as if it were being pressure washed). There may have been a recall to address the problem. Not sure how prevalent the problem was. Just something to be aware of. Thanks for the informative posts.

 

[Sam_Julier]

Well done.

 

[MCompact]

Nice!

 

[andrew_j]

Personally I think this is the best engine Volvo has dropped into their cars. Modern meh and the R stuff interesting howver this engine is so nice. Wife had a $6k S80 v8 for a year.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Wow, beautiful progress on it! Bet it rides and handles nicely. That paint work looks great. What steamer do you use? I've been thinking about picking one up.

 

[wbwanzer]

Well done!

 

[We're Metals]

Great car & nice transformation on the paint. Keep it going!