Can a 2005 Volvo go 300K Miles easily?

This thread has drifted way off topic.

If you've got something to say about Volvo, it's relevant, but the commentary on what other members would say appears to be closer to bashing than humor...

So, please keep future posts both civil, and relevant, in order to keep the thread open.
 
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I had a 2001 S60 (bought new) with the inline 5. Sold it at 150k miles. The body and drive-train held up incredibly well. The only thing I had to replace was a water pump at 90k miles and shocks at 130k miles.
 
Usually the water pumps go ‘'forever" on timing belt driven cars, I thought. Glad you enjoyed the S60.

Anyway, as an update on our Volvo Fleet, we have added another two Volvos in two months. My son's 2005 V70R that was the subject of this thread originally is now in my driveway. I'll take ownership and keep it as an extra car. My son wants the option of getting it back when he can have more cars where he lives. His new car is a 2010 S80 with the V8 (= fast!!!). My daughter bought a 2008 XC70 with the 3.2 I6 (non-turbo) 185K miles a few weeks ago. This to replace the ‘03 Nissan Maxima that is getting too rusty. To its credit, the Maxima runs strong, drives great, and is fun to drive, but the body longevity is just nowhere near the Volvos'. Just got the XC70 registered. Did a full pressure washing beneath (it was driven on some dirt roads in Maine regularly), and doing basic review of key maintenance points. Very solid car, runs great, no rust. So whoever "maintained" the car previously did a horrible job of installing the air filter. It had a cheap Chinese filter, which is not necessarily bad, but it was installed with one corner crumpled so air (and dirt) was bypassing the filter a bit. Daughter popped a Mahle air filter and a Hengst Cabin Filter in the car yesterday. Will be doing an oil change soon as well (Mann filter and probably will use RGT 5w-30 (7.8 qts) just to make sure things are in good shape in that department.
 
Originally Posted by VolvoZ
Usually the water pumps go ‘'forever" on timing belt driven cars, I thought. Glad you enjoyed the S60.


I may have just been unlucky, but I had to replace it because it was leaking.
 
Originally Posted by Astro14
Originally Posted by Jett Rink
That Volvo is parked rather close to a fire hydrant. I'd back it up a little bit if I was her.


That's where the detail shop guy had parked it... In front of his shop.

I agree, too close!

I moved it right away.


The fire hydrant? Though I guess if you get in and you find a steering wheel you're probably in the volvo
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My "Folvo", 2006 Freestyle, will hit 300K. It's led an incredibly hard life and has been the most reliable car I've ever owned. Go figure... It's built on the Ford D3 platform, which is based on the Volvo P2 platform of the OP's car. They share a lot of driveline parts and other random weirdness from the Ford/Volvo days. They're solid vehicles.

The one area these cars fell down was the driveline fluids. Both Ford and Volvo treated them as "lifetime fluids" for the AWD system. As these cars get old, a Haldex controller or front bevel gear overall ends up costing the value of the car... My P80 Volvo, which I sold at 225K, is still going strong for the next owner. He'll be pushing 400K fairly soon. Stay on top of maintenance, and these are very durable machines.
 
Hmm... Ford Freestyle has a 3.0 Duratec V6 and CVT, typically a P2 Volvo will be a 2.4L inline 5 - hopefully turbocharged - and a ordinary auto trans.

I have a Volvo S40 from this era and although you can find family resemblances with the platform-mate Mazda 3 and, more distantly the US Focus, there is a LOT of stuff that isn't the same. Often a part like the front control arms or wheel bearings will look 95% the same but there will be some little difference that keeps it from being interchangeable.

One thing I've noticed is that Mazda 3's from this era tend to have a lot of rust issues, but I almost never see a Volvo S40 with rust issues. Could have to do with different types of owners, I guess.

Most of the stuff that I have had to buy for the car has been Volvo-specific, although I did save a ton of money with a Ford radiator cap, and I have one engine mount from the electric Focus...

In keeping with the thread title, I'm at 215k miles and just replaced a lot of suspension stuff. The car runs great. Smooth and strong and now it rides and handles well too.
 
Interesting, I really thought I'd come into this thread and not believe, but I leave a believer.

For a car to last like that, relatively rust free in New England, is quite a testament to a great vehicle. Few cars survive New England winters unscathed...BMW comes to mind, very rarely do I see them rust, but of course they have plenty of other issues. Sounds like Volvo is a winner.

Wonder how the newer Volvo's are 2012 and up? I'm looking for a used SUV for the wife...would like something nice without the "nice" problems.
Rarely rust out? Perhaps its not the car so much but the care by the ppl that own one? Probably have more $$$ and can take better care of these cars (and keep them garaged) than ppl that own rust buckets? Or maybe its because these north europe cars use galvanized steel on the lower body that keeps the rust away. Like to know because I see few rusted out german or swedish cars. Is it the extra care by their owners or the galvanized steel?
 
Rarely rust out? Perhaps its not the car so much but the care by the ppl that own one? Probably have more $$$ and can take better care of these cars (and keep them garaged) than ppl that own rust buckets? Or maybe its because these north europe cars use galvanized steel on the lower body that keeps the rust away. Like to know because I see few rusted out german or swedish cars. Is it the extra care by their owners or the galvanized steel?
I’m not sure, but I think their paint is excellent. As for the underside, they do put a lot of “coverage” under there. The sound deadening stuff, plastic, etc. perhaps that keeps some of the salt off? I guess it could also trap it.
I don’t think it’s owner care at all. Garages or not...some would say garaging a car in the winter is actually worse for rust because it activates the salt when the car is warm and it defrosts. And let’s face it...most BMW owners lease or sell after a few years, then buy a new one. Then these things are owned by “normal” people, people that aren’t necessarily “loaded”.

Volvo falls into that category too...come to think of it, I don’t see them rusting out much. I do see their interiors fall apart and get “loose”. Kind of feels like everything is kind of...I don’t know? Like someone loosened everything a little bit. See it in Audi a LOT too. Grab the shifter, you can wiggle it back and forth, there’s play in the seat, the knobs are worn down. But they don’t rust out like Japanese or American cars. I mean, I’m not saying none of them have, I’m just saying they hold up against the rust better than the others.
 
Similar with VW. Your average 10-15 year old VW "looks" to be in a lot better condition than many, particularly domestics.
 
Crossed 256k miles this morning in a 2010 Volvo XC70, the P3 platform. Love it so far, aside from the fact that Volvo sucks for not putting a bead of sealant on upper horizontal part of windshield... Upon windshield replacement the window guy said every Volvo of that era only had glue on vertical sides and bottom, never on top. Explains the water puddles in footwells after heavy rains... Thankfully he put a nice bead all around the new windshield, so no more water inside 😁. Oh and I especially love the belt-to-decoupler-to-gear-to-decoupler-to-alternator assembly. That alternator was "fun" to change... I guess that's just a part of transversely mounted inline six cons. From pros - runs super smooth, doesn't smoke, gets 23mpg average, about 28mpg highway. Best con? Sooooo quiet, and grandma couch leather seats, heated front/rear... Can't wait to join Volvo 300K club.
 
Volvos have always been my guilty pleasure and I was pleased as punch to get to long distance a 2020 V90 Cross Country recently. Their wagons and the S60 have always held a place in my heart.

While I hate to make this comparison their design is like the more expensive IKEA lines, absolutely beautiful to look at and 100% functional. Just want to clarify I am not talking the $10 frat house screw the legs on pressed wood end table special, I'm talking the $200 solid wood 40 step building process end table.

The interiors of all of them no matter what year are beautiful, they have never really strayed far from their design language no matter their corporate overlord. Those headrests should be trademarked and have been a gorgeous yet functional design piece for many years.
 
Oh this thread. Was semi close to getting a XC70 in need of a transmission a few weeks ago. In as good of shape as my wife’s S60 P2 inside and out. I need more projects like I need a hole in the head and obviously it’d need more than just a transmission.

Not a V70R, but I’d go to jail with anything fast too.
 
Some new Volvos, including the S90, actually are made in China, including those sold in the US. They switched S90 production from Sweden to China when they switched from SWB to LWB, and they didn't lower the price at all. The Chinese S90 shouldn't cost more than $15k

Also, SenSen makes OE shocks for Chinese Volvos

didn’t Volvo Cars recently open up a plant in South Carolina?

I know Volvo Truck & Bus(the “original” Swedish side of the brand) has a truck plant in Virginia and two bus plants in Quebec and New York. The bus operations of Volvo(Nova Bus and Prevost) are from what I’ve read, partly subsidized by the Quebec government and New York State gave Volvo a tax break to build a plant there.
 
Thank you all for your advice and shared enthusiasm. I have added a photo of the 3 Rs after undergoing washing/waxing a coupe weekends ago. L to R are the 05, 04, and 06. In response to a few comments and questions, i offer the following:

What's next after 300K? My son just picked up a 2010 S80 V8 with a little over 100K, that's what's next!!!! : ) Engine/exhaust sounds fantastic! It just needs to be registered, which will take a while due to DMV closures, etc. He is confident in driving the R around CT where he lives, and we certainly don't have any concerns with it breaking down other than not knowing when the fuel pump is near its end. Other than that, the car is very solid. Maybe we'll do a pre-emptive fuel pump replacement?

PCV system: yes they are a pain. We DYI them. Fortunately you should only have to do it once. I failed to mention that we replaced all the coolant/heater hoses when we did the PCV in this 05. Thanks for the advice to pull the oil pan and clean out the flame trap passages. We did not do that, but maybe we should have. As a note of what synthetic oil does in terms of cleanliness, my 06 V70R just underwent the PCV system replacement (did it over my winter break in the garage). This 06 (with over 255K) was fed almost exclusively synthetic and oil was changed by previous owners at 5K intervals. Very clean PCV system in the 06. Very little sludge build-up.

On the 2004 V70R (bright silver one), which was mine, but is now owned by my other son, it is at 225K, was a Volvo CPO. Only major issues we've had with that car was the Angle Gear whining (which was thankfully covered by the CPO warranty), and the CEM which we had to replace with a XEMODEX unit a couple years ago. Underbody/rest of body has Zero rust. Only things that are rusting are the strut bodies and a couple brackets. Slightly lowered on IPD springs.

My 2006 V70R (dark silver) got the full T-belt, WP, coolant, coolant/heater hoses, some motor mounts, SNABB big intercooler and intake hoses, plugs, PCV system replacement this past Dec/Jan. With 259K on it, i have no reservations about taking it on long trips. Slightly lowered on IPD springs.

All in all, great cars. I'll probably take ownership of my son's 05 when the S80 V8 gets registered.

View attachment 23669

Previous generation... 😉
 
So, I now own that 305K mile 2005 Volvo V70R. I took ownership of it from my son (he bought a 2010 Volvo S80 V8, which he is having fun with). Just fixed a problem with the V70R that took a few hours to fix, and will be of much interest to other P2 Chassis Volvo owners with electrical gremlins. I’d be willing to bet that a similar problem is the cause of many wasted hours, repair $$$$, lots of guessing, etc. So this car has been parked at the top of the driveway for a few days untouched. Got home after work and see the car sitting there with the rear tail lights ON. “Oh, my wife started the car to move it over to the side before the snow piles up” , I thought to myself. Nope! Turns out that the rear high mounted stop light and rear tail lamps turned on all by themselves with no key in ignition. Tried starting the car. Engine turns a couple times then stops with no start, and dash says “Immobilizer”. Ended up disconnecting battery, reconnecting, got it started, then moved it into garage. Proceeded to check all connections that i could think of. Pulled battery cable, reconnected it. All seemed normal for a bit. But in a few minutes, a different set of tail lamps spontaneously turns on, along with the high mounted stoplight, but now the car dash says “Check Stop Lamps” or something similar. Along with that, the subwoofer is making random popping noises, and the rear electronic module (REM) is clicking away like a telegraph. I suspected that the Central Electronic Module (CEM) has something to do with it. On these cars, leakage from under the hood or from other locations is known to corrode connections and circuit boards. Took the car apart to get to this module, but there are no signs of any water ingress (everything was quite well sealed beneath the cowl area). There are about 5 large pinned connections get disconnected in the course of removing this part. No signs of corrosion whatsoever on the connections. After getting the the CEM out, pulled the ventilated black covers off. Jackpot!!! Bunch of corrosion on the circuit board. The corrosion was “fuzzy” and white and was bridging over probably 30 or 40 pins on various chips and connections. Used Isopropyl to clean and wipe away the corrosion then sprayed it down with some circuit board cleaner. Reinstalled everything in about 1/5 the time it took to take apart.

I could find no evidence of leakage but i could see where the corrosion had “outlines” suggesting some sort of liquid pooling was occurring on the horizontally positioned circuit board. What i think happened here is that condensation regularly builds up on the circuit board. The part of the circuit board that had the corrosion sits horizontally just beneath the protective cowl cover which is not well insulated from the elements. For instance, when snow sits on the bottom of the windshield and the thin plastic cowl area, this area stays cold. Meanwhile the rest of the interior warms up (either from sitting in sun or during driving) and moisture migrates everywhere and condenses on the cooler surfaces such as this circuit board. This must happen hundreds of times over the car’s 16 year life.

Picture of board before cleaning. The whole circuit board is a big “L” shaped multi board device. Car is working great now! Ready for another 100K Miles! Same or similar arrangement is in V70, S60, XC70, S80, XC90 etc.
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