In my area, all the V70R's Wagons I can find are AWD. I cannot find an 850R wagon locally. I know people say that the AWD system is problematic on these cars, but is it really THAT bad that you would avoid buying a well maintained car that is priced well just because it is AWD?

How bad is it? And what does it cost to convert it to FWD only? I see some out there modified that way. Is it pricey to remove the drive shaft? Will the car be throwing codes and be more difficult to get through California SMOG if converted?

I am a performance junkie, and like to target the best of the breed cars in general, but if people confirm that these cars are horrible to own then I will just keep on searching.

BTW, I assume it is correct to post this question here since these early V70Rs are re-badged 850s. Let me know if I should post this in the V70 area instead. Thx.

 

'98 and '99 covers two years where the term "problematic" could be correct, or it could be replaced with "expensive", but the two aren't necessarily the same.

Keep in mind that all of what I'm about to tell you is from my experience with a '98 V70 XC I had for a while, but I assume the AWD model is the same except without the ground clearance.

The '98 model uses a viscous coupling between the front and rear. When I first got my XC, I talked to a guy at the dealership and he told me "It's a great system, and you'll never know it's there". Sure enough, the first time I got it in the snow I actually stopped a couple times, opened the door, and looked at the back wheels to see if it was working. It was, and I never felt a thing.

The part that makes them "problematic" is not a flaw in the system, but simply the cost to repair the driveshaft. It's a 2 piece driveshaft, with a center support and bearing, a universal joint, and two CV joints. All those parts eventually wear out, and no parts store (even IPD) will list any replacements. The Volvo dealer will want to sell you a $1300 driveshaft. There is a place in Colorado that rebuilds them for about $600 as I recall, but you've got shipping on top of that.

Mine had a bad carrier bearing and U-joint. I took it apart and measured everything, then went to my local Autozone and spent half an hour looking through their U-joint catalog, which had listings in the back of all the U-joint measurements. I found the joint that had the same measurements, and that problem was solved.

I went through a similar process with the carrier bearing. IPD does actually stock a bearing support that works, but they don't know it. It's listed as a support for a 740, or 760, or something, I don't recall. The problem is that the OD of the one they carry is the same as the OD of the XC carrier, so it fits in the hangar, but the ID is different, so the bearing won't fit in the carrier. Simple fix....I found a bearing with an OD that would fit the new carrier, and had the same ID as the ID on the XC bearing. There's lots of parts out there, but most people won't spend the time looking. They'll just say "Oh, ok, here's my $1300", and they curse the car for being expensive to maintain.

Lots of people also solve the problem by just pulling the driveshaft and running it FWD. Is it pricey? That depends. Are you taking it to a shop and saying "remove the driveshaft, and here's a blank check. Call me when it's done"? If so, then yes, it's going to be expensive. It's also relatively easy...6 bolts on each end, two on the center carrier bearing. That's it. On my car, I ran it in FWD most of the year, and put the driveshaft in during the winter.

On the '99 model, they made some changes. The AWD system is different, and you start getting into electronic controls. By 2000 those electronics made their way into engines and transmissions too. You'll see lots of '00 and '01 cars that need transmissions. Personally, I'd stay away from a '99 for that reason, though they're not as "problematic" as the later cars.

Some will argue that the newer system is great, and it may be, but I'd prefer that if something were going to break it be something mechanical rather than some tiny little thing burried in an electronic control box somewhere.