Hi

So, I had a 2003 V70 2.5T with rare AWD (it was not an XC). I owned it from new. It had 140K miles and in mint condition. Well, an oncoming teen driver made a left turn in front of us and we tagged the right rear of her car with our right front...she was at fault...but, our Volvo was totaled.

This morning I went to see a 2008 Volvo XC70 with 114K miles. It has a 3.2L inline 6 cylinder engine. It's at a used car lot. I went over car fully, test drove including on the turnpike. Everything checks out great except for the following:

• Yellow Check engine light is on
• Car starts, idles and drives fine but, when you rev the engine it's not rough but, you can tell it is not as smooth as it should be (you can barely hear a stumble and it is visible with a tiny vibration on the tach needle if you stare right at it. Most people would probably never notice this issue it was that subtle. Could be related to issue above)
• Twice driving on surface streets there was a bump/funky shift between 2nd and 3rd gears - not every time however.
• Dialed heat to Max on Auto mode and fan never came up (should have blasted). I could manually dial up the fan speed just fine. But, even then the air was only warm, not hot. There was no temp gauge on the dash so I could not tell from that.
• Small dent in front right fender - definitely not a collision, more like a parking lot dent.

Asking $7,998 which is below market. Comp prices

• NADA Guide: $11,925
• KBB Guide: $9,250
• Autotrader nationwide search for same car <150K miles: $11,681 ave selling price

The salesman said they would absolutely fix the check engine light. I'll be curious if that fixes the rough engine too. So, I told him I was very interested in the car if they could fix the light. Left my name without a deposit and he's to call this week with the status of the check engine light.


Thoughts?


Bob

 

...service records?

 

I wouldn't pay that much for a car with a CEL on, then you are looking at things that will start to be needing to be replaced, such as suspension and drive components. All I am saying is that there are better deals out there, so shop around. I just bought a 08 p3 xc70 124k mi from someone down in Florida for 3k, then spent 3k in parts, timing belt, front + rear suspension, wheel hubs front + rear, motor mounts, upper + lower, shocks, struts, springs, control arms, ball-joints sway bar links, oil trap, plugs, oil change, transmission flush. So basically I have a 08 that is completely refreshed, that is still less than 2k than the car you are looking at.

 

There is no timing belt on an 08.
"Front and rear suspension"? Wouldn't that be included in the shocks and struts and springs?

The ball joints are integrated into the front control arms. So, same part.

 

+1 to the above.

consider finding a P3 being sold by a private owner who has kept service records. Look at the "dealer trade in" value for the car. If it is perfect and straight your price is within haggle distance between that and the stated "private party" value. If it has any issues, it is lower by the estimate to repair. Also, get familiar with the maintenance needs of the vehicle given the mileage. You can work downward on price by some healthy share of the likely cost of the upcoming maintenance.

These are very good vehicles but they are NOT maintenance free.

Pretty much any used Volvo without maintenance records is risky at best.

 

So I ended up passing on that first car. Salesman never called me back which is no big surprise. I ended up getting a 2006 XC70 with 145k miles for $5, 500.

No records but it is in great shape. Starts, idles, drives great. Four matching brand name tires with plenty of tread. Stops straight. Sticker on valve cover from dealer states timing belt changed in 2015 at 127k miles along with water pump and coolant. everything works. New battery in 2014. Trans shifts great and ATF is light tan so it must have been changed at some point.

My indie shop went over entire car and only found worn control arm bushings. Had him change oil/filter, bleed brakes and replace fuel filter. I will change PS fluid, air filter and ATF soon. Very happy with car.

Any other maintenance items I should address now?

​​​​​​​Bob

 

If every thing good as you said, it's a good buy.

 

For the yellow light on, you need to have an OBD scan to see what's the issues, because it might lead to an expensive replacement of some things. (don't buy the car with the warning light is on, unless you know exactly what's the problems and the cost to fix them) If you already bought the car; flush the trany fluid couple time 1000-2000 apart, it might help the gear shift problems, also flush the cooling system especially the heat core, it sound like the heat core was clogged up.

 

So what is going on with the 2-3 shift problem? I was looking at an 08 also with the same issue. They had the trans flushed but didn't fix it. Is it a worn valve body? If so how much does a new one cost? I read somewhere else it happens when hot and he put on an aux oil cooler that fixed it. I think it is partially due to the low viscosity fluids used now.

 

The shift solenoids either stick from debris or develop high ohms (resistance) as they heat up. I've leaned toward the high ohms as the problem. Replacing the solenoids typically fixes the problems.

Running lots of fluid through the transmission for flushing will do nothing.