Hi folks. Long time MB family here, but we're just sick of the inherent unreliability we've had with our wagons (first an '04 E320, then an '11 E350).

Family friend is looking to part ways with their '06 Ocean Race XC70. It's a beautiful car, but I'm weary of taking on a vehicle with nearly 170,000 miles.

Ran the vin through a decoder and it seems to have a B5254T2 R5 2.5L engine. Not sure if this is accurate or not since these decoders rarely are.

What kind of engine is in this car? In terms of reliability, what are the major things I need to make sure they've taken care of? How reliable is the transmission?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

A few things about this car - the engine code is usually on the timing belt cover as well as stamped into the block on the firewall side of #1. The VIN also carries the engine code in a two digit format so any online VIN decoder will tell you the original engine model.

What the engine code says is this is a B (for bensen = gasoline engine, 5 cylinder, 2.5 Liter, 4 valves per cylinder, Turbo 2nd generation. This is commonly referred to as a "white block" and its a high pressure "T5" turbo with 207 HP used from 2003 to 2008+ in the S60s, V70s, XC70s, S80s so its a fairly common engine. (google for the "volvo modular engine" wiki for more info)

As to reliability, it really comes down to maintenance history. If the prior owner did all the scheduled maintenance, kept clean fluids etc, no reason to think the engine can't last 300K miles. The transmission problems in the XCs were more in the early years prior to 2004 but you will hear about people will issues on the forum, well because they have issues not because its systemic to the model.

There are common maintenance areas on the T5 - its an interference engine so timing belt maintenance is crucial every 10 years/120K miles whichever comes first. This car should be on timing belt #3. If you have no history of when last done, plan on having it done - and many techs recommend a water pump with every other timing belt. There are common issues with the electronic throttle body - which may require a rebuild / replacement of contacts. The ABS controllers can develop cracks in the solder joints and may require a rebuild. Various other electrical issues may crop up which are common to Volvos (things like PNP switches or antenna rings can cause no starts). Most other stuff is age/wear related that you may need to attend to - brakes, shocks etc.

If you are handy and can perform most of your own maintenance, you will be ok with a car with 170K miles but just be aware that even a Toyota with that many miles will need repairs so just budget accordingly.

 

To me, a European car with 170k miles on it should be dirt cheap, so it should be a low risk proposition. The price is going to depend on your friend of course.

Other than the things already mentioned, there is AWD to take care of. These have an active electronically controlled sort of AWD which doesn't do anything unless the front wheels are slipping. there are an unusually large number of things that could go wrong with it, but that might not happen, and if it does, you don't actually need it. The driveshaft to the rear is deliberately unserviceable, and it might have 170,000 miles on it, but I noticed there is an aftermarket version now for 1/3 the price.

In fact the car has maybe 10 computers on board and a modern Central Electronic Unit. The easy way to think of them is that they are dealer serviceable only. That may not be totally true but that was the idea of them. So for instance if the air conditioning brain gets confused, you will not find anybody here that can fix it, and you'll have 10 more brains that you are hoping remain in their right mind. All modern cars are this way, and you know that. But as you see for some reason, MB found a way to make these components fail more than some of the other guys.

So anyway, it's a good enough car, in a part of its life cycle where one good repair could financially kill it off. "Maintenance" is relatively cheap and easy but really any car can do that.

 

Thanks for all this information!

Timing belt was swapped at 120k, it's at 165 now so I figure I've got another 40 before I worry about redoing it.

I see you're in Ridgefield! We're right down 33 in Westport. Not surprised to see someone from CT here.

 

Just a thought or two.
The notably troublesome ETM was long gone by 2006. I'm not saying the new one CAN'T wear out but it's never come up.

The same thing for the transmissions. The trouble making reprogramming was tried and removed years before this '06. What may have lived on is the foolish edict from Volvo which states their transmission fluid is "lifetime".
Even if Volvo retracted this incorrect advice the echo and appeal of lifetime anything is enough to prompt people to overlook their fluid.

Also, there's a small kit of service items for the new AWD gizmo....fluids, a small filter and gaskets as I recall.

Cheers....enjoy it if you buy it. If you pass on it shoot me a PM