sorry this is a bit of a story here...

for quite a few years back when i was in HS i drove an 82 or so, volvo wagon but for the last ten years or so have been driving a 1988 honda accord. one of my friends being a bigtime gearhead had let me drive his car a few times and ever sense then i have sworn that my next car was going to be higher performance (not hard with a stock accord). anyway we just got done paying off the wife's car, so now it was my turn. i started looking around and test driving a few cars at some of the local dealerships, drove a mini S which i heard were quite fun, drove a golf GTI which i thoroughly enjoyed, then i drove a used EVO 9 that the dealership had just gotten in.

now i have to explain that i have NEVER liked sports-y looking cars, i liked my old volvo wagon (i could have gone without the wagon aspect but oh well) i liked my accord, but i hate hatchbacks, i hate two door sports cars (just to flashy in my oppinion), but the EVO had performance coming out its ears to the point that i was tempted to buy it even though it had the "pimped out" look, and the gigantic "ugly as sin" wing on the back. but that thing could MOVE. after talking him down in price i just couldn't do it. with the current economy i just cant commit to large car payments and started to wonder what i could find for my intended down payment on a new car (had about 5k saved up).

now fast forward about a week, just down the road at the corner stopsign a red volvo appeared, and i made a joking comment to my wife one day driving past "you know, i wouldn't be opposed to driving a volvo again, they are good cars" and as we rolled past I caught a glimpse of the for sale sign and it had the magic word. "TURBO" the next day I was driving past on my Motorcycle and took a second look, this car looked virtually brand new! so I pulled over to the side of the road and peered in the window to check the single most important requirement. whats that protruding from the center console? YES IT IS! this car is a manual! passing the first and most important litmus test for my buying a car i quickly took out my phone and took a picture of the sign and phone number. thinking, man, i'll have to think about that one.

the next day at work i thought to call the guy but got no answer so i left a message, and on the way home i noticed that the volvo had been removed from the corner, days went by and still no response from the seller. "phoey!" i thought as i started to scour craigslist for another suitable car, finally settling on a reasonably priced 1999 VW passat turbo with a manual trans, but when i went to take it for a test drive i was informed that that one had already been sold. :'-(

several more days went by and while at work i got a phone call from an unknown number, I never answer numbers i don't recognise but for some reason i did this time. it was the owner of the volvo! he just got back from a week long trip and still had the volvo! I set up a time to take it for a test spin and fell in love with the car its a perfect balance of a smooth ride but still has enough power to pop my eyeballs if i let it.
we ended up negotiating a price of $4,100 which i thought was fair because the car was in near perfect condition. we went our separate ways and I am only now realizing what an amazing piece of machinery i have now in my hands.

I am the proud new owner of a 1998 S70 T5M!

After shutting down the first few arrogant morons driving pimped out civics I decided that this is DEFINITELY the car for me!
I love it and I can't believe i almost missed out on this awesome deal and almost spent 5 times as much on a sports car.


well if anyone actually read through that giagantic post and made it to the questions that i had here, congrats! i don't know if i would have... anyway. here's my questions:

1) while test driving, the owner said that it is all-wheel drive "not one of those modern all wheel drives mind you" but he talked about how it transfers power from slipping wheels to gripping ones and such. Is there an AWD model of the 1998 S70 T5M? was he just crazy?

2) i saw a post about getting replacement keys and fobs and how expensive they are because you have to not only get the fob to match the car but you have to teach the car which keys to use. does this apply to my 1998 volvo? (mine came with 2 keys, and one badly abused fob, it still works but there is electrical tape holding it together)

3) using a key without a fob, does locking the car from the outside activate the alarm? and does unlocking it with the key deactivate the alarm? (i haven't tried this yet)

P.S. yes i will post pics eventually here, i haven't gotten a chance to take any yet.

 

1. Look under the rear of the car and see if it has rear axles or just suspension under there. I am not 100% sure if they sold AWD T5-M's or not.

2.Yours is a 98 no programming for the keys needed. For a remote yes.

3.Yes the alarm will arm and disarm using the key.

 

wow, thanks for the quick response tech!

i'll look under its tail as soon as i can

 

Congrats on finding that car; think that's a rare find; enjoy!

Do post some pics and tell us more about it; how many miles on the clock?

 

oh I am enjoying it very much. thanks.

it does have 128k on the odo but its quite an upgrade from the 227k that had been racked up on my accord.

<<EDIT>> also some pics :-)

 

Looks good!!! I doubt that is an AWD car.

 

yeah i finally got a chance to look and yeah its front only :-( oh well...

now to another question. the one part that i left out of the story is that while it was sitting on the corner before i bought it some joker KEYED the passenger side. one LOOOOONG scratch from the front door through the back one and ends in the rear panel just before the tail light. :-\
is there a good place to get the proper color tough up paint (a friend that works in a body shop took a look and said to "fix it" they would have to repaint virtually the whole side of the car. that being a boat load of money i'm thinking touch up paint would be the way to go. how do i find the proper color?

 

Man that car looks nice. I love the ride of the S70. I tried to get a T5 but it was to ragged out.

You can check around for key prices from different dealers. A dealer in Charlotte only charged me $37 for a key and $5 to ship it. Also, you can find new key fob cases on www.ipdusa.com.

I gave the stealer the color code off the plate in the engine compartment of my S70 and they sold me a touch up paint kit for about $25. It has the color and clear coat in the kit.

Where in the world do you live with green grass and still riding a motorcycle? It's been cold everywhere.

Do check your motor mounts and your PCV system. And Enjoy!

 

Pacific North West, its always green here, the hard part is finding days when it isnt raining. :-\ drove the bike to work this morning though.. and it was 30 degrees out BRRRRR! but i had to its sposed to be nice this afternoon and rainy the rest of the week. i guess i'll just have drive my new car ...

i had the local shop do their "i'm going to buy a car and i want it looked over with a XXpoint inspection before i buy it" and they didn't find any major problems. but i will check them out... i know what the motor mounts are but whats the PCV system? and how do i check it?

 

PVC system is the engine venting system. After is has been running for a little while pull the oil dipstick and see if it smokes like a freight train.

 

Turbo Volvo's are rough on mounts. You can give your top mount a visual and if your lower transmission mount is bad it will likely shift hard.

 

Sweeeeet ride dude! See you're just up the road from me (pdx area) too. Maybe you'll pass me on freeway sometime...

See you're a motorcycle guy too; just don't forget to keep the shiny side up!

See ya round the forum.

 

Welcome to the Volvo family. As far as the scratch goes, I would try to rub it out as much as possible and then save up the money to have it repainted. Touch up paint usually looks just like that "touched up" and would detract from what is otherwise a very sharp looking S70. JMO

 

forgive my ignorance but what do the motor mounts look like? are there pictures somewhere of what volvo mounts look like? i mean there aren't many places where the motor gets that close to the metal so it should be easy to figure out right?... hrmm... i'm just not seeing them...

oh, another question, i noticed the other day that the interior panel just under the glove box hangs down slightly, and upon further inspection it seems like this panel is held in place on the top side by 3 strips of plastic or rubber, and the leftmost one is cracked, is there an easy way to fix this? can i order the panel restraining devices? is there a suitable replacement?

 

Well, Volvo plastic super glues pretty well. Other than that you can try metal screws.

As for the mounts, you can see pictures of them on here: http://www.ipdusa.com/Volvo-S70V70-1...1-128-364-763/

Here is the upper torque mount.


Other mounts are located throughout the engine compartment. The keep the motor and transmission in place and buffer the car from vibration. The common problem ones for your car are:
* Upper torque mount.
* Lower transmission mount.
* Passenger side motor mount.

 

see, this is what i love about forums like this one, people are soo helpful. took a look at my upper mount today, this is what i found... (its attached)

 

I thought mine was bad. It was torn through but at least it had some rubber on it. That one is missing. I would drive gently untill you get it replaced, better yet, park it if you can. A mount like that only puts more stress & strain on other mounts.

It actually looks like the absence of the mount has caused wear on the bracket.

Just to let you know, there may be a mount behind that one on the firewall (my 850 does). If so, it is likely to be bad as well.

 

well it has a fresh OEM bushing, only took me and my friend about an hour and a half to get into place. and that includes the time it took to charge the drill :-D hahahaha....
no seriously... no joke...

i'll post a pic a little bit later of what i mean but it simply would not go into place and eventually i used two peices of wood and sanwiched the mount and the bushing with a C clamp to force it in, but the way the oem bushings portrude in the center was causing undue stress on it so i drilled a hole so that the center portusion could rest relatively stress free in the middle while the entire outer ring was being forced into the mount.

eh... maybee i will post that picture.. let me sync my phone... there we go looks crazy but it worked great :-D

 

Good job!!!!!!!

 

thanks! my arms are tired from trying to jam that thing in there before i got smart. I didn't realize how much wrenching i was doing with my hands. mwahahaha.

now for another question. i know the "check engine" light in my car is a little over sensitive apparently. both the PO and the mechanic shop that they take the car to said so. but still the check engine light is unnerving, i could take it to the shop and have them check it out but i would perfer to find out what the code is and troubleshoot it myself. is there an easy way to get the codes out of the car? I have a laptop and other computer odds and ends is there a way to interface with it or a way to pull the codes that its easy?