I inherited. 1999 Volvo S 80 2.9 130000 miles 2 owner car.
Hello everyone out there in the land of Volvo. .I'm born and raised in the great state of Texas,USA. Austin,Texas which is also States Capital.
I got a Volvo really because no one in the family wanted her, she had been sitting outside in the Texas weather untouched, never driven, forgotten ando
being a mechanical engineer I looked over her,the Volvo. I don't see an old junk car i see a awesom car that needs someone to love her.
ingenuity and long hours of hard work she can be the finest ride cruising the hill country of Texas.
She, the S 80 2.9 delivered to my garage.
A few days later I had the engine running and drove her for almost 2 weeks making a list of repairs she needs.
Now in my garage i have her on stands, starting with the front suspension replacing all worn parts struts,tie rods ,all the breaking system (front and rear) engine and transmission has already been checked and parts replaced as needed before being started(spark plugs I pulled looked surprisingly good fuel mixture looks good heat looks good)run a compression test. on cold engine 180 ,175 with # 3 and 4 the lowest.
Anyway coil packs,new plugs,cleaning and fluid flushing and change she fired up and running perfect.
Now I need to replace timing belt,water pump,plus anything more that I might see while during repairs.
I knew nothing about Volvo a month ago now i am reading and learning much as i possibly can. I find Volvo a awesome innovative corporation a leader in the industry.
I have done a lot of work with Audi,VW, and Nissan and the Big three USA auto makers.Chrysler, Chevrolet, Ford .
I also hold 2nd college degree of Automotive Technology ,cars have been an obsession of mine since I was around 10 year's old.
I never get tired of learning new things about automobiles and the Automotive industry .

Almost forgot, I do have a technical questions about the S80. But I don't know where to go to ask. I'll figure it out, I think. ..
I'll get pictures of her posted soon
Tearing down and Complete Car.
Randy

 

hey rco what going on and anything you need i can try help out I have a 2001 volvo s80 been pain getting her going but any how what else you need know?

 

Thank you for your reply, sorry I took so long to get back, haven't had time for the forum. I also have a complete frame off restoration going. 1940 Plymouth Sedan. But that's another story and probably not for the Volvo forum,?
Anyway, I've got her (the S 80 )on stands going over the entire car and trying to replace any parts that are worn-out or getting there.
Been reading up on the how to about the S 80.
I got the car given to me, I keep telling myself even if I put 2 thousand dollars into parts I'm still ok.I should have a great car that is close to new condition ready to go another 100k. for a lot less money and it's paid for.
My daily driver now is a Nissan Titan 4x4 LE 5.6 purchased new in 2004.
And you might guess , by now it's a little more maybe a lot more.
But I did really like driving the S80.
I'm looking forward to getting her back out on the road. S 80 will be my daily driver for a while, my truck is awesome but I'm ready for a change, I think so anyway S80 uses a lot less gasoline.
I have run into a problem with the S80 that I can't find a reason for.
After installing a new battery in the car the SRS URGENT MESSAGE appeared in the message center on left side of dash and the air bag light staying on.It wasn't doing this until I installed new battery. I drove it for over a week no problem but the battery that I had in the battery box was to tall so I changed it out for one that fits. I may be wrong and it's not related to changing the battery? I don't know and can't find out any information about it. Only the SRS SYSTEM is for the front air bags and front belts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I run on to long now.
Good to hear from you.
By the way where about are you located? Just wondering.
Thanks ,Randy

 

Hi RCO, welcome to the forum. Best to post your tech questions to the model specific forums to get the most views. Also you can add your location to your profile and it will appear on your posts. As to the SRS error, you should look for a Volvo friendly shop who can read/clear the OBD2 chassis codes (not all generic readers can do this). You can also google "Volvo S80 SRS reset" and find other posts - including ideas like disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes, turn the key on (with the battery disconnected) to drain residual charges etc then reconnect. Personally I'm not sure of those tricks work for all model years so the sure way is to get a shop to read/clear the codes or buy your own DICE (about 100-200 on Ebay).

 

Before I started the tear down on my S 80 to make a good parts list I took the car to two different Volvo authorized repair shops. Both came to the same conclusion, the reader that they have can not read all codes of the SRS SYSTEM. The code they get when looked up tells the tech the SRS system needs to be checked at a Volvo Dealership. Needs software updates.
After I get the S 80 back out on the road looks like a road trip home to Dallas.
Thanks for the information about the SRS and the forum.
Using my phone searching for what I need to do is not working well for me.
Thanks again, have a good evening
Randy (RCO)
BTW, I was trying to post photos but I can't get any to post? Don't know what I am doing wrong.

 

Welcome to the site !!

 

find someone that will work on Volvo for the srs light or get software to reset it your self and lot other good tools see if o2 lvls and so on

 

Checked engine codes, showed a old code caused by vacuum leak and one miss fire code on cylinder #6 .Those problems were rectified before I started to drive the car, part of pre drive check list, replace all vacuum, PCV system, check overhead and engine compression, replace coils and plugs. Volvo has a fresh air intake system and PCV system that I had to read up on before I started taking things apart. I'm working on a way to improve that factory setup, one of the first things I done was to change the fresh air intake to a unrestricted cold air intake, made the engine much quicker response and noticeable more power. And after over 500 miles it worked great and no engine codes.
It's going to be a good 5 weeks maybe longer before I have enough done to pull it out of my garage and drive her.
Depending on what other ideas I might want to try first.
Thanks for the response and information.

 

look at valve cover gasket and the oil cap seal to they can make a big mess and get the coils wet with oil and give you hell time....

 

You are correct about the leaking gaskets, I did notice some oil around the # 5 and 6 coils when I installed new plugs and coils. Thanks for the reminder, I was going to order new gasket set , been so involved in the suspension parts I totally forgot.
I need to do that now. Thanks

 

that was what started a miss fire for me coil filled with oil and need still change the coils out but eh runs ok for now .... knock on wood