I need something to put one of my spawn in, and a good friend of mine has a 2010 V70 with nearly 200K miles they're passing along to me very inexpensively. It's been well-kept, and recently had all the coolant hoses replaced as well as the blower motor.

I'm a moderate wrench - mainly what I call "nuts and bolts" stuff. I take care of as much of the maintenance and repairs on the family cars as I can. I've done a fair bit on BMW's over the years - I have and old E24, and the Volvo is going to replace a 2006 E53 X5 that I've done a fair bit of work on over the years (PCV, the full cooling system from water pump/t-stat to rad and all the hoses, etc.), a full suspension on my Mini Clubman, the same on the family Mazda3, struts and axles on my wife's Odyssey and brakes/etc. on all of those.

Have to say Volvo does seem to do things a bit differently. I'll be doing front brakes and all of the motor mounts (the top/right one has a split in the bushing, so I'm assuming they're all tired), but going to let the local Swedish shop (Swedish Imports) replace the CV boots. I'm capable of it, but it's a dirty/crappy job I'd much rather leave to the pros. That said, their quote seems a tad high at ~$540 if the boots are $140...

In any case, looking forward to learning new things. Not seeing a ton of YouTube content on the more-modern Volvos, nor a good Haynes/Bentley manual, which is a little concerning. Any tips/resources appreciated! (I have searched, but finding a lot of dead links or P2 vs. P3 content that I don't know how similar the jobs are). The e-manual popup here seems a bit...sketchy? If anyone can verify they're legit and my info won't wind up on the dark web (), that would be great.

Cheers!

 

If you are looking for a service manual - your best bet is to find the stolen/hacked version of VIDA 2014d found easily on the internet. That is the factory parts/service/repair instruction software (runs on win 7 pro) - and if you have a 2015 or earlier Volvo - that is your best/cheapest choice.

Not sure about "replacing cv boots". Usually by the time someone replaces the torn boots - damage has been done to the joints themselves. Unfortunately there are many aftermarket poor quality axles available for purchase - So tread carefully, sometimes new boots and grease works, sometimes not so much. (then you end up purchasing new quality axles or putting cheap Chinese ones in that are worse than what you had!)

For motor mounts - just replace the ones you KNOW are bad (usually on the front of the engine). You will need your $$$ to fix other things!

Your engine is a FOMOCO/Volvo/Land Rover product - It is an interesting design, and CAN last a long time. (Some have problems)

 

Thanks very much for the response!
I don't mind paying for a resource, as long as it is not big $$ and complete about the touchy stuff (e.g. water pumps).
The good news is the same place has seen the car routinely, so I trust they caught it pretty early. I'll eyeball the boot when I get the car this Saturday.

LoL - I 100% understand your point, but I tend to hate stringing things out. My thinking is if the top mount is borked there's generally stress on the rest that probably hasn't been kind. I'd rather knock it all out and not worry about it again.

I appreciate it. This one seems to have been pretty reliable. Most of what has been spent on it recently is maintenance/wear-item stuff, so I'm optimistic. I really prefer knowing where cars have been, and this one has been owned by my friend's mom (an elderly school principal) and a believe-it-or-not gentle teenage girl for the last 70K miles, mainly driven on the highway and serviced by a Volvo-specialist shop.

 

Apologies if this is duplicate - I had something all typed up and I thought I'd hit the button, but not seeing it.

Anyway - I really appreciate the reply!

I don't mind paying for a reasonably-priced resource - kinda hate the idea of a stolen/hacked thing. A book or online resource would be great, if it exists. The closes thing I found was for a diesel V70, which is unlikely to cover the things I'd really like to have - the motor stuff.

The good news is the same shop has been servicing the car regularly, and I think the tear is pretty new/low mileage. CV joints aren't all that complicated - they're just messy as heck to re-boot (you have to strip all the old grease out and re-pack before replacing the boots). If you really let it go, the grit can grind the bearings or whatever so they don't work well, but I hope we're well ahead of that.

I don't even want to look at what quality axles cost, but for now I'm going to kick the can and see how far it goes.

I 100% understand your point, but I'm thinking if the top mount is dead, the rest have been stressed by that fact and aren't likely fresh anyway. For stuff like that, I genreally would rather do it all and not worry about it. I've already ordered the front brakes and the mounts .

Thanks - I feel pretty good about this one because I know where it has been (with my friend's elderly-school-principal mother and her surprisingly-gentle teenage daughter) for the last 70K miles or so. I'm optimistic about the car

 

The legal way to have use of the factory service manual is to purchase a VIDA subscription at Volvotechinfo.com

 

Obviously that's targeted at shops vs. a DIYer, so not an option.

A Bentley manual would be ideal. I guess I'll just have to rely on the resources in places like VolvoForums and the relatively spare stuff on YouTube.

 

There any many DIYers that buy subscriptions to be able to use their dice units for downloads. (software needed update or make new modules work). Or simply diagnostics. If you are going to do you own work - I'd highly recommend buying a DICE unit - to be able to talk to the car. There is also the program VDASH that many others are beginning to use - I have no experience with that program.