yeah ...im with you....if i have to replace something i usually look for an aftermarket improvement, but there are no plans for HP upgrades on purpose

clean energy eh? very interesting subject......my wife and i built our home 3 years ago and tried to go as efficient and green as possible.....we used soy based spray foam insulation, salvaged as much as we could from the house we took down to built this one and i installed a very nice radiant floor heating system, we heat with a Navian on demand LPG furnace took our fuel consumption from 1000 gallons of heating oil at 65 degrees to 400 gallons of propane at 72-74 degrees.

i have a pretty large salt water aquarium set up with the filtration in the basement, i tapped into the radiant floor heat and put a few coils of pex in the sump and get about 90% of my aquarium water heat from the home heating system which is already running as opposed to running a couple 500 watt aquarium heaters....the next step after the car is back to stage 0 is to custom build my own high power LED light fixture so i can pull the metal halides out and cut the ol electric bill by 2/3rds for the tank

i will how ever fight to death about the financial inefficiency of Hybrid cars !!! lol - -actually thats the reason im now a Volvo owner and joining a class action lawsuit against ....well its a foreign car company that starts with hon and ends with da ....lol

thats another post if anyone is interested.....

 

That's great to hear. Our work is in commercial buildings, mostly highrises. So I am not up to speed with residential systems. Yet, I am very interested (but have done nothing) for own country house. I guess I am expecting for the money (LOL) so I could renovate/re-do it.

On cars, I am really not interested in energy sources of NEW cars. Just the ones on the road, which represent 99.99% of all cars. I did some solar work on my conversion van. Integrated it with the van's electrical system.

Another project was Peltier panels, and the intent was to convert wasted heat (exhaust) into electricity.

I am just an experimenter. At the moment I am working on another project -- a Travel Assistant. When you drive by an area, have you ever thought "I wonder where we are, and what is this place about?" Computer can start display images or short videos on car video monitors and (through speech recognition) can read Wikipedia articles. That sort of thing...

 

that would be pretty sweet......make it an app for Android and people on vacation for example Washington DC could get info on anything within say a quarter mile of were they are ....i would have loved a system like this in Boston last year...so much is missed with the time wasted trying to figure out where we are and were we want to go . . .so much history and sites to see all at once

 

We're getting so off-topic that Moderator might kick us out, but anyways. When we go to big cities we take the guided tours, which are helpful. Yet, when we go through smaller cities or towns, you got no options.

I was traveling one day from New London, CT to Worcester, MA, which I have done many times. I have seen signs on I-395 for various towns (Moosup, Danielson, Putnam, etc), which meant nothing to me.

One day, I said -- let me map these 6-8 towns out and see what the are all about. I couldn't believe what I found. So much history, and so much recent facts. It made those town names now mean something. It was like being blind, and seeing again.

 

Trying to "sweeten the pot" -- 960s are such great beautiful cruisers that trips can be enjoyable. A Flip-down monitor costs what, $ 150? You can buy a fully-loaded 960, with plenty of space for people and cargo, heated seats, sunroof, all options for $ 1000 or $ 2000. Put snows in the winter and they're unstoppable. A warm-soap wash and $ 10 wax bottle -- car looks like a million bucks.

The true test of the car is when you go a rent one at the airport -- do you wish then to rather have your own?

 

nice save...lol.....new london ? your pretty close to me then eh......my salvage yard is in Great Barington Mass. my grandmother used to live in Norwalk CN......im about 20 min from the Mass border my father in law lives in Great Barington

i love this 960 and in the process of finding a crosscountry, IPD did a "ralley" look version of one a couple years ago and ive been in love with it ever since, if i understand correct though they are prone to very expensive awd and trans issues??

 

Actually I am more like 20 miles West of New London, in Clinton, CT (Exit 63 on I-95). I got family in Worcester and Shrewsbury. Wow, you in the Berkshires? I might check out your salvage yard when I come that way.

Earlier XCs have more AWD issues than later ones, what they call the "bevel gear". Many people drop the shaft and use them as FWD. Later ones have better AWD, but quality of other things went down. A good friend of mine had a 02 XC 90 and couldn't wait to get rid of it. He hated it. Replaced it with a Pilot.

Since 01 I think, they went to different computer and wiring system, and those are designed for dealer rip-off. Plus they lost their Volvo character and started looking like bubbles, just like other cars.

 

oooooo.....well i have an 04 honda hybrid with a failing hybrid battery sitting in the yard that i cant sell because the battery is a 5000 dollar repair from the dealer and the voltage is a little more than i want to mess with for a 3000 dollar aftermarket "might work for a while" fix....my salvage yard in Great Barrington has an 01 crosscountry {x90?} awd with a bad fuel tank.....the rest of the car looks perfect, no dents dings or scratches. it has 120,000 on the clock and drives other than a pretty good fuel leak...he is going to call me today but seems pretty interested in a straight up trade for the honda......am i getting into a nightmare do you think? my thought is if i can get this car on the road for less than 3 grand dependable im money ahead of the honda ...whats an 01 crosscountry worth if i repair it and sell it??

 

Check the V70 thread. I think a lot of people complain about the transmission in those '01 and '02 cars.

 

Hi Guys,

Interesting thread here. Snowboss, in your research have you come across any mention of the timing belt? That is something you want to be aware of. These, are interference engines, if the timing belt breaks bad things usually happen, bent/broken valves, pistons ruined :

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...1/?ref=esp-img

I just want you to know. These are great cars, I have a 1997 965, and it is a great road car.
Good luck to you with yours.

Henry10, if you see this, Thanks for all your input/advice/knowledge, you have helped me.

Fred

 

I pulled the codes on the 960. 233 which is the idle valve.112.113 and 115. The book says that these are injector issues,but i just had them replaced not long ago and it hasn't been driven much at all since they were changed. Should this still be an issue?Was there something that wasn't done when the mechanic changed these out?HELP!

 

Code 112 is "ECU. Replace ECU". Something is amiss. I don't recall -- did you reply on Stage 0 info and Fuel psi? I think we are trying to help you, but we'll be useless if you don't provide info.