I posted this in the V70 section, but I figure I might get more responses here. If this post shouldn't be here, let me know. It just seems that the '98-'00 V70 section isn't viewed by anyone.



I found an ad for a 1998 V70r on Craigslist that sounded great. Lots of recent maintenance, and the owner's brother is a Volvo mechanic and did all the work.

I went to the shop the brother owns to see the car, but the brother was out of town so I needed to talk to another mechanic. I quickly smelled oil burning under the hood and found a leaking hose from a hose below and to the right of the dipstick (see picture). In just a few minutes I saw several big drops of out on the ground. The front cross-member was completely drenched in oil. Seems like an easy fix, but the owner didn't seem to want to fix it, but sell it with the leak and have me fix it. Seemed a bit odd considering the owner's brother could fix it super easily.

The oil leak is circled, but hard to photograph-


Some other minor things. Passenger window switch not working, but working on the driver's side. Odd damage on the driver's seat. A perfectly round hole in the leather and foam on the outside bolster (you can see this at the end of the Walk around video). No clue how this could have happened other than maybe a cigar burn? No real idea. They re-stitched the seat, but pretty worn overall. Also the paint is pretty poor. Scratches front to rear, plenty of small dents and front and rear bumper damage all the way down to the plastic. The rear driver's side tire was completely worn out on the outside. I assume a camber or toe issue, but they say in their ad (below) that they recently aligned the car.

Quick video of me going around the car-

The biggest issue was the car was blowing massive amounts of white smoke. Didn't smell like coolant, but my first guess is a head gasket. They let the car idle for 15+ minutes and the white smoke kept billowing out the whole time. I told them I was unwilling to buy the car unless this issue was sorted out (I took a video and I am posting a link below).

The odd thing is right after I got home, the woman told me another mechanic too a look at the car and ruled out head gasket, she mention something about the carburetor being ok (Huh?), and that they researched it and deduced that it had something to do with the fuel. She said they drained the tank and filled it up with fresh Chevron and the smoke was gone. Does this sound even possible? She said she would send me a video, but I haven't seen it yet.

Sorry for the huge post, but I'd love some feedback. After the smoke I figured this car was off the list of cars I would consider, but if a gas change could really fix it, should I reconsider?

Tailpipe Video-


Thanks again!


The ad:
Volvo V70R AWD Wagon 4D

"Family owned 1998 Volvo V70r AWD wagon 4D - silver
Black leather in nice condition
Automatic transmission
180,329 miles
Clean title
Stock Volvo alloy wheels
Registration is current
Tags up to date
Sew remote
Smoke free
Sun roof
Roof rack
Really a great car

***Fresh car serviced***
HEADGASKET AND VALVE JOB
SPARK PLUGS
SPARK PLUG WIRES AND CAP AND ROTOR
TIMING AND DRIVE BELT AND WATER PUMP
BATTERY
POLLEN FILTER AIR FILTER
ALL NEW VACUUM LINES
NEW RADIATOR HOSES
NEW BRAKE PADS FRONT AND REAR
NEW FRONT SHOCKS
NEW FRONT SHOCK UPPER MOUNTS IN FRONT
NEW FRONT RIGHT DOOR STOPPER
NEW UPPER ENGINE MOUNT
NEW PCV SYSTEM BOX AND ALL LINES
ALIGNMENT PERFORMED
WIPERS REPLACED

OIL CHANGE
NEW AIR INJECTTION HOSES AND GASKETS
TURBO FEED AND RETURN LINES RESEALED
NEW HEADLIGHT BULBS
NEW INNER TAILGATE PANEL AND CLIPS
BOTH NEW FRONT AXLES
BRAKE FLUID CHANGED
TRANS FLUID CHANGED
SWAY BAR LINKS FRONT
COMPLETE CAR CLEANING

Motivated seller 4,000 OBO
Cash only
No trades"

 

Updated video from the owner with no white smoke-

 

i had smoke like that when my pcv neeeded serviced. that could also explain an oil leak from the built up pressure

 

The advertisement from the seller says that they just replaced the PCV system and there looked be be a number of new hoses under the hood. So I assume they replaced it all.

Also, the smoke seems to have gone away now in the video the seller sent me only about 1.5 hours after I looked at the car. So this really boggles my mind. I really want to figure out how to explain this smoke before I even make an offer.

Do you have an opinion on what to offer on this car? They are asking $4,000 but are "motivated". To me this is a fair condition car at best cosmetically. I was really interested because the owner's brother the mechanic had supposedly done so much work on the car, but the oil leak and white smoke have me worried. You'd think a Volvo mechanic would have caught these things that I caught as a layman.

So what would be a fair price? $2,500? I just can't see the car being near their asking price with it needing tires, an alignment, to fix an oil leak, and possible problems with the smoke mechanically and all *many* the cosmetic issues.

NADA gives a trade in value for an "average" V70R with 180K miles of $1,825. A clean retail price is set at $4,350. So I would think this car is only worth $2500-3,000 assuming the smoke issue is really gone. Then I need to spend just under $700 on tires (including tax, mounting etc. Tire Rack has good tires at around $500 a set). Then I need to align the car as well and fix the oil leak. So if I bought the car I would be spending right around $1,000 to get the car up to snuff mechanically assuming I find nothing else wrong. Of course I probably will find something else wrong after I buy the car.

 

Another thought- You might be 100% correct that this oil leak was created by a clogged PCV system. Then they fixed the PCV system, but failed to fix this hose/clamp. Though, I typically read about a rear main seal lead due to improper PCV maintenance, but that might just be a worst case scenario. This looks like a pretty simple fix....but you'd thing the owner would just fix it since she has access to a shop that specializes in Volvos for free.

 

i might be wrong, but i believe that hose is to the oil cooler. it is kind of expensive to replace, but i believe they can be rebuilt for cheaper. i have a small leak on mine now that appears to be coming from that line, so i check my oil often.i know my pcv is good because i just changed it and did the glove test. i would offer at most 2500, if that. tires and alignment are gonna be a few hundred dollars alone, and they could have done a simple "rig" job to temporarily fix the smoke

 

I think you are correct. The mechanic said it went to some sort of cooler. I assumed it would be a simple fix. This one looks like it would need to be fixed fairly soon. It was dropping a lot of oil and the crossmember was covered in caked-on oil. Obviously these are all warning signs. If a specialist Volvo mechanic goes through the entire car for his sister and doesn't fix this, then what else did he not fix? Looks to me like they got this car in VERY bad condition and then tried to patch it back together on the cheap while cutting corners.

I've got a lead on a '98 V70 AWD wagon Low-Pressure turbo that appears to be in much better condition that I will look at in the next day or so. I am also going to look at a 850 wagon high pressure turbo/T-5 tomorrow at a dealership, but they have had that car on their lot for a long time (been tracking Volvos on Craigslist for a long time), so I suspect this is probably not a very nice car or it might have sold by now.

I have a neighbor who is selling a '96 850 T-5 sedan with only 74K miles for around $3,000, but I think I need to hold out for a wagon so I can carry my big dog in the back since he gets car sick. I will get one of those Weathertech covers for the back to make things easy. I wish I could find a nice wagon with low miles and a great price like that!

 

wow that is a good deal for the 850 t5 but this is that line Engine Oil Cooler Hose 850 C70 V70 S70 -1998

 

My car smoked like that after it idled for an extended time. I agree that the PCV system is probably a big part of that but the thing that really changed/ corrected my issues was when I changed the PTC valve. I know this is part of the overall PCV system but even after clearing everything in the PCV it wasn't until I changed this that a lot of issues cleared up.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I contacted the seller of the V70R and told her I would have to pass. Hopefully the next Volvos I look at are in better shape! I had high hopes for this V70R because of the brother being a Volvo mechanic, but I guess it was not to be...

 

Thank goodness! Just saw this post; that car is a beater and most likely a money pit. At best, it's worth < half their asking price. Smart move to pass.

 

Then there is the chance they did do the PCV but it's plugged down in the oil pan ???

Sorry you didn't get it.

 

Yeah I am not sure what I should do. I really would prefer a T-5R or R wagon, but I've been following the local market and have seen very few in my area. So do I settle for a more basic Volvo wagon, or do I hold out for a few weeks and hope one hits the market? I really need to get this 2nd car before I move in about a month.

I can justify getting a non-R car by telling myself that I can always drive my Vette if I want to go fast, but I will always wish I found an R.

 

Why the fascination with R model? It's only a slightly pimped up 850T; you can easily mod a std 855T/V70T to outperform a stock R.

I was looking for a clean regular 855T; only took me 2.5 yrs to find the one I just picked up. It's by no means perfect but it's the cleanest I've seen during that search time. I looked at dozens of cars in that time including a couple R models. Virtually all of them were POS's. There are clean ones out there; unfortunately most of those aren't for sale..

 

I prefer the interior of the R, the performance bump would be nice (I plan to keep the car stock), and I prefer the slightly more aggressive styling. I've modified a lot of cars in my life, and they tend to get less reliable and be less well balanced than the factory "hot rod" versions. But you are definitely right that in almost every case you can make a faster car for cheaper than the factory when looking at a new car. But on a used car where the price difference might be $1,000 between an R and a regular clean 855 turbo, I think you are getting some good value on the R model. The problem is finding a clean one in my area.

My first choice would probably be a T-5R in yellow if I could find one in my price range, but I won't. I like yellow cars (my Vette is yellow too).

 

Yeah, I get where you're coming from (BTW: where is "my area"?) but my point is I was looking for a needle in a haystack; that's why it took me so long to find something close to what I was looking for.

But a clean R is even much more rare than what I was looking for, unless you don't care too much about condition and simply plan to just refurbish it!

And the mods I was talking about are relatively minor; very easy to add 30-60 hp w/o impacting reliability significantly. I think the R is rated at like 15 more hp than the std Turbo.

 

My area is Northern California. And I think the HP difference from a base turbo compare to an R is 42. 208 vs 250, but that might be wrong.

 

According to my owner's manual it's 222 vs 237 hp. Plus if you get one w/AWD that will add weight and sap hp too.
1996 Volvo 850

 

My numbers were definitely off. I think the 250 HP model is the Euro spec R with manual transmission that we can't get here in the USA. On the '98 V70 the base HP was 190 HP and the R model is 236 HP according to- http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/.../1998_V70.html

 

The big thing is where you stand with skills and money. If you spend more buying a 4WD and then end up with something expensive breaking that you can't fix, can't afford to fix or a part that isn't available and end up pulling the shaft to the rear as is commonly done and turning it into a heavy 2WD you wasted the premium you spent getting the 4WD and you are pushing around the extra weight ($$gas) and still spinning heavier 4WD components ($$gas) even if you pull the rear shaft.