Hello,

Looked at an 04 S60 2.5T today...108K miles. Had a few confusing items come up when talking to the guy. Car has been dealer serviced (Carfax checks out) every 6 months and regular service intervals. Garaged in florida for half its life and in Pittsburgh for the rest.

Asked owner if the timing belt was replaced at 105, he said the dealer said it was "good" and didn't need to be done. Carfax says "Recommended maintenance performed" at 106K. Should they have replaced the timing belt? Should I expect to do it soon? The owner also said he is unaware of any suspension issues or problems with the car, nor any suspension work that has been done. Should I expect to do bushings and struts soon?

Also, the blower motor was rumbling and will need to be replaced.

Owner is asking $4200. VIN is YV1RS59V442417428. Hoping to take to a Volvo guy to take a look over it before I consider and read all codes (it wasnt throwing any though).

Thanks!

 

Bump..in need of help please

 

The timing belt is nothing to look over. This is an interference engine and will bend valves if the belt breaks. You can look at the belt for cracking. Also you can pull off the front cover and look for grease being ejected from the bearings on the idlers. If they fail, you get the same problem.

Volvo says replace the belt and idlers every 107K, but most people I've talked to say 75K is enough. Volvo really stretched the service interval too far on this one. The idlers are known to fail around 90K. I replaced my mother's timing belt last year at 110K, but the idlers were ejecting grease onto the cover. We got lucky. It looked like the belt was in good shape, and possibly replaced some time ago.

If you can find out when or if it was done and if the idlers were done too, then go from there. If either the idlers or the belt has not been done yet, they need to be done. I'd get more clarification on good. If you can't, just plan on changing them.

As far as suspension, a car with that mileage expect to need to replace the struts and joints, but just check them out. If they are fine, then wait until they are bad. The struts shouldn't make any squeaking noises and should noticeable stop oscillations when you conpress the suspension and let it settle.