Hello All,
I've been reading this forum over the past few months and now have a question.

I inherited my mother's 1998 S70 GLT which was last operated 18 months ago and want to get it going again. My main question is what preparations do I need to make to start the car that will minimize damage to the engine?

I'm thinking specifically about trying to prime the lubrication system. I know it can't be primed by removing the distributor and spinning the oil pump with a long rod, but I saw a reference to something like spinning the accessory cam with the timing belt removed.

Further details about the car:
- ODO: 74k
- Has the original timing belt, plugs, cap, rotor and wires
- Dashboard mounting tabs were recently repaired by me
- Has always been kept and is currently residing in my mother's garage in south central Texas
- The car always ran well and had no mechanical problems
- It was well maintained and my mother kept all of the receipts for the maintenance which was done at the dealership

I live in a different city from where the car is currently located so I won't have access to the vehicle for the next week or so. I plan on replacing the timing belt along with the plugs, cap, rotor and wires when I return.

Any and all answers to my question will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much,


Paul

 

Hi Paul and welcome to the active side of the forum.

Here is a thread that I put together some time ago.
https://volvoforums.com/forum/genera...64/#post264888

I would NOT recommend starting that car because the timing belt has 2 strikes against it. First, it's over the mileage. Second, it's over the time limit. If that belt breaks, which is may well do within minutes of starting, it will end the party. The thing is, besides the first two reasons, it's been sitting which allows the belt to deteroriate even more. Rubber got hard because it hasn't been used in a while (not to mention that it was already aged). To big of a risk for me. Now if it had been driven weekly, maybe.

NOT sure where you read something about removing the timing belt and turing a cam. There is no such thing as an accessory cam on these cars. It's critical that you keep the car in time when that belt is off. Messing with it will likely be the death to the head, valves, etc. If you pull that belt, do it only to replace it.

I'm in the process of doing the head on our '98 S70 GLT. I promise you, you don't want any part of that if you don't have to.

Hope everything works out.

 

OK. Thanks for the link to your write up. I'll do the belt before starting the engine.

The cylinder walls can easily be oiled through the plug holes but will the cam lobes get some lubrication as a result of the oil being poured in during the oil change? If not, is there any way to prime/charge the oil passages prior to starting possibly through the oil pressure sending unit hole?

Thank you for the help.


Paul

 

I've just completed importing all of the service records from my mother's car into an Excel spreadsheet and discovered that the timing belt, tensioner and idler were all replaced in July 2007 @ 63,706 when the head was pulled to replace the valve seals. That was a repair that I never heard about.

I don't think I'm going to replace the tensioner and idler but what are your thoughts on the belt? I don't have a problem buying a new belt but if I can avoid the work of having to replace something that may not be necessary that would be great.

Thank you,


Paul

 

Man, you are in there. I would not touch that belt.

To prime the motor, do a compression test style crank. Pull the plugs, fuel pump relay, and disconnect the ignition coil and crank it 3 or 4 times for 8 to 10 seconds. Chances are, when you finally start the car, you will have lifter noise. That should go away within 15 minutes of driving the car.

 

OK. No belt replacement. That is good to hear.

I've read that before but doesn't cranking the engine defeat the purpose of priming it that way? I'll do it regardless as it seems to be my best option plus I'll do as much manual lubrication (through the plug holes, doing an oil change) as I can. I'm good with that.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.


Paul

 

I just did a head job & that's what my mechanic told me to do. The oil pump will send oil up there so the car doesn't fire up to 1,000 rpms right off the bat.

 

Don't go nuts with the manual lubrication. A small amount in each cylinder and a squirt through the oil filler cap. Then you want to crank it without it starting until you get oil pressure on the gauge.

Also, just because you have a service record that says the TB's been changed doesn't mean it has. Do you know the company that did it? Are they trustworthy? Unfortunately, little old ladies with cars that do very few miles are a prime target for service scams, because who'll ever know, right?

 

Sad but true. I picked up a Nissan Maxi once with 63,000 miles on it and the receipts showed that it had 3 water pumps & 2 starters. I wanted to go to the shop and smack someone.

Usually a mechanic will post a timing belt sticker under the hood.

 

All of the work was done at the Volvo dealership where the car was purchased.

You both have a point and quite frankly, after looking through all of the service records, I'm suspect of the dealership. I'm hoping that the work that was paid for was at least actually performed.

I'll check to see if the timing belt work was done when I return to the vehicle's location.

 

Like I said, there will be a sticker under the hood.

 

I've spent quite bit of time under the hood of that car and never saw a timing belt sticker, granted I wasn't looking for it. I'll know for sure in about a week.

I did notice the sticker for the cabin air filter though.

 

Well, there you go. I remember reading on a forum about a Mercedes Benz bought at an estate sale. On one of the service receipts was a line item for about $1,000 to replace the back-up camera. The car didn't have a back-up camera.

My rule with timing belts is that unless I can personally verify the work was done I assume it wasn't. Redoing a doubtful TB job is relatively cheap insurance.

 

Finally made it back to the car this week. No timing belt replacement sticker to be found anywhere in the engine compartment. Pulled the timing belt covers and the belt and pulleys look newer than what I would expect the original belt to look like. It looks like the timing belt was in fact done when my mother paid for the dealer to do it. Turned the crank with the plugs out and it turned very easily.

The plugs have more deposits on them for what I would expect for being in service for only 10k miles. They also had a bit of smell to them. This is my first turbo engine so I'm not sure if that is normal. Since they are out, I think I'll just replace them with Bosch Coppers. Have a new wire set, cap and rotor ready to go as well.

Photo's attached. What do you all think?

 

Started up the car after doing an oil change, putting in new plugs and installing a new battery. It started on the first try and seemed to run about the same as it did the last time I drove it with one exception. One of the cylinders is ticking.

At idle (approx 1,000 rpm) the ticking is clearly evident. When I rev the engine to 1,300, the ticking will momentarily disappear as the engine returns to idle. Before starting the engine, I did prime the l system by cranking it with the fuel pump and injecters disabled. I only ran the engine for about three minutes since I didn't want to take a chance of causing any damage.

Tomorrow I'll put on the new wires, cap and rotor and go from there.

 

Replaced the Wires, Cap and rotor today which was a little more of a PITA than I was expecting. Slight struggle getting the air box out to gain access to the distributor and had to use vice grips on one of the three rotor screws in order unstick it to get it out.

The date code on the old Bougicord wires is 98 02 and the new wires is 16 12. I had thought that the first two digits was the year but if Bougicord hasn't changed the format of the date code, I am clearly mistaken. I don't have a record showing that the wires were ever changed on the car so I am surprised if they in fact were. Has Bougicord kept the same date format for their wires?

The ticking appeared again after starting the car but disappeared entirely after idling for a few minutes. I'll drive the car tomorrow as I continue to revive it from its sleep.

 

Drove the car around the neighborhood and it runs really well. Still has a bit of a diesel roughness with the trans in Park and Neutral, which it has had for as long as I can remember. It is however smoother when idling in Drive and also while moving and accelerating.

A/C does not work most likely due to having no pressure in the system from sitting so long. Cannot hear the compressor clutch engage at all.

Need to get a few highway miles to allow the ECU to complete the required OBD tests so that the car can pass the state inspection. Need to do this without getting a ticket for driving with an expired state inspection, although I'm sure any police officer would understand. Right?

Lets all try to keep it down. The responses in this thread are starting to get out of hand.

Take care.


Paul

 

Engine ticking most likely is sticky lifter(s). Throw some top-end lube (e.g. Marvell Mystery oil or equiv) into the oil and gas (follow directions).

After one or more oil changes with that recipe the engine should sound like a sewing machine.

Need to quit babying this thing and get out and drive it! If you're worried about a ticket, get a temp sticker from DMV.

 

Put about 12 highway miles on the car last night and it drove great. Pulls strong and runs smoother than I can remember. Glad I did the dashboard tab repair as it's nice not to have the dash rattling itself to pieces any more.

I did encounter a problem. I had to use the shift override button to get it out of Park. That's in itself is not new. I then filled the tank at a gas station and drove off to put some miles on the car. During the drive, as the sun was setting, I turned on the headlights and they did not come on nor did the instrument lights. Turn signals no longer functioned.

I found this thread from the 850 section which describes my car's symptoms exactly minus the problems with the AC blower switches:https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...nt-come-58210/

To add to this, the car had the ignition cylinder replaced in late 1999 and I found one of the two screws that attach the ignition switch to the colum on the floor mat when I removed the dashboard. After I discovered where it went I screwed it in. I'm certain that screw was barely attached. I'll recheck the car's service records to see if it was the ignition switch that was replaced vice the ignition cylinder.

I hooked up my scanner this morning to see if all of the OBD tests were completed after last night's drive (12 miles). Not yet. I'll drive it some more tonight.

Does anyone know how many miles it takes for the OBD tests to complete on an S70?


Paul

 

The symptoms with the lights and gear shifter reappeared a few days ago but a slight twist of the key back towards the Off position and everything is golden. The service receipt from the dealership does say "ignition cylinder" but the loose screw from the switch tells me that it was in fact the switch that was replaced back in 99.

State inspection was passed even though the OBD tests had not completed. I thought the guidelines stated otherwise but I'm not going to fight it. The AC system was recharged yesterday completing all mechanical repairs. The AC place told me that the system was completely empty which I suspected when I was able to reach down and turn the compressor with one finger prior to getting it recharged. It thankfully still held vacuum during the test of the system to see if the seals were still good so all I had to pay for was the evac and recharge.

The engine continues to smooth out which is probably due to the trim tables rebuilding themselves. While rolling through a parking lot yesterday I could barely tell if the engine was running. Had to press the gas peddle a little to make sure.

The remainder of the repairs on my list involve heat damaged plastic interior parts. I've got the parts for the PCV system but I'm going to hold off on that since I don't really need to address that at this time.