car falling apart?
 

Bought a used 99 s80 for the wife, was great for the first month now i am getting some serious suspension popping noise in both driver and passanger sides, from wheel turning to going over speed bumps they pop. also wife took it in for an oil change, when she got it back the srs light now stays on , when you open the oil cap some white smokes comes out and the assholes broke the dipstick lol. i was wondering if these are common issues, balljoints springs bad sensors.. i cant afford to see the dealer and not many shops here in Newport Ri have enough brains to look at a volvo. any insite you have would be much apperaciated. im not even sure how to look for problems on these cars. .. (im a honda guy) Thanks guys/gals

The 1999 S80...
 

...has a disastrous reliability record. Because it was the first year for the car, you will be dealing with the kinks that were worked out (somewhat...) on later model years. This was also the first Volvo to be released in America before Europe, whereas usually the European market played guinea pig with other models. You can find a variety of the "standard" problems on numerous websites along with other people's experiences.

That aside, this really is a gorgeous car and I enjoy it greatly. My first was a 2000 T6 and that was about to have problems when (somewhat luckily) it got hit and was totaled. It was replaced with a 2001 2.9 (as I heard the T6 opens up a whole new range of problems) which I have put around 36k miles on (and a new transmission), and all in all the car costs about $3,000 per year in expenses and maintenance.

If you get the chance to unload the 1999, the later the year you go, typically the fewer the problems. I have also heard of people with 1999's that seem to have no problems, as well as those who purchased one brand new and had problems 2 months in. After initial build quality, I feel it is all about doing the maintenance and doing it early. I was lucky enough to buy mine from a family friend, so I knew exactly how it was treated, etc..

Try an aftermarket warranty (or leaving the car unlocked with keys in ignition in a bad area, ha). The cars not as reliable as a Honda, but it at least has a soul :) Best of luck.

That's funnyyy!

Just remember that these are 10 year-old cars. Oftentimes high end vehicles of this age have more problems not because of their quality, but because some owners neglect to perform routine maint. because of Volvo's high price of service.

the poping could be bad ball joints, find an empty parking lot and do a couple of complete circles left and right with the wheel full turned, if you hear click click click and if it increases with speed then its your ball joints,

going over bumps could be more things like upper strut mount bearings or sway bar end links, i duno small rubber pieces that dried up and cracked with time, only a mech can diagnose that

good luck,,,

of and btw, my 99 s80 t6 has been ok, after 2 oxygen sensors it has only had minor things like broken interior, check engine light once a week on and off for no reason, and body work, but thats its last owners fault...

Note, clicking on full clock (or under) can also be caused by bad CV shafts.

thanks alot for your inputs... when its not so cold i will jack it up and rip it apart. good call on that aftermarket warranty... i think they will hate me once i get one.. but oh well lol. wish i knew about the issues with the 99. i figured getting wife out of a 94 teal green ford wagon with no bumbers to a Volvo was a nice thing to do... to bad i forgot my research.

For the price of that warranty you could have bought her a 2002-3 S80.....

So far so good with my 99 S80 2.9 brought a warranty with the car so next week I'll use it to replace the springs and next month to replace the timing belt & the tensioner since it's all covered.. seems who ever had it before me took good care of it I even found the Volvo service manuel which had quite a few services dates from work performed so I guess I'm part of the lucky one that a lil ole lady from passedena drove mine. lol

This may be true, but you'll never get the lingering old person smell out of the A/C vents. :-P

It's a frickin' drive-by-wire F16 and just as finicky. Each of the dozen or so modules is a mini-computer with boot ROM, flash drive and CAN network interface. So do yourself a favor and buy a Volvo trouble code reader. A generic OBD2 reader just wont do. You'll be doing a lot of guess work without one. I got mine new for $196.
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