Hi All,

I am buying a car for my 18 year old for commuting to college, its a 2005 V50, 2.4L 89k miles, looks and drives and sounds nice but wondering if I should be looking for anything in particular before i make the jump. I have owned many new cars (vw/audi/mazda) but this will be my first used car and first volvo. Any tips or pointers of what I should be looking out for in this model year?

Thanks

Chris

 

I'm the owner of a 2006 V50 2.4i auto which I bought in November 2013 with 123k miles. Shop selling it had replaced the front struts, strut bearings and mounts. also did the front brakes.
The things I replaced myself are the intake VVT solenoid. Car gave me, IIRC, P0027, for the solenoid. I had the water stained moon roof sunshield reupholstered. Check the rubber 'blind' for the Geartronic shift lever. If gear indicator in the dash stays in 'D' when put in the manual position, the blind is shot. Also, it's obvious when looking into the gate if it's missing or torn.

Check the drive axle boots for tears and on your test drive, listen for any clicking or groaning which indicate worn u-joints.

If you experience shimmying in the steering wheel during hard braking at highway speeds but none at city speeds, it could mean the rear bushing on the front control arms are shot. Visual inspection won't always show bad bushings.

I've got a subtle whine from the front that I'm looking for a solution for but haven't received any online responses for it. May have to take it in to my indie Volvo shop. Car drives fine despite the whine.

Clunking from the rear could mean worn top shock mounts and/or anti-roll bar links.

I've put 4k miles since I bought it and have enjoyed driving it and it's utility. I'd bought it as I needed an automatic tranny as I was having a problem depressing the clutch on my former 6 speed car due to a worsening left knee condition. I also needed a car to haul around my 2 dogs. Cargo area is just the right size for the medium and small dogs.

Hope this helps.

 

I was the owner of a 2006 V50 2.4i like bv343, LE trim (which is basically the luxury trim, mid-spec) in Australia at that present time. I also have the automatic transmission and everything bv343 has said is what you should look for. Before I sold the car, we had the front control arms replaced as they were 'worn' as said by the dealer. The car had 88000km, which is equivalent to approximately 54000 miles. Yes, that's quite low for a car this age... I also had the timing belt replaced about a year before the most recent service as it was worn. Services cost a lot for this car in Australia due to labour and parts, so every time I went for a service I was looking at about $1200, but last service was $2200... and then I bought the V60! But yes, this car is versatile, nice to drive but does struggle getting up hills sometimes. I loved my V50, I kinda wish I didn't sell it but where is there room to keep it? Make sure the oil is replaced regularly. For the 2005-2006 model year you should also be looking at common problems with cars at this age, when my V40 was about 8 years old the A/C hose totally burst. Might need to have the hand brake re-adjusted if its too high as well. If you've got any questions about the car just let us know, such as in-depth details!

 

thanks for the tips and advice. I checked for as much as I could based on your words. Amongst other things, when I test drove it I noticed a moldy smell, told the guy he would have to rid of that before I bought it, said someone left the window open or it was a clogged roof drain which is good now. I picked up the car a week later, still stunk, guy says give it a few days to dry out completely. I get home, dealership is now closed, I vacuum about 2 gallons out of the rear drivers well, set up a blow up waterslide air blower in the back well, hold up some of the under seat carpet with golf tees and let the blower do its job. Then I come to these forums and find the problem with the water. I did the water test and it failed on the drivers side. Popped out the A pillar cover, tube is not connected and the elbow is clogged, clear out hose and all is good. Car has been dry now for about a week but the smell is still there. Do I have to remove the carpet completely to shampoo and rid of that smell? I have no idea how long it was wet in there before I bought it

 

The carpet and its underlay must be thoroughly dry or the smell and dampness remaining will stay trapped in the car and could start floor pan corrosion over a long period..
Removing the carpet is really the only way to be sure you have the car and carpets well dried before refitting them. A shampoo with a suitable vehicle deodorant would help with the smell issue although when dry and well aired out the carpets should smell a lot better.
If you havent yet done so I would be checking all the sunroof drain outlets to be sure they are all clear and properly connected. 'A' and 'C' pillars

 

So sorry to hear about the problem in your V50 Snapperhead7. When you said that the dealership was closed did you mean that it's closed down or just closed (trading hours)? The dealer should've given you a warranty or something like that. My advice (it won't fix the problem though) is to buy all-weather floor mats which might prevent the smell from coming back if it ever does happen again. As difflock54 said, try a vehicle deodorant. I used to use a leather care kit as well (just a leather cleaner I suppose) it didn't really do much with the smell in my car because it smelt somewhat of leather. You could also try one of those vanilla scented air fresheners, I'm not sure. Does your car have leather? Don't forget to shampoo the carpet in the boot and the lining in the boot, maybe try the headliner too. There was a few handprints in my V60 when I picked it up (from kids who had sat in there when the car was a demonstrator vehicle) - still haven't got rid of it but apparently the dealer used a 'high quality shampoo' and detailed the car 'professionally'. There were a few marks on the Polestar badge on the car and I managed to get it off EASILY when I got home. Just goes to show that people need to be tougher on dealers and say 'I won't buy the car if it's got this, this or that' etc... I did that when I discovered this huge scratch underneath the bumper. Anyway... sorry to get off topic, please keep us updated - hopefully this gets fixed.

 

The carpet has been dry for about 4 days now, smell is dissipating but still there. Pumped a strawberry scent thru the car and it smells better but not great. I really think I got all the water. It was holding water like a diaper when I originally noticed it. I plan on hitting it with some carpet shampoo today.
I was not aware of other drains in the C pillar. I did the water test but only see 2 drain holes in the sunroof, both in the front. Do the C pillar drains start in the sunroof as well?

 

The dealer was just closed for the day and didn't want to just sit and wait for them to fix the issue the following week so I did my due diligence. I do have a 30 day warranty. Oddly, All the water was isolated to the rear drivers footwell. So what difflock54 is speaking of with the C pillar drain theoretically makes sense now, I wasnt sure how the water got to the rear well.

Where the carpet splits under the seat, perfectly dry in the front. I propped up the carpet and foam and jammed car vac nozzles in between the carpet so the blower could get air under there as well.