Looking at a 2000 Volvo V70XCE AWD with 188k miles. Car runs and drives, it's been sitting for over a year so it has some old gas and the idle is a little rough but it takes off and shifts without too much trouble. It has the flashing transmission arrow and the check engine light on for code P0740 and P1618. Looking around here and on the internet this appears to be an issue with the torque converter lockup solenoid circuit and a communication issues of some kind (maybe related to the PNP switch, who knows). It doesn't appear to have any actual mechanical transmission problems, it shifts without any hesitation and appears to lock up in overdrive when around 55MPH. Transmission fluid is old and needs to be replaced like every other older car that hasn't been serviced regularly.

Obviously any used car can easily turn into a money pit or trash pile, but the price is cheap enough. I'm mechanically competent and electrically talented, but my experience is mostly with older GM products and newer Ford products, so this would be my first European car and I know they do things differently. If it's a bad solenoid or just a bad electrical connection somewhere in the harness or a broken plastic connector making things intermittent that could be a bit of search and replace, but nothing insurmountable. After 23+ years and part of those reportedly with a teenager who didn't care for the car these are things I wouldn't be surprised about - I've changed solenoids in newer cars that had bad fluid or repaired faulty harnesses and they were just fine afterwards. But half the forum posts I see from people with these types of errors are "what do I do?" ending in either "just change the fluid and it'll be fine" or "trans is trashed, minimum $5000 for a new one" and no followups so who knows what actually happened and if the problem was ever fixed or not. My professional mechanic friends who work on cars regularly say to just change the transmission fluid, maybe the TCC solenoid, and put new fluid in and it will probably be fine.

Is this just a time bomb waiting to go off or is this something that could be repaired without too much trouble if you're smart and willing to work? These vehicles seem to be pretty well built and not fragile or overly sensitive like these more modern electronic nightmares that everyone always has horror stories with.

 

Yes. It's a 23 year old Volvo. Why has it been sitting? If the price is low enough it can be a disposable car, or you can spend however much you want on it until you are tired of that habit. Curious, Is the AWD system still intact? Driveshaft and angle drive problems are common.

Most of those are parked when it's no longer reasonable to spend the amount of money needed to keep them in good shape - or the interior or exterior gets trashed and someone just wants to drive a nicer car, or the parts can't be found. (many are no longer available - either new or used) There's not many people out there that want a car that old - so I doubt anyone else is looking to purchase it. I'll get flamed for this but I would not spend more than a few hundred to purchase a car like that.

Does your state/region require an emission inspection?

 

the fault codes are telling you 1) the signal to/from the torque converter solenoid, the solenoid itself or the TCM is faulty and 2) tells you the TCM is not talking to the ECM. The fix may be as simple as cleaning up the connector/wiring to the TCM but you won't know until you own the car. If you are looking for a project car and the price is right, this may be a interesting opportunity. For a daily driver - nope or not until you sort out the codes and do some basic r&r. As Hoonk noted, there's quite a few of the early XCs that got junked due to a failed bevel gear (AWD angle drive is analgous to a transfer case )

 

It's been sitting because it was the lady's daily driver for 2ish years, she got another car and they've let it sit since then. They've decided it's time to clear the yard of cars that have been sitting and this is one of them. I'm interested in it because I like cheap cars and getting them running, especially ones that someone gave up on over something they or the shop they took it to didn't understand or want to fix. My intention would be fix the issues with the check engine light and get it smogged - California, so definitely need to pass emissions, which the computer data indicates it does outside of the transmission codes - and then drive it around as a somewhat daily driver. I have a diesel truck I drive daily that is as old as this, a Lincoln Mark VIII that is older that I've fixed a bunch of random electrical and mechanical problems on that my other half drives, and having something more maneuverable and easier on gas would always be welcome so I have a backup car. Plus I like station wagons.

The AWD system has been disabled because apparently the planetary gears in the rear differential burned up and a previous owner didn't bother to fix it. The lady's brother worked as an independent Volvo mechanic and he says it's pretty common for the AWD system to fail on these and almost no one bothers repairing them because of how unusual and complicated they are compared to the standard American AWD systems. He also blessed the car before the current owner bought it 4 or so years ago.

As far as more than a few hundred, I agree. And that's the price range otherwise I'd have nope'd out of it long ago. I have no delusions that this would be some super valuable\rare\exotic car anyone would care about from a collectible standpoint. It's kind of beat up in the interior but the body is completely rust free and all of the accessories work, including the heat and AC.

 

The trans problem is emission related - that might be why the car really was parked. Fixing the trans might be too costly.