Hi, I'm thinking about buying a 98 volvo v70 XC with about 130K miles on it, spent most of it's life in maryland, so I'm not sure how bad the rust might be, I know next to nothing about volvos tho I worked on other cars personally, it's had 4 owners according to the vin. The current owner has had it for a year and is now selling it to help pay for college, he's replaced the timing belt, pulleys, spark plugs and changed the oil, said it runs great.
What I need help with is what to look for on this vehicle to make sure I'm not getting something that's going to die on me in the next few thousand miles, got a UV lamp to check for leaks, know how to spot most engine leaks easily, but are there any specifics I should look for in the vehicle to see if anything is going bad?

 

Another car. Maybe a Nissan or Toyota.

 

Just kidding. But these cars can be tricky in finding problems, they can run with a lot of issues. My daughters S70 drove well for over a year with a bad head gasket.

Thinks that can stop it from running that will cost you more than $100 are:
1. Tossed timing belt. Changing the belt ALONE is not enough. There are 2 rollers and a water pump in that path. If any of those parts fail, it will toss the belt and destroy the head. So you need to SEE a receipt proving that ALL of those part have been replaced or look at the parts to see if they look BRAND NEW. Take a 10mm and/or 12mm socket with you to remove the cover and check.
2. PCV system REPLACEMENT. Cleaning is NOT enough. When plugged up, it can cause major oil leaks. RMS, blown cam seals, etc. You can test it with a rubber glove.
3. Bad/worn suspension. You can usually feel or hear that with a test drive.
4. Coolant leaks as with any other car. Loosing coolant can cause an overheat.

 

 

These cars are great and pretty easy to work on. If you can turn a wrench you will find a lot of good help here and a couple of other forums to help you keep it on the road and running good.

 

Thanks for the tips, since he replaced the timing belt and pulleys, do you think it threw the belt? I wouldn't think it would really run at all if the head is destroyed right? I've never driven awd, so I don't know what it should feel like when driving. I used to be good at turning a wrench, did all the family's and my own mechanic work I could, but I ruptured a tending in my wrist so I'm useless as a mechanic now.

 

+1 to what rspi said.


But in 98 the AWD was mechanical and was quite finicky; e.g. if you drive around with different size tires (just from wear) can cause diffs to go out. No personal experience; going by what I've read from other posters and talked to quite a few Volvo techs. Later years (02/03?) they switched over to electronic controlled AWD which supposedly is more reliable.


What I am saying is, unless you really need AWD, I would steer away from it. Just my opinion FWIW.


Other than the AWD, I prefer the 94-98 MYs for the 850/S/V70 lines; great cars!

 

As stated, if you can't turn a wrench, sad to say, I'd steer clear of these cars. Mechanics that are willing to work on them charge to much. If you were near me, I would help you but I don't know of others that will.

No I do not think the current owner loss a belt. The car wouldn't even start if the head was damaged.

 

Well crap, I didn't know that about the AWD on these, I guess there's no way to manually disable it either is there? My family was looking forward to getting this, not good news sadly.

 

Are volvos simply harder to work on, or do mechanics just know they can charge more money to work on them?

 

I read on another volvo forum the 98 v70XC middle driveshaft can be removed and it can be run as FWD, I got a local mechanic that should be able to do this easily, can anyone else here confirm this is possible? It won't be going offroad or driven on any real hilly conditions.

 

Yes you can disconnect the drive shaft and it will be a fwd.

 

As John has stated, the AWD shaft can be removed without any issues or side effects. Matter of fact, most have already been removed and maybe that is has as well.

These cars are pretty easy to work on, kids (people less than 1/2 my age) are using my videos to replace heads etc on them. The issue is that every month you have to do some other somewhat minor issue to keep the cars in "good shape" and enjoy them due to their age. If you don't tinker with them the small stuff adds up and drives you crazy.

As with my Pre-Purchase video, the things there are the bigger ticket items that can cause problems. Other stuff is small.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Are these volvos rust prone? It came from Maryland and I'm expecting worst case scenario

 

Volvos are not rust prone, thats why in my signature you will see 5 of them.I live in Maine. My dad drives the 98 and its a great car. He is abusive on cars, neg 10 deg he will start not even let it warm up a second , drop it in reverse and before the car even stops he will pop it into drive. I been swearing for the past two years that he is going to mess something up but still to this day runs perfect, shifts perfect and don't even make any weird sounds. Wish I could say that about some of my past cars (non volvos). I am getting ready to put a set of rear shocks on it and have done only maintenance repairs such as timing belt & brakes. The only other issue we have had was a bad window switch , took about 10 minutes to change.

How much are they asking for this car?