I just bought a real nice 1999 v70 and I love it love love love it .I was wonderin what grade oil is best ,and how do I check my timing belt?Are these reliable ?anything I could do to make it go forever? thanks Joe Redd

 

Hello, Trim level?, mileage?, any maintenance history?, purchase circumstances?, current condition (beyond real nice)? Suggestions: Change all fluids. If it came with an owner's manual, look there for oil recommendations. Check the timing belt cover for white sticker which comes with a new belt. Check the ETM for a yellow sticker which indicates that it has been replaced.---->You're beyond the 10/200,000 extended warranty for the ETM so do a search on ETM malfunctions or XeMODeX so you know what to expect. Register yourself as the owner of the car with Volvo. See if any service campaigns are outstanding. Check your vacuum elbows and tubing. Is the battery clean? Does the parking brake hold? If your car has an air pump which works, consider drilling two small (3/16") in the outlet hose boss to allow water to escape. Check the condition of your engine mounts. Look at your cabin air filter. Now that it's cooler see if the tailgate stays up. Do both the CD and cassette players work? Kira

 

Thanks for the reply.It has 156.000 miles on it the car is beautiful I love it but on the second day of owning it I noticed a anti freeze smell coming from the heating vents all though its faint.And it has a small oil leak on the back side of the engine I can smell it and I saw it when I parked in a clean spot and saw it drip down to the pavement ,The car has great power smooth as could be also on day 2 I came out to start it put in the key and nothing, all the dash light lit up but not even a crank so I hooked up jumpers still nothing so I let it sit for about 10 min. with cables hooked up then it started but I don't think it was dead because I went to napa when it started and had my battery checked and they said it was fine. whats the best oil viscosity to use I live in maine. I was told the engine was a 4 cylinder but when I got home I noticed it was a 5 cylinder is there a way to find out the exact engine I have In it.Should I put money in to it ?I love the car do they go for a long time ?I heard they can run forever . Any way I could go on forever I'm a volvo guy for sure now even with the problems I mentioned I love the car what do you think???? wheres the cabin filter located? also my driver side door speaker comes on and off The radio is real nice in this car.How do you register your self with volvo ?

 

Hello, 1) I had the occasional sweet smell of anti-freeze in my '99 too. Never did I loose a drop of coolant. Never was there the faintest hint of moisture in the carpeting. Monitor these things. You might have to change your heater core. Do a search on the various boards. 2) The breather box of the PCV system is said to be able to clog up resulting in increased crankcase pressures. While running pull the dipstick and see if smoke comes out of the tube. If so, look into refreshing your PCV system. You might get lucky and cure your leak. 3) Try cleaning your battery clamps/posts. Next do a search on "immobilizer". 4) I use 5-30 synthetic in the Winter in Maine and 10-30 synthetic whenever I'm below the 42nd parallel. 5)The name of your engine is on the white sticker on the timing belt cover. It'll start with B5244__ 5=# of cyl.,24= 2.4 liter, 4= 4 valves/cyl.. Tell us what the final character(s) are. 6+7) Everyone has to put money into any car; it's called maintenance, operation and insurance. The question is in the details. Keep on top of this car and you'll go for a long time. Forever is a very long time. 8) The cabin filter is located on the right side of the black plastic cowl piece. Remove two torx screws and the clamp on the rubber drain tube and lift it up. No need to remove the wiper arm. 9) The door panels come off the usual way-a couple of big phillips screws and progressive popping with a putty knife. 10) Call the Volvo HQ and request a registration card or go to a dealership's parts dept. when they're not too busy. I'd use the mail then verify it on my first trip to the parts dept. Kira

 

+1 With Kira. Great information. I have owned several Volvo's but don't remember registering them with Volvo of North America. I never use the steeler so that is something I guess I should do. I'll check their website to see if they have a registration there. I may have done that once before.

You should have a 5 cylinder, don't think there is a i4 in the 70 series. The motors generally last a very long time as long as you do regular oil changes and keep the timing belt and pvc system clean. If you cant tell about the timing belt last change you may want to have it done ASAP. A broken timing belt would be the death of the car at this point. Since you have no knowledge of the belt history, I would suggest replacing all of the other parts that connect to the belt, tensioner & pullies. I DO NOT suggest replacing the water pump although many others do. If you drive a lot of miles per year, change the water pump at 200,000 miles, if not I would probably change it every 15 years. I can easily put 40,000 miles on a car each year so I will catch a belt every other year and I have only had 1 Volvo water pump leak, on a 960.

I also smell a hint of anti-freeze in my 850. These cars have a lot in common. From what I have read and researched, the heater cores do leak, crack, rust out, etc. They also have 2 seals that are inside the firewall that may leak a little. So, I assume that you can have a very small leak at one of the seals and smell the anti-freeze. Meaning the core can be fine, just the small leak that may never get worse, you just smell a little fluid. I am considering purchasing the seals & replacing them to see what happens with mine. Although the smart thing may be to just replace the core, seals and all, not that expensive, but things are tight for me right now. Five dollars sounds a lot better than $125. LOL. I also like to experiment with things so I'm not opposed to seeing how long the core last before it finally gives out. Although I would hate to have to clean up the mess of one that totally failed and leaked lots of anti-freeze on my carpet.

Glad you like your car and I hope you get those little qurks figured out soon so you can enjoy the car. Later.

 

Now the service engine light has come on again.It came on once already so I pulled the battery cable off and it reset it for about 350 miles now it came on again.It is running great any Ideas?Also Is It hard to do the pvc valve on this car?Where can I find a decent service manual for this car?

 

any Ideas?

 

Hello, 1) Get yourself a code reader (aka scanner). Without going into exhaustive detail: buy one locally so you can return it if it doesn't connect with your car-it happens!. Do a search on this and other Volvo boards to help get you started with your search. I use a "first generation" ScanGuage. It has never let me down. There are PLENTY of others from which to choose. I go on about this because many people say they go to an auto parts store to have their codes read "for free". It takes time and money to drive there and back, code readers at stores frequently don't communicate with various cars-Volvos among them, the staff at auto parts stores are commonly directed to NEVER clear codes for customers for whatever reason. Any car can have several codes at one time. You'd have to back and forth to some store as you're chasing down problems. Having to wait to go to a store to read a code breaks any timing pattern you might be able to see with fresh data. To me it's a royal pain in the neck. I'd avoid it. 2) The PCV system is under the intake manifold. Removal of the manifold if required to replace the parts. There's a write-up at the beginning of the V70 forum. It's a "sticky". 3) The Haynes manual is one place to start. People have bought VADIS discs from a dealer somewhere. I can't remember who. I believe there's a new name for the service discs but a VADIS which covers 1999 would be all you need. Kira

 

Get yourself a code reader. I have 2. Is it the Service light or the Check Engine light? The Service light will likely come on forever until you have it reset at the stealer. The check engine light (CEL) is a different subject.

 

As for the antifreeze smell and leaking. If the leak is coming from under the passenger side near the front tire, it will more than likely be the Expansion Tank. Check the hose on top and the hose on the bottom. I'll bet the bottom hose is wet where it connects to the tank. Replace the hose and tank. More than likely the plastic has a crack in it under where the hose is clamped, very common problem. For $65 you can get a new tank and hose. Do not reuse the clamp on the small hose. Cut the part off that was clamped and get a new clamp.