I'm looking at a 2008 XC90 3.2 with 178K miles with a clean title and 2 or 3 owners. It's going for $6K.

The owner says she recently had the water pump, serpentine belt replaced, and fuel injector pump replaced within the last year.

But she also said the vehicle has the following problems:

-Front wipers need new fuse, and back windshield wiper needs a new fuse and blade;
-The front struts are seeping;
-The sensors are broken and need to be fixed "for tire pressure & check engine." In other words, as far as the owner knows, there is nothing wrong with the engine -- the tire pressure light is on because the tire pressure sensors need to be fixed;


I'm curious to hear what the general take is on this XC90's year / configuration, other users' experiences with it, what kinds of repairs / expense I ought to consider (and how I might mitigate them) -- and generally if I should avoid this vehicle.

I'd also welcome what others think of this range of problems for the struts and sensors. And if I should have my mechanic examine certain parts of this vehicle for other particular issues, and if there's anything else we should look at to determine if it's reasonably repairable or if we should pass on it. Thanks!

 

What does that mean?

Tire pressure light could be sensors or an antenna - Sensors are broken for check engine?

It is an old Volvo - stuff breaks and will continue to break.

 

Good question! I'm sorry: I should've included what she said in quotes. I believe the owner is saying that it appears that the check engine light is for tire pressure, and not for any engine-related problems. But I'm going to have my mechanic inspect it soon!

Any other thoughts about this car -- or this model XC90 ?

Thanks!

 

Check engine light comes on for only an emission related code. Tire pressure is not emission related.

 

Everything about this car says "run away". Starting with the price - the KBB private party sales price for a 2008 XC90 in good condition is $5000. that's a car with no mechanical issues and some minor cosmetic/wear. If you want to fine the real value, lets start with $6000 and go from there. Lets assume you have a trusty Volvo mechanic to do your work, not a dealer and you can source your own parts.
1) saying the car needs a new fuse for the wipers... Fuses don't pop on their own - this is saying there's something wrong with wiring or the wiper motor(s). I'd budget $500 to get the wipers all sorted out - I'm assuming you have issues with the motor / linkage etc. Parts may not be that expensive but it will easily take 2-3 hours labor.
2) weeping from the struts means they need replacing and its likely at 178K miles you will also find other worn suspension bits during the repair like sway bar end lines, strut seats/bushings, tie rod ends, control arm bushings etc. Replacing struts is generally not hard but it will lead to discovering other worn parts. I'd budget $750 for replacing the front struts, odd hardware too and then a full 4 point alignment.
3) Have you taken the car for a test drive to see which warning lights are on? If its the check engine, you can bring your own OBD to read the codes to see what's really going on. Figure $100 just for diagnostics but this is really a wild card area since you could have anything from a vacuum leak to needing a major component replaced. I'd budget another $500 just to cover some basic tune up/sensor replacements.
4) For the wheels, that year Volvo uses an in-wheel sensor TPMS (quick check is if the car has metal tire valve stems, there's a sensor in there). I believe Volvo uses the 315Mz sensors if you want to price them out. Could simply need a reset, could have one or more bad sensors that need servicing, could be the receiver. You'd need a shop to scan for fault codes to give you some clue. Given these sensors are subject to road salt etc and you need to dismount the tires to get to the sensors, I'd budget another $500 (maybe your CEL diagnostics will tell you which sensor wasn't reporting correctly etc but when you include shop time to dismount/install new sensors with parts, it can add up.

So adding it all up, a conservative swag says you'd need $2500+ to make the car right. That says you should offer them $2500 for the car (KBB book minus your estimated repairs) and hope nothing serious is hiding under all those fault codes. If you can do the work yourself, and understand what the CEL fault codes are all about then it may be worth a flyer but like I said, everything here says run away.

 

Wow. Thanks so much for all of your incredibly input. I greatly appreciate it... I did drive the vehicle and it generally seemed to perform Ok but, like you, I found that the price of repairs seemed pretty high -- just to get the vehicle up and running. The tires also looked pretty worn, so I think they'd need to be replaced, too. That's too bad. Looks like a nice vehicle, but yeah...it does feel like it's coming in high with a lot of expenses. And I don't think the owner would be willing to lower it to that price. Anyway, I thank you again for all of your help!