Summary Of 250,000 miles in an old Volvo

[DSK]

A premature end for one of my cars at the age of 22 at 250,220 miles, after being hit by a HGV on the side. The damage was repairable but, it made sense to break it for parts for my other 2 whilst also making room for a more suitable family car. It was still clean, no rust,, shiny paint, never burnt oil or used coolant, never smoked even if left for 16+ weeks! still easily hit its limited top speed, made mince meat out of miles, very quiet cabin, smooth and exceptionally planted ride.

This is what 250,000 miles in the Volvo C70 T5 was like maintenance wise outside of routine servicing.

Repairs/Faults in 250,000 miles (owned from new)
120,000 miles - expansion tank failure (about £80 all in Volvo)
130,000 miles - ignition coils (about £200 in parts and DIY fit)
xxx,xxx miles - 1 x failed calliper (about £90 all in)
150,000 miles - radiator (about £270 all in at Volvo)
175,000 miles - heater matrix (about £450 all in at Volvo)
245,000 miles - ETM £210

Scheduled/Preventative Maintenance

2 x cambelts - by Tim Williams (water pump still original)
2 x gearbox oil changes about £500
4 X TCV's (about £240 in total) as part of preventative maintenance
1 x MAF (about £210, was reading a little lower on a live data run)
Ultrasonically cleaned injectors - £70
Full suspension overhaul and upgrade to keep things solid and tight (less than £1K for B4's and Eibach springs, control arms, top mounts, track rod ends sway links etc)

Costs Due To Incorrect Diagnosis

140,000 miles - about £130 forge recirc valve - issue was wrongly diagnosed
205,000 miles - £220 exhaust MOT station ripped off saying it was needed whilst I leant it to a relative.

Good job I still have another 2 for dependable, bullsh!t free motoring.

In a way I'm glad I decided to strip it rather than repair, as it made room for a proper family car (W221), but in hindsight, I should have given it a good send off by having a crack a banger racing

 

[LostKiwi]

Pretty much mirrors my experience of an S70 T5 SE.
Repairs were (over the 130k miles I had it):
Throttle body (known issue on these) - £250
MAF (imported from Volvo USA at half UK price) - £130
Engine mount - £30
Re-weld exhaust hanger (roads in Ireland...) - £5 beer money to a mechanic in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

That was it for repairs.....

Maintenance wise it had 2 x cambelts @ £50 per time (changed myself), 2 cambelt tensioners (precautionary) - £30 each
Several sets of discs and pads and lots of front tyres.

Stupidly quick and reliable car that was comfortable and sounded awesome on full song.

 

[DSK]

Agreed, can be heavy on the front brakes and tyres when having fun.
I just had the ETM converted to contactless by EU testing in Heanor, so definitely keeping this for the other one when the time comes.

 

[LostKiwi]

Agreed, can be heavy on the front brakes and tyres when having fun.
I just had the ETM converted to contactless by EU testing in Heanor, so definitely keeping this for the other one when the time comes.

Yep the standard ETM is a really poor design.
I pulled mine apart to see how it worked and the issue was soon apparent.
There are two metal fingers that run on a pair of carbon tracks. The problem is the ends of the fingers are cut square and act as scrapers slowly wearing the carbon off. It's obvious it will fail sooner or later.

 

[DSK]

Yep the standard ETM is a really poor design.
I pulled mine apart to see how it worked and the issue was soon apparent.
There are two metal fingers that run on a pair of carbon tracks. The problem is the ends of the fingers are cut square and act as scrapers slowly wearing the carbon off. It's obvious it will fail sooner or later.

I'd heard of units failing within 30,000 miles, even after replacement with differing levels of severity.

The one on my grey on went 2 years ago, as I was doing 1,000 miles a week back then, I took it to a trusted official Volvo stealership who still had one tech that used to work on my cars from the years past. It cost about £400 all in, as Volvo no longer offered good will contribution them but, it meant it was done by someone who knew these cars, would go the extra mile if needed and I get a years peace at least. The symptoms were just an occasional dip/rise in power, like momentarily lifting off the accelerator and occasionally a more on/off reaction to the throttle.

Come to think of it, the one on the silver car did not actually fail funnily enough, turned out to a be slightly unsecure bottom intercooler hose due to a rusted hose clamp giving similar symptoms lol

 

[LostKiwi]

There was no goodwill when mine failed. Must have been right at the start of them failing.
I distinctly remember being told they would need to code it into the ECU and also wanting 2.5 hours to fit it. I queried the time required and told them to sod off as I could do it in their carpark in 15 minutes.
In the end they said "Yeah right..." So I took the part, fitted it and threw the keys on their desk 10 minutes later and said "There you go - ready for you to code it in!"
Guy on the counter was dumbstruck I'd swapped it so quickly!

 

[DSK]

Lol - you should have written them a how to guide for removing 3 10mm bolts and a pipe.

When testing a spare one in the Grey car, the car ran fine without coding which was a surprise, despite the general indication that they need to be coded. So I did 700 miles on the spare unit just to make sure I didn’t suffer any further issues until the new one was fitted.


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[LostKiwi]

Lol - you should have written them a how to guide for removing 3 10mm bolts and a pipe.

When testing a spare one in the Grey car, the car ran fine without coding which was a surprise, despite the general indication that they need to be coded. So I did 700 miles on the spare unit just to make sure I didn’t suffer any further issues until the new one was fitted.


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4 x 10mm bolts on mine. The unit bolts under the manifold so it's all removed by touch but easy enough. Couldn't believe they wanted 2.5 hours!

 

[M80]

At 22 years old that's a nice looking mo mo. Not embarrassing even compared to today's designs.

 

[DSK]

4 x 10mm bolts on mine. The unit bolts under the manifold so it's all removed by touch but easy enough. Couldn't believe they wanted 2.5 hours!

Your right one in each corner, my memory at fault!


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[Wighty]

There was no goodwill when mine failed. Must have been right at the start of them failing.
I distinctly remember being told they would need to code it into the ECU and also wanting 2.5 hours to fit it. I queried the time required and told them to sod off as I could do it in their carpark in 15 minutes.
In the end they said "Yeah right..." So I took the part, fitted it and threw the keys on their desk 10 minutes later and said "There you go - ready for you to code it in!"
Guy on the counter was dumbstruck I'd swapped it so quickly!

The Guy on the counter was dumbstruck that his lie about the time required to extract more money from you had been exposed

 

[T5R+]

Suspect that some of us have a real soft spot for a T5 of the "correct era". They were so under the radar until the Police started to use them. About a decade plus ago came across to Mercedes (so nearly went RS6 Avant) diesels but would never have happened if the Volvo range had not lost it's identity.

That is not a lot of expenditure for a cracking car. Prices for good preowned examples have recently gone insane.

 

[Snake Charmer]

Always like the C70 Coupe, still look at the prices occasionally. I could happily replace our V40 T4 with a T5 Coupe.

 

[mioba]

My parents were well into Volvos before they moved onto MBs and the volvo's were no more. We had a 340, a 240, a 440, a 460 and the beast a 760 GLE.

All absolutely rock effing solid cars.

Only ever issue was on the 440 which had i think they call it a CV autobox. Failed every 4 years so we got rid after 8.

Otherwise no untoward expenses at all. Had a very good indy, who has his workshop next door to my merc indy now.

 

[DSK]

@mioba - do you mean Dave Pengally? I used to nip into there if I was ever desperate or Tim was not available. He was good himself but, a couple of the younger mechanics made me spend a few hours on a weekend putting stuff right. I left my car wit them for new top mounts, came out with a boost leak but I knew it was a kinked pipe whilst they had a good nosy around the aftermarket extras. They must have been having a nosy to see how I'd connected and routed the boost gauge. On another occasion the young chap failed to adjust the brake shoes, again, it was just easier to take my time one weekend and adjust them myself. I was annoyed to learn when I'd left the car with DPA one weekend as I couldn't pick it up in time following an MOT, he had taken the C70 home to use and enjoy as a treat for a few days. Never used him again after that! The 400 models you mention, I recall seeing many rusting easily, so not sure what that was all about but the rest of the range seemed solid as you say. It was during this time Mercserve were always next door and I liked the range of Mercs they had coming in and I never saw them abuse any vehicle.

@T5R+ this thread was just to sum up my experience as so many think old cars are crap, unreliable, noisy bangers and money pits, yet for me, its taken a W221 to replace it with regards to a quality environment, peacefulness and comfort. Its a shame Volvo didn't make anything properly serious after time but, at least their Polestar duracell car seems to a hit with the media for a quality feel and performance.

 

[mioba]

Yes Dave indeed, I had been using him when he was first on henry street lenton, then he moved next door to Mercserve.

I was chatting to him a couple of years ago as he done a job for me on my VW T25 bus. It was a bad job to be honest and his right hand man Ian was no lobger there and he he just couldn't get anyone decent in.

 

[DSK]

Yes Dave indeed, I had been using him when he was first on henry street lenton, then he moved next door to Mercserve.

I was chatting to him a couple of years ago as he done a job for me on my VW T25 bus. It was a bad job to be honest and his right hand man Ian was no lobger there and he he just couldn't get anyone decent in.

Would explain why he's either moved on or packed up! His army seemed to be his downfall.

The MOT centre that's operating in that space where DPA was, seem like a right bunch of cowboys, revving and wheel spinning a customer's Astra, generally driving in a harsh manner etc. The general conversations about mechanical's also showed little knowledge with me also over hearing how then will just fob another customer off regarding a fault with their Renault van IIRC. I saw all this whilst Mercserve were servicing my CLS. Make sure they never touch your car!

 

[00slk]

I've got a Volvo, not cost me anything yet
I used to have a 1976 245GL bought with 350,000miles though on it's 3rd motor, it was using more oil and petrol, I put a Nissan LD28 in it and did a further 60,000mls before replacing it with a 244 GLT which was too heavy on juice so was replaced with a 240d Compact after 6 months.
I think I have had about 8 Volvo's

 

[mioba]

Would explain why he's either moved on or packed up! His army seemed to be his downfall.

The MOT centre that's operating in that space where DPA was, seem like a right bunch of cowboys, revving and wheel spinning a customer's Astra, generally driving in a harsh manner etc. The general conversations about mechanical's also showed little knowledge with me also over hearing how then will just fob another customer off regarding a fault with their Renault van IIRC. I saw all this whilst Mercserve were servicing my CLS. Make sure they never touch your car!

He actually moved round the corner, back of Shipstones.

But a reputation can only last so long once bad service creeps in and people vote with their feet.

 

[fabes]

That design has aged really well given its a last century car - the CLK of that era wasn't quite as sharp (the 208?)

A boss of the time had one in burnt orange and put many motorway miles on it iirc