V70R AWD or not?

[Robmarriott]

Is the AWD really that bad?

Seems to be loads of horror stories about it but is it not the same system that vag use?

[Rockatansky]

What year are we talking?

Early (phase 1) cars had a viscous coupling to the rear. later cars have various haldex controlled systems (which I know nothing about).

The weak point is the take off for the rear drive. There is a hollow splined coupler which transfers drive to an angle gear box and then rearwards. The splined collars are a well known weak point and their failure often takes the angle gear with them.

My first hand experience relates to repairing a 2001 XC70 which had failed awd, and based on that my personal opinion is that it is a poorly designed system. It's really an adaptation of a front wheel drive transmission rather than a fully thought out awd.

I know some people who have had multiple awd failures in the course of a year and others who have had no problems at all, so I guess it's not necessarily all doom and gloom...

[H.7]

I had the problem with the angle gear splined sleeves on my '03 S60R. Replaced with new ones and they've lasted the pace over the past four years. Just another thing on these relatively fragile cars that seems to be fine after getting stronger parts fitted. Volvo don't help with the prices they charge for the replacement parts - IIRC, the exchange angle gear cost around £800 but it was a pure bugger to get the old unit off the car as the sleeves were on solid. The gear itself was fine, it's the sleeves that go, but Volvo wouldn't sell the sleeves on their own. I blamed the traction control for the failure of mine - it is really agricultural and puts enormous strain on the transmission components when it cuts in and out.

[Rockatansky]

H.7 said:

The gear itself was fine, it's the sleeves that go, but Volvo wouldn't sell the sleeves on their own.

Not true.

The angle gear is in the region of £800 as you state, but the splined sleeve comes separately at around £120 ish - part number 31256246. If you don't catch the failure of the sleeve in time it will damage the input shaft to the angle gear and, as that shaft is not available as a separate part, the box is scrap.

It is a tricky job as you say, and even the Volvo 'special tool' isn't up to the job sometimes - there are numerous cases talked about on the forums where a dealer can't separate the sleeve from the gearbox so charges the customer for a new gearbox as well

[H.7]

I only speak from experience. Volvo would not sell the sleeves separately and would only sell a new angle gear as an exchange unit. Perhaps they've changed their policy in the past few years since mine was done, or perhaps Volvo only charge for sleeves if a dealer does the work. The sleeves were a pure bugger to remove though. The new ones appear to be up to the job, thankfully.

[Robmarriott]

So it's fairly unanimous then? Avoid like the plague?

[y2blade]

Robmarriott said:

Is the AWD really that bad?

Seems to be loads of horror stories about it but is it not the same system that vag use?

Yes


No

[H.7]

y2blade said:

Robmarriott said:

Is the AWD really that bad?

Seems to be loads of horror stories about it but is it not the same system that vag use?

Yes


No

It's certainly not the best AWD system I've used. The car is essentially FWD and the Haldex system determines when to have some drive sent to the rear. On my car, as mentioned above, the sleeves on the angle gear went which meant no drive to the rear - this isn't alerted on the dash, you just know it's the case due to the amount of front wheel spin. After having the sleeves and angle gear (which was OK) replaced about 4 years and 50k miles ago, they've not failed again. The Haldex unit did, though, and that was another £1,400 bill to replace. Had to buy new from Volvo as the part is matched to the model and year of the car. Volvo dealer also had to upgrade all the other software on the car to bring it up to date as the new Haldex module was causing CAN bus panics and lighting up lots of different alerts on the dash. Dealer was really good (Murray Volvo in Edinburgh), very diligent at investigating and resolving the software issues and bill was extremely reasonable after having the car for 7 weeks. Now, I still get the odd 'anti-skid service required' message which disables the AWD as well, but this can be reset by switching the ignition off and on. It will be a faulty or failing sensor somewhere, but I can't be bothered with the grief of trying to find it. I'll wait till it fails completely and see if it identifies itself.

Some owners of early R cars have not had the issues I have (the AWD problem is only one of many) but I thnk I've fixed most of them now. Certainly, the 2006 cars and later seem to be better and cause much less problem.

Don't know how the Volvo system compares to the VAG system. Haldex seems to be a widely-recognised good name, though, and I think the pricing is probably more down to Volvo than Haldex.

I wouldn't put you off buying an R, but would caution you to consider purchase with your eyes wide open! They are pretty impressive when they're working, but an expensive beast to fix. As I mentioned, the later cars appear to be better, with some stronger components.

Cheers,
Brian