Swedish Sofa - 2004 Volvo V70 D5

[DD3566]

First time posting a readers ride thread for any of my cars, but thought this would be a good way to document my experience with shed motoring and provide me with a log of work completed on the car.

So introducing the shed in question, a magnificent 2004 Volvo V70 D5 S. 163PS with no DPF to worry about, and a surprisingly nice 5 speed manual. 174,000 miles and 1 owner (sort of, was a pre reg car way back in 2004) with a full Volvo main dealer service history. Plenty of money has been spent by the previous owner, with the Cambelt being changed in 2021 along with the steering rack. Tyres were all matching and of a good quality, so I was happy the car had been well looked after despite the high mileage.



The Volvo was bought to replace our 2022 Cupra Ateca we’ve had on lease since 2022. After 5 years on various lease/PCP deals I was sick of seeing hundreds of £’s leaving my account each month while having nothing to show for it, so the Cupra was binned off to make way for the Volvo at the end of January.

First job was to give the interior a good clean. After 20 years the interior is holding up well, but was still quite grubby and clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a good while. With cloth seats I was able to try out my new Carpet Cleaner on the whole interior and managed to get out a few tanks full of forbidden Guinness:



Next up was to replace the old Vredestein Quatrac Pros on the fronts with some new Michelin Cross Climate 2. The fronts had been an MOT advisory and certainly looked like they were at the end of their life. The rears are still in good condition so will keep them on the car for as long as I can.

The stereo has been impressive so far, however there is no getting away from the fact it’s 20 years old and doesn’t support Bluetooth or even have a 3.5mm aux input. After limited success with various Cassette to 3.5mm to Bluetooth jerry rigging, I ended up picking up a CD autochanger to Bluetooth adaptor. This plugs into the CD Autochanger connector on the back of the headunit, and allows for phonecalls via a microphone included in the kit. Fitting is a doddle, as Volvo have clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the design of the interior. As a design engineer, and former interior trim engineer, it makes me extremely happy when manufacturers get these things right! Fitting only took 45 minutes, with most of the time being spent routing the microphone wire down the A pillar seal and through the dashboard into the headunit. I’m pleased to say the kit works perfectly, and I can enjoy my own music again, definitely worth the £45.




Since picking up the car I’ve done about 1000 miles, mixture of commuting and longer motorway journeys. It’s averaged approximately 50 mpg overall, and can easily get 55mpg on a 75mph motorway blast, giving a range of around 650 miles per tank. The range has been a refreshing change from my recent cars, with the Cupra getting around 350 miles per 55L tank, and my old Monaro VXR also getting around 300 miles from a 70 litre tank…
These old Volvos live up to the reputation of being big comfy barges, and I’ve completely fallen in love with this old bus! The Cupra used to give me back ache after an hour or so of driving, but the seats in the Volvo are superb, and I feel like I could drive for hundreds of miles without issue. The engine and gearbox feel strong and obviously have plenty of life left in them. I was originally planning to only keep this car for 12 months or so, before getting something newer. But now I’m more tempted to spend the money to keep the Volvo going for aslong as I can. Going forward I would like to give all the springs and dampers a refresh, along with any bushes I can easily replace. Something under the car sounds like it’s clonking over bumps, could be a worn-out bushing, or possibly the exhaust knocking against something. Once the weather improves I’ll get the car on stands for a full service and assess what needs to be sorted.

Here’s to hopefully many more miles of relaxed Swedish motoring!

[klunkT5]

Good choice and good that you got a manual as they are bomb proof unlike the auto's, I've got a 2003 V70 D5 with a manual box and it's currently on 244K miles and is sweet as a diesel nut! The first thing you need to do is check the auxiliary belt and the condition of the tensioner and idler bearings and the alternator clutch pulley, D5's have a fault due to the poor timing belt cover design where the aux belt frays due to age and the timing belt picks it up and drags it in resulting in engine failure! Loads of D5's have had this happen, I fitted a full INA front engine auxiliary drive kit on mine at 236K when i did the timing belt kit, The tensioner and rollers on mine at this mileage were totally gritty and shagged out, The INA kit also includes the alternator clutch pulley as well, My kit was a £115 but well worth it for piece of mind, Have a close look at your front strut turrets for any sign of corrosion, This is the weakest rust point on the P2 V70, The rest of the car holds up well to corrosion, Also don't run it low on fuel as apparently where the high pressure pump is located in the tank it has to work overtime to get fuel up when low, I refuel mine when it gets to a 100 miles range left, With about 300 kilos of tools and kit permanently in the back I get 53mpg on a run and 42 around town on the OBC so it's a tad optimistic! Good luck with yours, They really are good cars, I'm running mine untill it gets to the point of un economic repair as it is such a well built, Comfortable, Wafty old barge.

Edited by klunkT5 on Friday 8th March 11:53

[Mad Maximus]

Really nice. I had one in the lighter shade of gold. Any more pics?

These (inc my old one) rust away the rear and rear centre ish exhaust hangers. Get on your hands and knees and give it a wiggle. If that’s the noise it’s a dead easy fix to retrofit new hangers.

2nd on aux belt it’s dead easy to take off and inspect the belt and bearings. Easier than any car I’ve worked on.

[DD3566]

Been a while since I started this thread, but figured it was time for an update

Done around 1200 miles since the last post, overall it's been a good comfy practical barge as expected. Typical duties include carting around giant bamboo plants, dogs, and general junk to the tip:








However, despite enjoying the bargeness, there are a few issues which could do with addressing

The first of which is a knocking/clunk sound which seems to occur when going over bumps, appears to be coming from the right hand side.

The second is the dead parking sensors, they're dealer fit options from 2004 and have never worked during my ownership

The third is the somewhat ineffective brakes. I'm not sure if this is just due to me usually stepping from a MR2 into a heavy boat of a car, but the brakes feel like they need more effort than expected to really slow the car down. It's more noticeable going downs steep hills, where you really need to apply large amounts of pressure just to slow down slightly. I know this sounds dumb, "Heavy cars need more braking to slow down", but it just feels not quite right. The front pads and discs are newish, having been fitted in 2021, but I suspect either the booster is losing vacuum or some of the sliders are sticking. If you really stamp on the brakes it'll always slow down as expected, but I want more precise feel for low-medium braking application

I figured the knocking sound could be suspension related, the corroded springs had been the only MOT advisory before I bought the car so I figured i'd refresh the whole system along with the springs. Cue an expensive order from AutoDoc consisting of:

Bilstein B4 Dampers front and rear
Bilstein Springs front and rear
Sachs spring seats and top mounts for the front
Front Drop Links
New fixings where possible
Service kit of Air/Oil/Fuel/Cabin Filters



This previous weekend presented the first dry weekend in what felt like years so it was time to crack on sorting the Volvo, and que the start of a rather frustrating day...

First off was a simple oil change, which went smoothly enough. 7.0 Litres of Total 0W-30 oil and a Febi BIlstein filter going in nicely.
Next was the Ridex air filter, which was simply too big for the airbox. So the old filter had to go back in for the time being. Serves me right for buying the cheap brand of Autodoc i guess....
Next up is the fuel filter, another Ridex filter which simply didn't fit at all. This was especially annoying as I had to drain about 5 liters of diesel out of the filter housing before fitting, so any cost saving went out the window from the wasted diesel having to drain this lot and then drain it again for the next filter! I'd also bought a Ridex cabin filter which I haven't had the heart to fit yet incase it also doesn't fit. Note to self, never order Ridex crap again!

Then it was time to move onto the Front Suspension, and straight into another issue. This time in the form of lovely rusty bolts holding the damper to the upright.



The first bolt came off eventually, with some gentle persuasion from an impact gun, however the second didn't budge at all. I'd left the bolts soaking in penetration oil for a couple of hours, but to no avail. Eventually the impact gun simply rounded off the nut, leaving me stuck as I had no replacement nut and would likely have to destroy the nut to remove it.



Incredible frustrating so far, but hey this all part of the fun right? I didn't bother trying the rear dampers and springs as I decided to order new bolts for the front and rear before attempting again, incase I need to cut the buggers off!

So I decided to try and sort the parking sensors now that I had time, i'd ordered new sensors a while ago and painted them up ready to go in. Removing the bumper isn't too bad, a rivet needs to be drillerd on on each side and the rest is all bolts and clips.





While trying to remove the old sensors the entire retaining assembly came off in my hands. So these needed to be epoxyed back onto the bumper skin



All 4 sensors replaced, bumper reinstalled and voila! The parking sensors still don't work....

While under the car I also notice the backbox-mid pipe connection looks rather crispy, so I can see a new backbox being on the cards in the near future



So in 8 hours of work, on the first nice weekend of the year, i'd only managed to sucessfully change the oil and filter...

Old cars really do test your patience at times! New suspension bolts have been ordered, along with Bosch filters to replace the garbage tier Ridex ones. Hopefully the bolts will arrive in time for me to try again with the suspension this weekend

Edited by DD3566 on Wednesday 17th April 11:16

[roadie]

My dad ran the S60 version of these for a number of years after his need for the previous generation V70 was no longer required. I always thought your generation was much more attractive and a much more solid car.

All in the S60 was a great car, although it suffered from a small oil leak that was never found. However, the turning circle was always a lowlight!

[DD3566]

Suspension rebuild round 2! Managed to get all the front dampers off after a fierce battle with the rusty nuts on the lower strut bolts. A chisel and angle grinder had to be employeed in order to butcher the buggers off



With them out the dampers could eventually be removed. All the springs are pretty crispy, and the dampers can easily be compressed with one hand, so about time they were all changed! They appear to be OEM Volvo/Sachs units, doubt they are original however.




Rear dampers were even more deep-fried, and were even easier to compress. The springs are still firmly in the car, as I don't have the internal spring compressor required to remove them. Amazon prime to the rescue, with a Sealey set due to arrive tomorrow before 13:00, so another update due tomorrow evening should everything go according to plan

[DD3566]

Been a couple of weeks, time for suspension update:

Got the new suspension on without too much difficulty, however the I no matter what I tried I could not compress the rear springs enough to free them from the car. I was recommended an internal spring compressor with a 120mm spacer, however this still didn't compress it enough.



The rear springs simply defeated me, so I booked into The Lost Socket in Warwick for them to take on the fun job. By their own admission the rear springs were an absolute nightmare to get in, with them needing to drop the rear arms in order to get the springs in and out. 3 hours in total to replace 2 springs, with a lift and all the equipment, glad I handed it over to them!

After the car was handed back all was well, with the old bus finally handling like a car rather than a soggy loaf of bread. However it was short lived, as after about 20 miles a horrible groaning noise came from the front while steering, along with a metalic banging over bumps. All the fixings appeared to be tight, and nothing obvious was loose. Initially i thought it could be a loose Drop Link, however upon jacking the car back up it became clear what the issue was:







The spring was rubbing on the shock tower, the root cause being the spring not being seated properly on the lower damper. The nominal clearance is incredibly tight between the body and the spring, and a cock up on my end meant the spring was about 10mm out of position. A quick hit with the spring compressor allowed me to get it back in the correct orientation.



With the suspension nicely refreshed the old bus was driving nicely, still no Porsche but it now feels like the car is held up with actual springs and not 4 loaves of soggy bread. Next it was time to turn my attention to the woeful brakes. The brakes did work, ish. However at low to medium effort braking the car felt like it was barely slowing down at all. Trying to drive down steeping hills was somewhat terrifying. I suspected one, or multiple, calipers were seized or at least on their way to being seized. Looking at the calipers while sorting the suspension did reveal them to be somewhat crispy, the rears especially looked like they had been salvaged from the Titanic. £300 at Autodoc later I had 4 brand new calipers, flexi hoses and rear discs/pads heading on over.

After spending 3 nice sunny weekends trying to sort out the suspension I was abit bored of crawling under the car, I also had a holiday rapidly approaching and didn’t have a spare weekend coming up in order to fit them myself. I was also particularly worried about the Flexi to Hardline connection getting destroyed while attempting to loosen them, leaving me stranded on the driveway. So once again the car was booked into the Lost Socket to fit the new calipers, along with the discs/pads.

The guys at the Lost Socket did a fantastic job as always, however even they couldn’t separate the flexi from the hardline without risking snapping the whole thing off. So the original flexi’s were retained and fitted onto new calipers. With the car dropped off the brakes were feeling much better! Finally I could have confidence with the car, and not feel like I would rear end the cars in front. Looking at the old calipers it was clear what the issue was. 1 of the rears was completely seized, with the other requiring alot of effort to get the piston to move even a milimeter. One of the fronts was fine, requiring little effort to move the piston, however the other side was also on its way to seizing, much like the rear. This would explain the feel, or lack thereof, on the brakes. During gentle pedal pressure only 1, or maybe 2, of the loosest calipers were actually moving and applying pressure to the pads. Once you applied more pressure the rest would eventually free up and start to contribute towards slowing the car.

Nice deep fried caliper:



Quick summary of costs so far for this “cheap” estate:

Car: £2400
Basic Service (Oil, filters etc): ~£100
Suspension refresh: £700
Brake refresh: £300
Garage Labour: £600

So i’m currently about £4100 deep into this £2400 car. I’m hoping this is the last of the big bills for a while. I suspect the aux belt will need changing soonish, and the air con could do with a regas. Even though I’ve probably spent more than I should on this old bus, I really have taken a liking to it, and now I know I have a solid car with brand new suspension and brakes to last me another few years.

[chris1roll]

Yes the hard lines on these are plastic coated steel, that just spiralises itself when you undo the union. (I.e. the union itself comes undone, but is stuck on the hard line) we've had to replace two of them on my brothers S80.

Interestingly, my wife's 2001 V70 still had cupronickel lines like the volvos of old.
I guess the move to plastic coated steel was a cost saving measure. Total pain in the arse!

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the expenditure, since you have a manual gearbox, this thing will go on forever now!

Edited by chris1roll on Friday 17th May 12:12