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As my fuel gage was going down on the last tank of gas, sometimes I'd randomly see it up to 3/4 for a few minutes (when it was really a half) or other such inaccuracies. I was somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 tank the other day, and I noticed the gage showed over 1/2 tank, and then a split second later, it had gone all the way to the left. Not just empty, but like when you turn the car off.
Until I filled up, it would read as high as 1/2 tank, and sometimes be dead... haven't seen anything weird since I filled up, but are there any good ideas on what could be doing this?
I guess I'll be paying a visit to the dealer service dept. next time I'm below a half tank.
Full details of the problem can be found at VEXEDvolvo and the sequel containing the solution at FixYourETM."
So the tech roadtested the vehicle and felt the tranny was shifting hard into drive when taking off from a stop.Horrah! The tech suggested that the transmission needed to be updated with a software package that would eliminate the tranny from going into netrual when stopping. (this was designed to save gas) The part (software) cost $24.86 and the labor $98.00 or a total of $122.86. The tech also found the upper engine mount was broken. Since having this done the engine/transmission is behaving themselves and at this point I am a happy camper.
Hope this info will help some of you owners who have been experiencing similar problems.
This car is in Phoenix , but stays in our garage and seldom is just sitting out in the sun - it seems hard to buy that the rubber is all shot .
There is a small space between the rubber bushing at the top and the mount - BUT you cannot turn the nut - the attachment to the rubber is still solid both sides. The top rubber is still firm and no signs of any cracking.
BTW the same trip , I was told I needed cabin air filter and engine air filter and oil /filter changed (this was all done 30 days ago in a 30K service) so I am having a hard time accepting .
Comments ??? (Especially Volvomax who I see is local. )
Told by whom?
As for the rest, did this dealer know you did the 30k somewhere else?
Or did they just assume that you hadn't done the 30k?
I guess I was fishing for other exeperience in Phoenix area on bushing life.
Yes , today they told me they assumed I did not do a 30K since I had it done at an independent Volvo garage and it does not get into the Volvo system.
Rgds -- Hank
I knew I'd hit 90,000 miles during the trip, so I stocked up on parts for the service before we left. I ordered the following parts over the internet: Ate front rotors, Zimmerman rear rotors, Mintex pads (front & rear), Mahle air filter, Mann oil filter, and NPN charcoal cabin filter. I bought 6 qts of Mobil 1 0W-40 oil locally.
The brake pads were in great shape all around (these Mintex pads last a lot longer than the OE pads, and stop/feel the same), but since the rotors were ready to be replaced, I did new pads anyways. It took me all day Saturday in my garage to do the brakes (it's easy but tedious work - the worst part is removing the paint off the rear rotors with brake cleaner), then I did the oil/filters in the driveway this morning.
The suspension (bushings, links, joints, etc.) and driveshafts are in fine shape. Exhaust looks fine too. Transmission fluid is still clean and red and brake fluid is still clean and blue (both flushed at 60,000 miles).
My front tires (Goodyear Assurance ComforTred installed at 45,000 miles) will need replacing in the next 5000 miles or so but the rears still look very good (I never rotated them). I plan on paying a mechanic to replace the timing belt (and water pump, idler pulley, accessory belts) at 100,000 miles.
Except for a knack for eating a random light bulb every 6 months or so, our V70 has been completely trouble free. It still runs and drives like new. I test drove the Mercedes E350 wagon and Acura MDX in July just to toy with the idea of trading to a new car, but I honestly can't justify getting rid of our paid-for Volvo and being saddled with a car payment again. Except for some missing modern amenities (bluetooth, iPod interface, etc.), our V70 continues to be a joy to own and drive and there's no reason not to keep it for at least another few years.
Of course, my daughter will be driving in 3 years - it would make a very nice (safe) 1st car for her... :shades:
Then check engine light came on , $225 to put in new software that "probably will correct the emission system leak readout" but if not then we will have to do a leak pump. . At that visit told that transmisssion pan seal is leaking and will be $900 to replace. In addition now told CV boots, half shafts, control arms "may require attention" and highlighted Shocks /rear struts may require attention.
Now it may be I am getting scammed but I have dealt with this same service adviser since 1995 at several different Volvo places so unless this new place is not allowing him to still be an honest man ......I have not gone to get a second opinion yet on all these things.
But like fedlawman - otherwise I REALLY like this car - comfort , performance , appearance , 21mpg in town with A/C on - and NOBODY makes anything that compares to it in terms of what you can get in the back because of the way they are angling the back doors for styling. I have looked at Acura, Honda Pilot , Lincoln MDX, Ford Edge ,Toyota Highlander. (that one will load as high a box as the Volvo), Toyota Venza . None of them really grab me - the Venza seems to be as close as anything - and when I walk back to my Volvo I think to myself why not just go spend the money to do all the stuff they say is needed to the tune of probably $3K or $4K. BUT if I do all that and then more stuff keeps failing it would have been a bad idea. The guy at the local independent Volvo place told me one day - Just figure on $1500 a year for a Volvo - so far that is about right for mine. (I cannot any longer do the work myself so I cannot buy parts and do the work)
Just my experience - maybe its just living in the hellish temperatures we have in Phoenix that just kills things ?
The other issues you have are related to living in Phx. The heat just kills the rubber bushings in the torque mounts and suspension parts.
It is a little odd that the radiator and door lock went out.
Shocks are probably a time issue, they don't last forever. Especially if you routinely carry heavy loads in the cargo area.
I had two 95 960's one a wagon ,one a sedan - The sedan was my Wife's car and was very easily driven- The wagon was my go to work car but I did have covered parking. I traded them both for the 2003 so I had both for 8 years and neither had this sort of rubber failures/degradation. They both had the classis A/C air control valve crap out and both had steering racks replaced. The wagon did have the radiator replaced.
I also had a 1983 Toyota Camry with about 85000 miles which we traded for my wifes 95 960 Sedan . That Camry had nothing but normal maintenance and none of these sort of failures. The CV joints were getting noisy when we traded it. I had an 87 turbo 4 and a 91 SR5 V6 Toyota pickup and neither had rubber /suspension issues . At that point I was able to do all my own maintenance ,oil changes etc and could watch for anything going wrong under the truck. I traded the 91 for a 96 Tacoma which was a semi lemon - recall for front suspension strengthening and leaking head gasket on the V6 - both taken care of by Toyota under warranty - it drummed at about 65 mph even after bed coating to dampen the noise and was just not very nice - Based on how we liked the wife's 960 Sedan , I traded for the 95 960 Wagon .
So I have still have a problem with all these failures in the 2003 after two less years .Maybe its global warming ?
Right now , I think I am going back to try Toyota again . Its probably my next to last car anyhow. I certainly would not buy a 2010 V70 unless I also bought an extended warranty. They had some great deals on the 2009 V70's with the 5/50 warranty program but only two in town and not what we wanted.
Good luck.
p.s. My 2001 V70XC has just turned 180000kms and only issue with it now is the core plug(like the common distributor but our series has one for each spark plug and they are $200 each = DOH!!)
If you told me it was a Land Rover, or old M-B or Audi, I'd understand. But I'm thinking your Lemon thesis may be correct--personally I'd sell it before you go broke......
I really want Premium, Climate, and Convenience. Would take BLISS and the PCC if they happen to be on the car.
Can anyone comment about the NAV system? Is it worth looking for a car with it? Those seem to be very rare.
It is also harder than I thought it would be to find Premium, Climate and Convenience all together, but I have found a couple, I think. Dealer's websites do not always explain what packages are on the car, and some aren't clear if their MSRP includes the destination fee or not. Going back and forth between Volvo's main site and the dealer's site, I think I can make a good guess as to what packages are included, though.
Is there anything you did not get that you wished you had, or the reverse, something you got that you felt afterwards was not worth the money?
There are very few V70s on dealer lots; most dealers have one or at most two, and most of the ones available have at most Premium and Climate. Finding a stock vehicle with Nav is virtually impossible.
I have at present a 2007 V50 and 2008 S40, both with the same Nav system as the current V70. A lot of folks (mostly reviewers) don't like the Volvo Nav system, as its controls are out of sight behind the wheel. I found that once I got used to it, it was very intuitive and quick, easy, and safe to use. Having the screen high up on the dash is a *big* safety plus, after having had several other cars with much lower displays that require the driver to look down and away from the road.
I would suggest that you find a dealer willing to order you the V70 that you really want to have, rather than settle for a stripped stock vehicle. However, you will have to get the deal done in the next week or so, or you will be out of luck. There is still $2500 dealer cash back available, plus $500/lease or $1000/purchase bonus if you currently own a Volvo. You should be able to do a deal for a few hundred over invoice, less the above amounts. Let us know how you make out.
Is it possible to reprogram the NAV while you drive by voice or other commands? it sounds like the passenger can't do anything because of that placement of the controls behind the steering wheel.
How long is the wait if you order something?
It's a Caspian Blue over Sandstone with Climate, Convenience, Premium, and BLISS. Plus Sirius radio.
I would not have gone out of my way to get the Sirius, but since it's there, who knows, I might find I enjoy having it.
I thought I had wanted the Seashell color and was thinking about ordering it, per the advice above, but she had a Seashell car there (not with the options I wanted) and I compared to the blue, and in person, actually like the blue one better. They are both good colors and I would have accepted either one on a car with the right options, but I'm just as happy it worked out this way.
Looking forward to Wednesday!
In addition to the driver-operated Nav controls behind the steering wheel, there is also a handheld IR remote control which duplicates the steering wheel controls and could be operated by the passenger. However, I suspect that both the driver and passenger controllers are locked out while in motion. I hope I am wrong about that.
The waiting time for a special-ordered Volvo is about two months. You can track the production and shipping of the vehicle on-line using the VIN, which is very informative and a lot of fun as well.
As you probably already know, the current ignition key system on the V70 and other large Volvos is a real pain: you have to insert the key fob into a recess in the dash and then push an adjacent button to stop and start the engine. You can't really keep the ignition key on a ring with other household keys, as I prefer to do, because they will swing against the dash and make a continual noise while moving, and probably scratch up the dash as well. They should have made the keyless entry and drive standard on the larger cars, to obviate the need to insert the key.
Re the NAV system, I asked about the portable NAV that they sell (a Garmin system) and she said that with that one, the passenger can input changes while the car is moving. Of course you don't get the rear back-up camera with that, which would have been nice, but I decided we could manage without it. We might buy the portable one later.
Have you seen the Seashell Metallic in person? It's a very pretty color, more towards silver than I had expected from looking at it in the brochure. It's very changeable, from a soft metallic beige to silver, depending on angle. It looked very different when I was looking at it through sunglasses versus just natural light.
The only two colors I would not have wanted were the black and the dark grey. Any of the other colors would have been ok with me, with the Seashell and the Caspian Blue being top of the list.
Some people seem to prefer the Gamin portable Nav over the factory-installed unit. However, I much prefer the factory unit, which is more highly integrated with the car's audio system, etc. And, as you point out, you can't get a backup camera for the Gamin system. FWIIW, the backup camera can be installed after delivery by the dealer, provided you already have the factory Nav.
It is difficult to find a V70 in Seashell Metallic anywhere in this area, but I did manage to find one at a local dealership and viewed it on both sunny and cloudy days, with and without sunglasses. However, I ordered the car from my regular dealer and salesman, with whom I have had an outstanding ongoing relationship for the past three years. Fortunately, there are a good number of Volvo dealerships in my area and I do have a choice. I have to drive 77 miles to visit my dealer, but it is well worth the effort. I would never do business with any of the several closer dealerships, having had bad experiences with them while Volvo-shopping three years ago.
I have found that Volvo colors are indeed very complex and variable depending on the light and the viewing angle. The most extreme case is Chameleon Blue. I have found that most colors are much more attractive when seen in person than in a brochure or on the website. My second color choice would have been Electric Silver Metallic, which has a very attractive blueish hue in some lights.
I agree with you that Black is just not my thing, but the Savile Gray is actually much more attractive and not as dark in person as the photos would lead one to believe. Caspian Blue is nice enough, but it shows the dirt and road grim very easily and looks awful if not kept clean. In the blue range, I much prefer Barents Blue, which I have on my present V50. This color is available on the V70 as a special order or OSD color and can be gotten on a domestically-sold vehicle if you have a good persistent sales manager working for you. My S40 is Orinoco Blue, which in theory was available only for OSD cars.
The Maxima we will be trading in is "Ice Blue Pearl," which was my first choice way back then, and which I still like to this day. I guess the light blues have gone out of favor now. Back then, Camrys and Maximas both had an attractive light blue. When shopping around now, I rarely found a model that had a light blue, other than the Subaru which had a black interior mandatory with it, which I definitely did not want.
Around here, the Seashell appears to be a popular color, but the models just didn't happen to have all four things I wanted. Several of them had three of the four, but none had everything.
Made me wonder how dealers make up their minds what to order. It seemed like they were trying to hit a price point of high 30's to very low 40's, and didn't want to load up their cars any further than that. So that meant picking and choosing from the available options to hit that point.
Since the light-colored leather only comes with Premium, Premium was virtually ubiquitous. But very, very hard to find Premium, Climate and Convenience, all three, much less with anything else. I considered myself fortunate to have found what I did.
The car had just arrived to the dealership four days before my visit. It had 9 miles on it when I took it out for a test drive.
Yet, I am driving a loaner because the driver side window does not work properly! It goes up about a third of the way, stops and goes down again. They are working on it... They gave me a loaner to get home because they had to keep the car overnight.
This is my first Volvo, and somehow this is not exactly confidence-inspiring. The dealership even called Volvo headquarters (or so the saleswoman said) to figure out what's wrong with the window. The other V70 they have on the lot did the same thing.
I had assumed it would be a simple re-programming (per the manual that says what to do to re-set after the battery has been disconnected for any reason) but sounds like it's not that.
Has anyone else here had that sort of problem with the windows? What did you find was really the issue?
Incidentally, is volvomax still around? I notice he has not posted for a long time.
Do other Volvos have the seat-belt warning chime go off even if you have fastened your seat-belts before starting the engine? I hope this is another thing that can be reprogrammed. Does anyone know?
This was long overdue, but the ride degraded so gradually and my wife drives the car 90% of the time, I only just got around to doing the switch.
The car is utterly transformed. Steering is tight, road feel is wonderful, and the handling is firm with no sacrifice in compliance. It finally feels like the European Touring car that it is. It's like driving a new car again - I'm thrilled.
Last year, my V70 started making that sound whenever I turned the steering wheel. Fresh PS fluid was the solution.
I suppose it's possible your steering rack failed, but my suspicious nature tells me the dealer is looking for the warranty work.
Whether your rack failed or not, there's no harm in getting a new one. They are mechanically very simple, and there is no known defect with them that I know of.
Maybe it's time I introduced myself to the closer dealer's service department.
However, if I lived 45 miles away, I wouldn't go to the dealer to get a free replacement. The bulbs are only a buck or two, and all you need is a screwdriver and 5 minutes...
http://www.ipdusa.com/version.asp?strPageHistory=category&numSearchStartRecord=0- - - &strParents=127,383&P_ID=1583&CAT_ID=383&V_ID=3392
IPD is a great company, by the way...
I just hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I don't think I ever needed to change a bulb in 10 years in my Maxima.
Well, all our lights are working at the moment, so maybe tomorrow will be my lucky day. ;-)