I bought a 1998 Volvo V70 wagon, automatic. Most of the car has 180,000 miles on it. The engine was replaced just before I bought it, and the replacement engine has 78,000 miles on it.
The car fits my need to drag around 3 upholstery (and everything else) chewing dogs.
I have never had a car this old that I intend to keep. The previous and only owner kept very good maintenance records and was diligent.
The radiator sprung a big leak and the car overheated. The engine was hot enough that it stopped accelerating normally. I am having the radiator replaced now.
I expect to need to have parts repaired and replaced pretty often. I would like to use aftermarket parts.
Advice on how to keep this car running for another 100 thousand miles is appreciated!!
If the owner’s manual is still with the car READ IT. The manual is the best source of information about the car, and should contain a recommended maintenance schedule. If you don’t have the owner’s manual, you might be able to get one from Books4Cars.com. Another good thing would be a Haynes service manual. These are a great resource for any car owner.
Did the engine overheat before you bought the car (leading to its replacement), of did that just happen? If it just happened, you may have to replace more than you think.
Agree, a Haynes manual would have all the maintenance info. in it. To get another 100,000 miles out of this csr may be difficult and expensive. The fact that the engine was replaced at 102,000 makes me very!! suspicious of the care the previous owner gave it, in spite of what you say. Count on alternator, starter, struts, transmission overhaul, 2 brake jobs (1 set of discs), another radiator, water pump, etc., etc. during the next 100,000. If you are lucky, no engine work.
All the above will be very expensive to you, unless you have previously owned a Jaguar, Mercedes, VW Passat or similar machine. What I’m really saying is that this may not be the right car to get high mileage out of. If you asked a taxi driver/owner about the economics of this he would laugh. Volvos have very long lives, but most are driven that far by the original owners. And they will admit it costs more to keep them going, but they have no depreciation, and Volvo bodies last really well. So, it’s possible, but in my opinion not worthwhile.
Mt immediate concern would be if you did any damage by overheating it enough to lose power.
Assuming the engine is OK, the best thing you can do is maintain it diligently (oil changes, transmission service, brake service, etc.). These cars tend to die early if folks let the problems accumulate to the point where they are no longer worth fixing. They are a little more expensive to maintain/repair than the typical domestic/ricer, but if you find a good independent shop and follow their advice you will do fine. Plan on spending $1000+ per year (a lot cheaper than car payments). If you have a good 80K mile engine and the rest of the car hasn’t been abused, you shouldn’t have any problem driving it for at least another 100K miles.
Modern Volvo’s are disposable cars and not worth the upkeep IMHO.
See how everything goes along but another 100k will require more like $2000+/year in a Volvo especially at the well worn point. Most Japanese/domestic $1000/year is more realistic at this stage in its life however euro seems to be a 2-3 times factor.
I think luck will bring it along more than any basic upkeep such as regular fluid changes.
As a '98 it’s pre-ford, so it should be worth preserving. I wouldn’t classify 180K miles as “well worn” unless it’s been severely abused/neglected. Your estimate of $2-3000/year sounds a little high to me, I barely average $3000/year on my benz with 400+K miles (driving about 40K miles/year). I may be off on my cost estimate, have you owned many volvos?
My parents have an 89 Volvo 740 turbo automatic with 250k+ with original turbo if you can believe it. $2k is normal given items such as one wear item typically goes per year like brakes, tires, muffler($400-$600) beyond the other random things that break down and scheduled maintenance. I should note labor rates in my locale are $100/hr for a decent independent. Volvo parts are not cheap.
Also given the person overheated the car enough to effect its runnability means the engine was severely cooked. Lastly if 180k is not well worn why was the motor already replaced with “The previous and only owner kept very good maintenance records and was diligent.”
Maybe its okay given Ford did not take them over. Recent Volvo owners are not happy people in my experience, I just don’t get the cars and their appeal whatsoever.
They are not my favorite cars either, but some folks really like them and '98 was about the last of the real volvos. I don’t know why the engine (not motor, BTW) was replaced previously, but I really doubt that it was due to normal wear. I was also concerned about possible damage due to overheating, my comments are based on the engine being undamaged.
Why does 250K with the original turbo surprise you? I have over 400K on my turbo now, and have driven a saab well over 275K miles without touching the turbo. Turbos have not been a reliability issue since the 70s.
I agree that a “routine” wear item is usually about $500 for any car and other stuff is likely to add up to another $500, that’s where I came up with the $1000 estimate. If something major fails, it will obviously cost more, but that applies to any car. I would not assume the a properly maintained volvo with these miles would have major failures. The OP was only asking about another 100K miles, that’s still less than 200K on the engine. Anything decent with those miles is going to average around $1000/year, IMO (I could be a little low). What’s the alternative, driving a honda?
I’ll second Craig on his remarks. The part about getting hot enough to “stop accelerating normally” could mean a radiator is the least of the OP’s worries. A head gasket, fried piston rings, scored cylinder walls, and possibly an entire engine is a major concern when someone continues to operate a vehicle that is overheating.
The “another 100 thousand miles” scenario may or may not be applicable in this case.
Gee wiz, drlnielsen, you said you wanted to get 100k more miles out of this thing. Why did you drive it after it overheated to the point where it wouldn’t accelerate normally? That’s almost as bad as driving with no oil. Oh well, maybe you got lucky and didn’t do real bad damage. It sounds like you have the straight FWD V70 as opposed to the AWD V70XC. I hope so, cause that particular AWD system is "not
so hot". If you have the V70XC, make sure you keep the tires within 3/32’’ tread depth- lowest tread depth to greatest- of the 4. If not you’ll wear out AWD system prematurely-$$$$$$$$$$$$.