Hi guys. I have a 1998 Volvo V70 XC AWD and love this mid-sized wagon. We have racked 145k miles on the odo now and are starting to see midlife repair problems. The most irritating and seems to be the least known is the short lifespan of the rear drive shaft, or propshaft. After about 40k-70k miles the center support bearing on these shafts fails and I end up pulling a big chunck of change out of the Volvo Repair Bank Account. No one I have spoken to, including my trusted Volvo mechanic can explain why this problem has not been corrected by Volvo or a third party engineer. The only recommendation has been to save the cash for this repair for the rest of the life of my Volvo. Any useable insight into this situation? Unuseable perhaps! Thanks.
Sorry, no good idea here. Certain cars have particular problems that never get solved. With some Audis it’s short-lived ball joints, with some BMWs it’s cooling system issues.
No help, I know…
They possibly have learned.
The major problem with the vast majority of automakers is they essentially back engineer AWD into vehicles as an afterthought. So the systems are ho hum, can have issues and excessive to fix.
The only cars that are engineered with AWD from the start are Subaru and Audi. They have few issues except owner inflicted. They also are top tier AWD and the only ones worth buying IMHO if AWD is a requirement.
Thanks for the insight. I had a difficult time choosing between Audi AllRoad and the Volvo XC. We do a lot of interior packing and the Audi had some major limitations with regard to the crates we use here on the farm that the Volvo handled without complaint. So for now I will just keep the propshaft bank account flush for the next 300k!
What’s the environment and road conditions like where you live? Temperature extremes, road salt, dust, etc can play a part in many automotive parts failures.