Ok I just picked up a new to me 2006 Volvo S60 T5 for the grand total of $4650. Got to love patience and craigslist. You can find just about anything for a good deal. The car has 142,000 miles and according to the vehicle vin check it had 130,000 as of 2010. So the previous owner drove like crazy for 4 years and then had a company car. So it is primarily highway miles. yah I know everyone claims their car has only highway miles.
The car looks mint and I had some tough times finding flaws with the car. The only one so far is the hole in the front bumper from the euro plate. The interior looks mint too. Oh am I starting to love this car.
Here are some pics from the add.
Here is the pic of when I brought it home tonight.
So why moose force one? Where did the moose get brought in? Well i love moose and think they are such majestic animals. I came across one of these and knew that would be the name of the car or something along the lines of moose. Moose force one sort of seemed like a good name but it is subject to change. Moose mobile is strong in the running.
I was able to set up homelink visor garage opener. Now I can open my garage without a clicker. I can keep the miata clicker in the miata in the garage.
Since I am 18 I had the car titled under my dads name and insurance comes out to about $115 a month.
Alright first repair. When it is cold out an the car is cold the passenger front suspension makes a terrible clunk, squeak, clank sound for about 3 minute over every small bump until it is warmed up. With some research it looks like it is the strut spring seat. Time to remove the entire strut and replace the seat.
So far it is an awesome car.
Also
My sticker came in today. In going to really clean the car tomorrow morning and apply it.
I also picked up a clay bar kit for the car. I have never had a car that actually had paint so I am going to enjoy cleaning it.
I clay bared my dads car and it came out really nice. I was able to clay bar part of my car but I ran out of time and it already looked nice. I installed the sticker and it looks nice. I also ordered a custom license plate for the front bumper.
The previous owner of the car wanted his front license plate back so I was left with a bumper with holes in it. I figured I had two options. One remove the bumper and take it somewhere to get fixed and it would be expensive or two get a license plate for myself.
I chose the second option and it should be here soon.
I also ordered the replacement strut spring seat for the passenger side to fix my clunking problem when the car is really cold and only lasts for a minute.
Ok so my replacement spring seat for my front passenger strut came in today. When the car has not been driven for a while the strut would make a terrible clunking noise. Well that was exactly the problem. The inner sleeve that is metal completely separated from the rubber. I had to run down to a napa to rent a spring compressor and two hours later I was done.
I had an issue with the car pulling to the right a tad so I crawled under the car and started adjusting the passenger front toe. I set it for some more toe in and I pretty much got rid of most to all of the pull. Now it is live able. I can always crawl under and fix it a tad more but now it is fine. The car does not have any adjustments for camber so there really was not much to alter down there.
Here is a photo of the failed part. The metal sleeve completely failed and resulted in this. Thankfully I no longer have clunking coming from the front of the car. Yay me.
Thanks. I am thinking about buying a Grom Bluetooth/Ipod adapter for the radio. It would be nice to be able to play my music with my iPhone via bluetooth.
The only thing is that right now I am in high school with two cars. My plan as of now is to re vamp the suspension on my miata for my summer trip with my dad from Miami to North Carolina/ Tennessee for Miatas at the Gap. That is easily going to cost $900 and I might foresee a paint job in the possibly near future. Until my Miata has some things that it has been waiting a long time for I am having a tough time justifying spending money on the Volvo. For the time being the Volvo is going to be a dependable daily driver.
Anything particular to do that I have not mentioned? I was doing some research but that seems to be about it. Maybe a trans fluid change and that info just said to drain the trans and re fill, not a power flush. On that note has anyone found the trans dipstick? I must have spent a good half hour looking and an other half researching where it could be and it was a fruitless endeavor.
Oh I almost forgot to mention. I just got back from a trip to Orlando this past weekend and I took the Volvo. It was about 250 miles there and 250 back. Those were 500 miles of the most comfortable ride I have ever had. I really did not feel like I drove so much as I was in a relaxing chair. The car did not have one single problem.
On the list for the car though is some new oil and filter
Mobil One 10W30 for my hot miami climate.
New air filter.
Inspect plugs and see if they need replacement. If they do then it will be Oem Volvo plugs.
Timing belt was done at 110,000 miles. Apparently the dealer put a sticker on the engine with the date it was done and the mileage, and I think the signature of the person that did it.
You know the funny thing with the car is in the add the guy said it had many things that it did not. I still love the car. I bought the car at night so I was not able to get a good look inside the car but I had a very powerful flashlight for the exterior inspection and under the car.
The po said it had the 2.5 t engine, which it does not. He said it had the rain sensor which it does not and the funniest thing was the wood grain interior. Remember I bought the car at night so I did not get a good look inside. I was on my way home and looked at the dash and noticed it looked darken than I would have imagined. The next morning I get in the driver seat to admire my car and what do I notice. My car has neither a wood dash nor steering wheel. I actually like the silver ish metalic look better personally but hey i thought it would look different. i guess I ended up with something better by accident. Also in the add it said that the car was all wheel drive. After some more research I come to find in north america the t5 is front wheel. Thankfully i found out about the front wheel drive thing before I bought the car. It did bother me a little but it was such a good deal I didn't care.
just so that you people do not think I am making this up here is a picture of the craigslist add.
Nice find, I love Volvo white. You sound pretty experienced for 18, I'm impressed. Welcome to the forums!
Did anyone suggest you replace the spring seat with a heavier duty unit? And did anyone suggest replacing both at the same time? If not you probably should look into both of those things. Double check but I think the T5 engine is tougher than the 2.5T anyway, if you plan to keep it a while and beef it up more. And I agree about the comfort, it's really impressive how some cars can be so uncomfortable, my Volvo is the most comfortable car I've sat in, ever.
I replaced it with an oem type unit. I was full aware that there was a heavy duty unit but it was literally 3 times the cost. I wanted something that would last as a temp thing. Remember it does have 142,000 miles. My intentions are to replace the shocks and struts, but only after the miata has some new suspension. My intention is that when the miata is done I will start to devote more money to the volvo and that includes some koni yellow front struts with the ipd heavy spring seats, and rear koni yellow shocks. I will also probably replace the strut bearings up front as well just as a maintenance issue.
My logic on the oem type spring seat at least for now is that the oem one lasted that long if I can get 1/3rd of that longevity from this one then I would be happy. I did only replace the broken one for now. Both are in the cards for the future.
I know that the t5 engine is tougher I just find it funny the the po was so miss informed.
Nice looking s60!. If your looking for koni yellows theres some in the classifieds right now for sale by thedriver for 300 bucks shipped which is pretty cheap. Checked out you miata build pretty cool, a couple of my friends drive miatas they're fun cars. Good luck on your build!
I know full well that there are some koni yellows for sale for $300. I am not saying that it is a bad price but my priority is to get my miata to where it needs to be. Sort of a self promise. Then I can worry about upgrades for this car at a later time.
On a side note if anyone ever needs to disassemble the strut from one of these cars there is a special tool needed to do so. I ordered the tool from fcp euro and it consists of a socket type thing to go over the cross nut and a hex bit. The problem is that a hex bit is not what is needed for the front struts. You actually need a t50 torx bit. Thankfully I had my set of cornwell torx sockets but it sort of irritated me that I bought the tool for the job and it was wrong. If anyone wants further clarification let me know. ill post pictures in the morning.
well, for me, it doesnt matter if someone tell you that the car had already done, this, that, etc. My point to make Stage 0 is at least you will know when did you change the parts and do it later when the miles/times require the replacement again.
Stage 0
Spark plugs (it can be look ok, but who cares for $40 bucks do it)
Oil Filter, Oil, Castrol syntetic 5w40 or 10w40, this cars love Castrol
Fuel filter
PCV oil trap
Cabin filter
TCV lines with silicone type
Air filter
For inspection:
Coils for any cracks
Coolant(never use anything else than volvo green color coolant)
Brake Fluid
Sups. bushings
PCV pipes
Leaks.
Hi, nice looking car, good price too. You are in good hands here, lot's of info for the DIY type.
Re: coolant, the Volvo stuff is recommended and has some additional protection being a HOAT coolant type vs OTA for regular coolant. But, realistically, any Ethylene Glycol coolant that reads "Safe for Aluminum Engines" will work fine. There are very few fluids that I buy that are OEM Volvo, usually only Angle Gear, AOC and Rear Differential fluids for their precise needs. Most fluids can be replaced with an appropriate substitute like Volvo ATF being replaced with Mobil 3309 ATF. I have run standard coolant in my S60 for 180,000 miles with no ill effects, also countless enthusiasts have used standard coolant in these engines without issue. Without over thinking it, coolant has one job to do and they all do them the same for the most part.
BTW, Volvo has recently approved Prestone 5/150 Extended Life coolant.
Well I called the nearest volvo dealer yesterday and asked that since I purchased a used car that they might have some service records of the car. The service manager said sure thing just come back tomorrow with registration of the car. So today I am heading over to the nearest dealer to see what sort of records I can get.
Well I spoke with Volvo USA today. They can no longer reproduce the original window sticker.
However, The guy I was speaking with asked about the mileage and set it up so on their database I am the current owner. Due to the car having 143,000 miles he said that I am part of the high mileage club and that he would be sending me a medallion in the mail. Cool I cant wait to see what shows up.
Ok. I recently did some basic maintenance on the car.
Fuel filter replacement and air filter replacement along with an oil change using Mobil one 0w40 euro spec.
I also successfully chased away my cel problem.
I also picked up an extra spring seat for when I have more time.
Sent from a mobile device. Please excuse typo's mostly due to autocorrect.
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