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57k 2000 V70R Refresh

27K views 351 replies 33 participants last post by  855RI 
#1 ·
Hey all, I've spent the last few months looking for a wagon, bouncing between a V90 or a P80 but ultimately settling on a P80 R since I have had 3 others. Thanks to the Craigslist finds thread I was able to jump on a 2000 V70R with 57k miles. The paint has faded on the tops of the front and rear bumpers, door handles, and the rear hatch handle cover. Other than that, it looks to be minty fresh (crosses fingers).. I'll be flying down Thursday night and driving it back to Detroit.

I'll be doing a Stage 0 on it this winter and in the spring I'll have plastic bits worked on, I'm not sure if they need a repaint or not. OEM+ mods will follow. After considering several project Volvos, and having a vision of building one project into a Cassis R, this popped up and will fit my needs a lot better than a project car would.
 
#2 ·
Is this the silver Miami one?
 
#6 ·
I had friends who were interested in it too......seems like just about everyone was tempted by this (I can see why). Best of luck with it. I'm glad it landed somewhere where it won't be a daily. I was tempted myself but, as it is now, I already need to get rid of one of my Rs to get a legit daily.

I hope we'll get to see this at Carlisle this spring ;)
 
#7 ·


The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly

Welp, I got home with it last night around 4 a.m. Had a good time stopping in Asheville for BBQ and driving the entire length of Ohio in 4" of unplowed slop. It's a great car overall, some cosmetic issues but mechanically solid. Worthy of some love

The Good
With 58k miles, it's a tight handling car with a good suspension and throttle response. This is my first 2000 V70R and I was impressed with the mpg's I was able to get on the way home. The seats are in fantastic condition, it looks like the rear seats have never been used.

The Bad
I noticed a burnt oil smell wafting from the catalytic converter when I stopped to refuel and check the fluids in Asheville. It didn't last long, but I'm not sure if it indicates some blowby or another serious issue. I'll monitor the oil consumption in the next couple months. Also, the headlights suck so bad they might as well not be there, the fog lights were brighter than the headlights. I'll replace the bulbs for now until I can get some jewels.

The front of the sunroof frame is incredibly rusty and can't be saved, so that will be replaced.

The key fob looks like it was stomped on in a mosh pit, can I purchase and program a replacement?

The Ugly
These bits are the worst parts of the car. I bought it sight unseen, having facetimed with the car and the owner sent me pictures I requested. A combination if me being a little naive and the seller withholding some truths I think the car has lived parked outside in the sun for much of it's life, lots of fading on the exterior plastic and some interior trim bits. The drivers interior door panel and hatch panel were barely attached, so I have to figure out if there are some missing clips. Cupholder and some other interior trim broken, some other things like the grab handles are either extremely faded or have been replaced with the wrong color handles. The roof has a dent that looks like a basketball landed on it, and there is a section of the B pillar that is scratched up with the clearcoat peeling. I don't know if there is a fix for that without repainting, I'm going to start looking for a good paint and body shop to take care of all the exterior problems.

-Are the rockguard stickers (not sure what the name of these is) look like alligator skin, can I purchase replacements for these?
-Does Volvo still sell the fog and center grills?
 
#10 ·
The Ugly
These bits are the worst parts of the car. I bought it sight unseen, having facetimed with the car and the owner sent me pictures I requested. A combination if me being a little naive and the seller withholding some truths I think the car has lived parked outside in the sun for much of it's life, lots of fading on the exterior plastic and some interior trim bits. The drivers interior door panel and hatch panel were barely attached, so I have to figure out if there are some missing clips. Cupholder and some other interior trim broken, some other things like the grab handles are either extremely faded or have been replaced with the wrong color handles. The roof has a dent that looks like a basketball landed on it, and there is a section of the B pillar that is scratched up with the clearcoat peeling. I don't know if there is a fix for that without repainting, I'm going to start looking for a good paint and body shop to take care of all the exterior problems.

-Are the rockguard stickers (not sure what the name of these is) look like alligator skin, can I purchase replacements for these?
-Does Volvo still sell the fog and center grills?
Bummer about the unmentioned issues. I wish sellers, particularly those of a car being bought remotely, would just say, "These are the problems:......" instead of playing games or overlooking/hiding issues. Seems like you got a great car and I look forward to seeing its progress.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Yep, the grills if you really want em can be bough still, Tasca usually has the best price

center: 9190034 LINK

Left: 9190033 LINK

right: 9190035 LINK

The rockguard stickers were probably just cut from a sheet, replace them with whatever and just cut to shape
 
#9 ·
Does the remote work? If so, just get a replacement case. The remote that came with my dad's 99 NA had the same problem and he resolved that problem by swapping the circuit board into a new case.

+1 on DIYing the stickers. I have a bunch of nasty ones in the fleet here as well, so I'm going to try some clear bra material or something.
 
#14 ·
All in all, your "Bad" and "Ugly" are not too bad IMHO for the money and miles. Nice little project for you.

Funny you posted a pic of the car in front of Luella's. I went there several years ago when I was in the area - great bbq!
 
#17 ·
You made a great score. None will be perfect at this age, but you got as close as humanly possible, I think. You only have a short distance to go to get it "the rest of the way". :thumbup:
Long-distance buying can be a little nerve-wracking, but I've done it so many times now, it's second nature. Sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to get what you really want.
You have a great "basis" to start from. Especially those miles... Low mileage is like virginity - once it's gone, you can't buy it back for any amount of dough. :D

Personally, I figure my track record to be about 75%; that is, if it were local and I was standing right in front of it, would I have bought it?

As was mentioned, if only the fob case is damaged, you can buy those anywhere (Tasca, ipd, eBay), and swapping it takes all of about a minute.
If you want a spare, that's where it gets into $$. The fob itself is not expensive (seems like $30-40), but it has to be "married" to the car. And if you want a key to go with it, that's a chip key (like $80) which also has to be matched to the car. If you go in cold, they usually charge you a half-hour labor, plus a "software fee" :mad: of like $40 - for both key and fob. In recent years, I've talked them into throwing in at least a good part of the cost together with another service.
Maybe someone near you with a VIDA setup could do it, I don't know if that's a function it can perform. Someone here will know.;)
The roof dent: show it to a good, experienced PDR guy. They need to have it accessible and generally need an opposing solid structure to leverage against, but they can often get very creative if need be.
The paintwork: talk to a body shop, but also try to find a local "Sameday" or similar franchise that does spot painting. Often a good solution for those types of problems, that lets you get away without painting the whole panel, and "we also have to blend to the adjacent ones", blah-blah-blah.

eBay and dismantlers/JY's are good for the odd bits you need.

Good luck and have fun!
 
#18 · (Edited)
As you might have seen through the classified section, I’ll be taking over the rehab of this vehicle.

Just got back to RI from MI. Car ran decently. Biggest issue is the power steering. Im assuming the rack is leaking pretty badly. Only holds fluid for about an hour or two before a refill is needed.

Also, how can I legitimately hijack this thread?
 
#26 ·
yep that is the way to do it ^

thread should go with the car to keep as much history in one place as possible

congrats on the acquisition!
 
#27 ·
I haven't done much with the car after picking it up. I basically drove it back to RI and parked it. Still deciding on what to do about the power steering issue. The refresh was going to be slow and steady but a big issue like that right out of the gate will definitely slow the progress.

Once I got her back home I did a once
- The front and rear bumpers are pretty trashed
- rocker panel covers are in need of a respray
- The roof has big dents
- The door panels and door cards are hanging on by a thread (all 4!?!?)
- center dash speaker grill is toast (broke into pieces when I touched it)
- rear hatch cover is missing
- shifter display is missing (no PRND)
- The headlights are basically useless, one of which was out for 1/2 the ride back home until I found one in the car and replaced it. Didn't help at all, I still had to ride with the high beams on in the dark to see about .2 feet ahead of me
- aforementioned power steering issue
- brakes are terrible and shudder like crazy
- abs module needs to be redone
- coolant light is perpetually on, hopefully it's just a sensor since the dash gauge read normal the whole way back
- loud clunk / squeaking coming from the right front suspension area. There's a spring seat in the back of the car so I might try to see if that helps the issue

That's all I can remember off the top of my head.

A few pics



77k!





Roof dent, it actually goes all the way across if you catch it at the right angle

These have been resprayed and need it done again

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#28 ·
Still deciding on what to do about the power steering issue. The refresh was going to be slow and steady but a big issue like that right out of the gate will definitely slow the progress.
If you're okay throwing a few bucks at it that might literally just go down the drain if you're not environmentally conscious - or might just be a decent fix - try the Valvoline MaxLife Automatic Transmission Stop Leak (see Ozark Lee's comments on MVS here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38436).

I had the same issue as you on the '98 S70 I just picked up in PA last month, and decided to give this a try yesterday. Was probably putting a quart of ATF in every 150 miles. Not completely sealed yet, but it's already diminished tremendously after putting in less than a quart of this stuff. Hoping I'll have the same result as Ozark Lee after a week or so!

BD

1998 S70 GL, 2006 S40 T5 M66 FWD, 2008 C70 Premium Plus M66, 2011 XC90 V8, 2013 C70 Platinum P* (1994 854T FWD, 2004 XC90 2.5T AWD, 2005 S60. 2.5T FWD RIP)
 
#30 ·
So what you're saying is that you need $5k.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Lol

Sounds like a typical low mile grandma owned P80.... which I'm betting is what this car was for the first 57k.
 
#38 ·
Ben and Bobby at Rolling Motors in Watertown CT are the only people I'll let touch any of my cars. My parents have tried other places in the past with abysmal results every time.
 
#39 ·
I was thinking of giving them a call. Only issue with them is the distance... they are about 100 miles away from where I am keeping the car.

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#41 ·
460 miles for me...worth every mile !!!
 
#45 ·
Washed and vacuumed the car today. Swapped in the XC grille. Replaced the corner lamps with Volvo OEM ones and replaced the headlight lends on the driver side. Looking a little better but now I think I have a seized caliper on the pass front side. The wheel was smoking after a very short drive up and down the street... saga continues.

Pics were taken after the wash before the rain came. Had to move into the garage.

Getting the shoes shined:


All done:




Wheels are pretty worn:




Some more of the paint work needed:







Also got a better pic of the roof dent:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#47 ·
I think that look is from the clear coat being bad, but I honestly have no idea if the bumper was resprayed or not. I would assume it wasn't since this car received absolutely no love from the original owner and the last owner didn't change anything on the exterior except a turning lens.

I want to do what I can to get the car back in shape. It needs a lot more than I originally bargained for, so I have had to reevaluate my timeline for it. We will see how far I get before I get bored and want to move on to something else. I happens pretty quickly...
As for the AWD, I have the driveshaft and I was planning on having it rebuilt at some point since I don't want to mess around with a full AWD delete, but it needs so much more in the interim that it likely wont be for a while. Right now it is not being driven since the power steering is kaput and it has a seized caliper or two. Those things will be first on the list.
 
#48 ·
Well, it used to be not that long ago people on SS said the P2R's will cost you $10k -- either up front, or in maintenance getting it back to Stage 0. (i.e. If you pay $5k for one, count on putting $5k into soon afterwards.)

Maybe it's time we start saying the same for the P80R's too. Fred put about $10k into getting the Venetian into shape. And, despite that, I still have a list of things I'd like to do cosmetically.
 
#50 ·
P2 Rs are special since they have so much ridiculous stuff going on. It's gotta be something special to be even remotely worth owning.

This isn't as bad. But the AWD really doesn't help. I feel like I'm about to go on an anti-AWD tear for the 4th time today. So I'll just leave it there; you guys all know how I feel about AWD. Lol.
 
#49 ·
We have had our 2000 since Jan 2007 and 57K miles. Now it has 155K miles and it looks and drives almost the same.....and about 12-12K spent over the years.
STILL on the original ECM and breather (shhh) but runs great with excellent breather pressure.
The trick was and is Mobil 1 since 20,000 miles, changed every 4 to 5K miles, it keeps everything clean and oil free!
 
#52 ·
Beautiful, well maintained car! I would have loved to get into the R game 12 years ago, but I was a senior in HS and Mom and Dad wanted nothing to do with buying me an AWD-Turbo-Wagon. So I got a RWD sports car instead :confused:
 
#54 ·
Enough of this dumb s#@t, winter climates it's nice to have AWD. Rainy climates it's nice to have AWD.

And yes, i've run mine FWD for a full season, wheelspin like bloody mad even with high-end tires, even the tiniest bit of rain and fuh-get-about traction in FWD mode with my car on its current tune. Yes it's a little slower overall in AWD but I get off the line way better in all conditions and in daily driving duty THAT is what matters.

Now quit threadjacking and let the man get on with his car
 
#55 ·
Enough of this dumb s#@t, winter climates it's nice to have AWD. Rainy climates it's nice to have AWD.

And yes, i've run mine FWD for a full season, wheelspin like bloody mad even with high-end tires, even the tiniest bit of rain and fuh-get-about traction in FWD mode with my car on its current tune. Yes it's a little slower overall in AWD but I get off the line way better in all conditions and in daily driving duty THAT is what matters.

Now quit threadjacking and let the man get on with his car
LOL I aint mad...

I've gotten on it with the FWD & it's a little squirmy, and I don't have a tune so I can only imagine.
 
#56 ·
LOL Anti-AWD :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

Besides Snowball, I don't think I'll ever buy another car without AWD. It's just better.
 
#57 ·
Well yeah of course your AWD cars being run as FWD are gonna be bad to drive unless you ditch the extra weight out back.

Also isn't the suspension in this thing toasted? That's gonna cause you a world of problems at WOT, too.
 
#58 ·
Give up with the AWD hate, you just don't get it. In the amount of time you've spent on here **** talking the P80 AWD system, you'd probably be finished your M66 swap by now.
 
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