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High-Mileage Manual: 1998 S70 T5M

4K views 44 replies 13 participants last post by  cbblunk 
#1 ·
Hey all. First Swedish car/first Volvo after a string of older BMWs, some trucks, and a L322 Range Rover!

Last year, I bought a 2001 BMW X5 3.0i for $1500 and took it off-roading with some friends in a Top-Gear-esque sort of challenge. It was fun and we decided to do the whole thing again, but with different cars and a different theme/challenge. This year's challenge is "Cars Your Grandma Aspired to Own" and we are taking them rallycrossing. That's assuming, of course, that rallycross can happen in late August but fingers are crossed.

I was looking at all sorts of options for myself and had only limited my selection by saying "no more BMWs" - I've owned 11 and wanted to branch out. This Volvo appeared on my local (DC) Craigslist while I was idly scrolling during a conference call. It had been posted just an hour prior to my search and I'm sure my email read like some frantic nut. I saw the words "Volvo" "manual" and "turbo" and shot an email off with no more details.

Anyway, it's a 1998 S70 T5M.

I bought the car from a guy who had owned it since 1999! The first owner only kept it about a year but put 25k miles on it in that time. It was sold new locally here at Don Beyer Volvo in Falls Church, VA and that dealership put THREE clutches in the car. It has had the same clutch since 25k miles and that second owner which leads me to believe that maybe three-pedal driving wasn't the first owner's forte.

The second and long-term owner drove the car as his only vehicle for a long time, and then supplemented it with some BMWs. It was never the family car, so the front passenger seat and rear seats look nearly new. The driver's seat has also held up tremendously well. I have a stack of maintenance and repair records going back to the PDI at one mile. The second owner found a shop near his home in Maryland that did most of the work over the last 20 years. I need to call them tomorrow because the one record I don't have is a recent-ish timing belt service. The interval is anywhere from 80-100k miles depending on model year and who you believe, but I want to make sure that's in good shape. He claims it was done at 250k and I am missing records for about 23k of history around that time, so perhaps the receipts got tossed on accident.

More to come after I get it tagged, titled, and check the timing belt. Everything works, including the A/C and heated seats. The dashboard creaks at highway speed, I get an occasional flickering battery light (new battery, only happens if winding the revs out more) and over bumps the front end has a clunk or two. Sounds like it needs strut mounts or sway bar end links. The brakes are fine but kinda soft so probably due for new fluid and perhaps front pads. Oh, and it needs a CV boot on the one front axle.







I mentioned "250k" above and the car currently has 295,300 miles (ish) on it. One rallycross won't trash it, but I also don't think I want to do the event and promptly sell the car, either. Assuming I fall in a bit of love with it, my goal is to get it to 300k and beyond while keeping it nice. The previous owner spent money as needed to keep the car going and in nice shape, so I'd like to do the same. Some of his past maintenance/upgrades are going to be due again (the Koni FSD struts have 100k on 'em, for example) so might as well see what IPD can sell me if I want to replace anything.

Glad to be here, let's see how this goes!
 
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#40 ·
Welp, our event is this weekend and I think we have 8 cars showing up to rallycross for two days. The S70 is running well, though it picked up a little clunk from the front left when I turn left or right. It tracks straight and has no shudders/shimmies so I'm not sure what the noise is from. The shop recently aligned the car and I took it back to them to ensure everything was tight. They confirmed nothing is falling off, though the engine mounts and control arm bushings are all worn. All of those items were replaced around 120k so I guess it's time again at 295,680ish.

If anyone's interested in following along, we'll be sharing some highlights of the weekend on our Instagram and will have a full video up on YouTube once we're home.
 
#42 ·
The Corolla wagon was the only car that had significant issues... they showed up with a pretty dead front suspension and the engine was burning a TON of oil. It died on Saturday night.

As for the Volvo, she held up great! Had the little rubber line that connects two hard lines for cooling (to the turbo? rear passenger side of engine) split on Saturday mid-day. I had some spare line in my trailer so we cut some and replaced it. Filled/bled the cooling system and went back out. Also got to run my friend's V8 XC90 on Sunday afternoon and ran times close to some stock Miatas in it.

Time to clean up the S70 and decide what to do with it. I could try to take it to 300k but I also think it could be better served in the hands of someone who really super-duper digs these cars and the associated rarity of 'em.

 
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