Looking for an XC90
 

Hi everyone.

There is a few XC90's popping up and as the wife is looking for an auto and something "taller" than our estate car, I'm considering looking at a few.

I have seen an 03 with around 140k miles, I'm not after anything immaculate so it sort of fits the bill. Only issue is that it has an ABS light on. I've had a look around the interwebs and I've seen a few possibilities, (I'd imagine) cheapest being a faulty sensor, and most expensive perhaps being the link between FWD and AWD (please excuse me if I'm talking BS here)...

Other than that, gear box and engine are "fine"...

I know a lot of car issues can potentially be endless and anything, I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience in the above issues and what a potential price tag I could be looking at?

Is there anything else I should look out for? Cambelt change frequencies etc? (cost of cambelt change?) any other sneaky nasties I should look out for, or add into the potential costs?

Many thanks!

Ian

Hi Ian,

I have the T shirt! I.e, bought an '03 xc90 about 18 months ago and delighted with the car. I have to say this forum has been very helpful to me.

However, they can easily become more of a hobby rather than means of transport!

Firstly and can only speak from my experience, the abs issue should not be a problem. With me it was a cracked abs ring and while that damaged the sensor and both had to be replaced, not really much of an issue. Look for service history and do an mot check on line. The cam belt should have been changed at about 90k.

From my experience, if engine, gearbox, bodywork, interior are acceptable to you the this passes the first test. Also does it have the necessary options. These cars have many excellent options, do they suit you?

For example. I am retired but use by car to fit out my boat and do odd jobs, so lots of tools in the back. Hence black interior best for me. You will find cars with loads of options, some basic to xc90, others nice to have and more very nice to have. Your choice.

I recently took daughter and husband, two grandkids, wife and mother in law, plus luggage to airport, seven up and all fitted in fine. Grandkids loved the RSE (rear seat entertainment), but novelty soon wore off. Audio is fantastic. I have had company cars all my working life and have to say the premium sound system is fantastic and by far the best audio I have owned (note an option). I also wanted a sun roof, but these need maintenance as the drains can block.

Have a look at the AWD by laying on your back under drivers side rear door with head to rear of car. You should just be able to reach the prop shaft which is above the exhaust in the middle of the transmission tunnel. Grab it firmly and try and turn it. It may help to wear nyrile gloves for a good grip. Grab it tightly and try and turn it. If it does, the spline drive has failed and more than likely the front transfer box could well have stripped the splines and need replacing. Knock of at least £1000 for fixing.

All volvos are great at telling you what is wrong, I.e., management lights.
, but suggest you might want to get codes read with at least an odb reader, but best of all Vida (volvo specific diagnostics) prior to purchase. You may want look for a local volvo independant garage, they are listed in this and other volvo forums. They should have vida and may help, but i understand not too easier when you are looking at a car in someones drive!

I took a simplistic reader with me that did tell me of current basic issues. In my case the srs light was on due to a clumsy battery change. This was immediately reset. A friend may well have one, well worth a try and if the vendor has an issue with you reading codes, suggest walk away.

Most probably the alarm service light is on. This may be fixed by replacing the battery in the module (minor surgery required) but will certainly be fixed by replacing the module.. Easy task.

One final point, these are not cheap cars to run. I suggest you reserve at least 2-2.5k to sort the car initially. A car this old is bound to have many problems, something that you have to accept with an older car. But most can be corrected. There are plenty of realistic priced second hand larger parts, but personally recommend genuine volvo where you can (volvoparts.uk)

So that is my experience, I hope it helps and good luck.

Or do what I did and actually take it off road during the test drive - that way if it gets stuck because the AWD isnt working the lying seller can recover it, lol. Luckily the AWD was working on the one we went to see. The dealer was a bit shocked when I came back from the test drive with it covered in mud :-)

Woweee, that's a lot of really valuable info John, thank you very much! The one I've been keeping an eye on is less than £2k with about 8months MOT left, so whilst it's not a lump I'd like to lose, it does give me some wiggle room if anything needs sorting sooner rather than later

I've had the ABS light on (and traction control complaining also).
There was a fault code for one of the front wheel sensors having a defective signal.
VIDA's real-time graphs for each wheel speed showed drop-outs as the speed increased for 1 wheel.
Replacing the sensor didn't help (but was quite easy to change) so I needed to change the ABS ring, about £5 each from ebay.
This means pulling apart the suspension leg to release the drive shaft from the hub, removing the (rusty) ABS ring and fitting a new one - the rings needs to be heated to expand it a bit prior to fitting.
Quite straightforward. In my case the opposite side failed about 6 months later - so assume you'll need to change both anyway.

I have just had the timing belt done on my 2010 R-Design at 105k miles. Service schedule shows 108k

I also have been suffering with intermittent 'ABS disabled Service Required' message. It needed the Steering Angle Sensor (SAS) or 'clockspring' changing costing £550 at a local inde volvo specialist.

I would also check if the autobox fluid and halidex oil and filter have ever been changed. If not get it done. Again, have just had mine done at a cost of approx £260

Mike

If I leave my car wheels parked at an obtuse angle, say having just pulled into a tight parking spot, turn off and walk away. When I come back I also have the Anti Skid service message. A turn of and on of the ignition with a short drive ALWAYS clears the message. Always. If I keep parked wheels ahead, I never have an issue.

Sometimes, little foibles are best just ignored and not made bigger by worry splashing cash. :thumbs_up:

Mine did this and then started doing it on the dead ahead as well. It was shortly after this that the clock spring failed altogether and lead to my problems with the srs module.
I fitted a secondhand clock spring and had no problems with it. It’s actually quite an easy job to change, the biggest thing is to disconnect the battery and wait for 10 minutes.

Thanks for the continued advice, going to see a couple tomorrow. I'm just wondering regarding the OBD port, I have one for the estate car we have (a focus) and I need to plug that into a laptop via usb to see whats what in the car, is that the same concept with the volvo? So I'd need to borrow an OBD port reader 'doodah' and take my laptop? Is there a program required to read it as there is with Ford?

Also, another neat trick with the focus (and other ford models) is that if you don't have an OBD reader, you can part turn the ignition whilst holding a menu button and then eventually it goes into a sort of "back office" mode where you can do a gauge sweep, check the dash lights, battery voltage etc etc, eventually you get to a menu which throws up any fault codes that currently apply - there is no way see what these are, so you need to take note and then look them up. I don't believe it's an exhaustive method for seeing all the faults, but it's a start..

Does Volvo have the same thing?

Thanks again.

Nearly

The Volvo P2 dashboard will show you what devices have a fault stored.
But it won't tell you what the fault code number is.

So it gives you a little bit of info, but not much....

Here's a couple of vides showing how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG46ObOjFVo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3v4e1eKcEA

Press and hold READ on the indicator stalk
Press rear fog lights twice

Some devices need to have an active drive cycle completed before they give you the info - so drive for say 10min, then stop engine but do not turn ignition off, and check the codes.