New V70 owner......hello with questions
 

Just traded my old V40 in after 10 years of running it into the ground and picked up a 2010 163PS D3 Geartronic. So I've already been on the forum a long time...also have a C30. I try to do as much on my cars myself as possible and foresee that I will have to spend money on some new tools. Hopefully you guys can help me with this.

Three jobs are at hand, replace ATF (70k no towbar), change oil, replace rear pads.

1) I have an electronic dipstick. The Haynes manual doesn't cover this. Any wise words or a how to on changing the oil would be mush appreciated. I anticipate measure volume out and replace with same - but is there any device on the market that can read oil levels etc in detail?

2) I see the guides to replacing rear pads when you have an electronic parking brake, but am unsure whether or not I need an electronic tool such as an Autel Maxiest to do so. Can anyone enlighten me please? What are the advantages of having the tool? Can anyone recommend what tool they use to work on their rear brakes?

IN SHORT - what tools should I purchase now for routine maintenance on this car? I have some of my loan left so now is the time to get relevant tools bought.

For modern cars which are a huge bag of electronics, an electronic diagnostic device is becoming a necessity. The clone VIDA/DICE Volvo specific unit is available on ebay and is cheap and runs on any laptop which can provide Win 7, actual or virtual. It has the facility for winding back the electric parking brakes. It can send all manner of signals to all sorts of on board systems to activate them if required. And of course it reads all the ECU fault logs to enable you to check the health of your car.

My Autel tool failed to retract the EPB, despite being advertised to do so. I couldn't get the manual workaround to work either. In the end I opened the bleed valve and pushed the piston back. Been working happily for many 10's of '000s of miles now.

About to undertake the rear brake change on my 2014... Don't have a VIDA, hopefully, the guy (who teaches the motor maintenance class (it's a long story)) helping me has an idea... I'll let you know how I get on....

See "Articles" - there's a howto on "Manual EPB removal/wind off.

you get instructions on how to change the rear pads in the volvo pad set ...

Vida / Dice
 

Thanks folks, have ordered up Vida/Dice.