[MikeS100]

Hi all,

After a bit of advice on the V70. It's a few miles short of 150,000 now and I've been running it for the last 50,000. When I got it the previous owner had neglected it and it hadn't had an oil change for about 2 years/20,000 miles. It's got accident damage down the side and is pretty basic spec. The plan was to just run it into the ground for as long as it would last. To be honest I didn't really bother with it too much to begin with and left it a bit long between services myself only doing it once a year instead of the 6 months I think it should be. The thing is I've become rather fond of it now and even with it being neglected a bit it's been very reliable in the time I've had it and much more than my previous Mondeo which I traded in for the C70 recently.

But here's my issue, the previous neglect has obviously taken it's toll, it wasn't so bad before on cheap castrol gtx 5w30 oil but since I serviced it a couple of weeks ago and put in decent shell helix hx7 10w40 it's smoking constantly. It seems to be a mixture of blue and black but is there all the time on tick over and driving along whereas before it was only really noticeable on start up. The timing belt is due on it and I've been qouted £508, but I'm wondering if it's worth it. Does it matter if it's smoking all the time or is it past it's best in which case I should spend that £500 towards a newer version? It still drives really nicely and has masses of power and low down torque, it's just the constant smoking that has got me worried. I've also noticed the oil pressure light stays on for a couple of seconds at start up now whereas before it would go out straight away.

So what do you think? Get the timing belt done and not worry about the smoke? Get the timing belt done and change the oil back to 5w30? Or trade it in while it still runs and get something newer?