General: New-to-me 1999 V70R 2.4 AWD, Laser Blue

[captainpjp]

Thanks Mark - I must have been squinting earlier as they do look more like 302's now.

Yes, County Durham not far from Sedgefield and I'ii be showing the car at the Hardwick Hall Hotel Classic Car Show on 2nd July. Would be great to see your car too - what model is it, by the way?

[britten_mark]

Sadly all my top-spec Volvos are in the past as I stupidly sold them or let family members have them cheaply (who then saw pound signs and cashed them in! Wont make that mistake again....).

I'm therefore starting from scratch to some extent with a pair old old clunkers that have received the usual cursory maintenance that these cars attract; Chinese liquorice-ring tyres, inoperative aircon, scabby wheels, broken plastics, missing lugagge blinds, clogged PCVs etc.

I have one 97 V70 2.5 in Sandstone pearl (brown) which I bought only for the colour! I wish I could turn back the clock on this as its my favourite, but sadly it feels every mile of its 184k.

The second is a 96 850 T5, this is much better and feels much tighter to drive, but I've still spent £700 on parts in 3 months and it still has the same again needed at a minimum. This is probably the one I will bring to shows.

[captainpjp]

Just an update on my Laser Blue V70R:

Rear vented brake discs acquired from Skandix (very hard to source and not cheap) and fitted along with new pads.

302mm front discs and pads, both by Brembo, fitted, resulting in much improved and smoother braking, so it was indeed a case of warped disc(s).

I'm now getting the ABS and traction control orange warning lights come on at almost exactly 70mph, but not before that speed. They then reset themselves when I stop and restart the engine. Am I right thinking it's a failed ABS sensor rather than the ABS module beginning to fail??

One other thing is that I do notice the auto 5 speed gearbox changing up a gear much sooner than I would expect, even when I'm accelerating quite hard. I would have thought it would hang on to the revs for longer than it does. I also notice that when accelerating moderately, the engine revs seem to stay almost the same although the car speed is building. Almost like I imagine a CVT transmission to be. Are these things indicating rather strange gearbox behaviour or am I just reading too much into what is after all a 24 year old car? I recently had a gearbox fluid drain and refill, so a partial fluid change.

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts. It's still otherwise a lovely driving and looking car!

[britten_mark]

Its a long time since I changed my last ABS ECU, but in my case the TCS light was sporadic rather than permanent.

Re the box, I had a failure on the 5 speed speed box of my phase 3 and it really did slam alarmingly during changes. Hopefully the symptoms you describe are benign and a charcteristic of the box. I often think my 97 V70 revvs far too high and loud under acceleration, lots of noise for little gain, but then its a 2.5 10V slug.

[Opsman01]

I am also a proud owner of a V70R 1999 Phase 3. Japanese import with bodywork in great condition

I don’t think there are too many of these on the road now. Quite a rarity.

[captainpjp]

Congrats Opsman - indeed not many left now.

Updating my previous post, all is well now. The ABS light was cured by a new ABS sensor and as for the gearbox, I think I was just not putting my foot down enough - when I do it is fine and the acceleration is still impressive even by today's standards!

Unfortunately I really could do with the space in my garage and it is now up for sale on the Car and Classic website, as I have mentioned in the "Sales" section of this Forum. It's a stunning example.

[Opsman01]

I also have a 1999 V70R AWD Phase 3 - Jap import. Great car..