XC90 AWD Repair

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by 4wheeldriver

HAve to admit the 4th gen stuff looks a bit hardier than the 1st and 2nd. When did the 4th start being fitted Roy??

Just to make it clear the pictures above are from a sweedspeed "R" cars thread.

The first failed spline and two new spline sleeves shown are from/for "R" cars. The new spline on the right is the original fitment and is the one that has been failing every 3 to 7 thousand miles. That is a serious problem. It has NEVER been fitted to an XC90.

The new fourth generation spine shown last is from a V8 XC90 and is recommended for use on the "R" vehicles pre 2006 as a replacement by the guys on the swedespeed forum. Post 2006 "R" cars have the spline already. I assume swedespeed recomend ordering the V8 XC90 part to make sure they don't get old stock "R" splines.

They ran a poll of "R" cars affected by the slpine failure an ALL the failures were on PRE 2006 cars. No one posted a post 2006 "R" failure.

The "R" car AWD is obviously relevant to the XC90 as they use the same parts although the "R" cars are more highly stressed but as James says they should be up for the task. I also think the "R" cars transmission works in a harsher enviroment due to being very low to ground as well.

These are my own thoughts on the information I've seen on the net. If anyone wants to disagree thats fine, personally I just would like to see some objectivty in the posts, rather than general none specific compaints. There were also a lot of posts on the swedespeed forum saying the same thing, so I'm not the only one who sees no point in the Volvo's are rubish type post. What's great about the sweedspeed "R" forum is that the guys clubbed to gether to pay for the metal analysis and measurement of all the parts, and even contemplated makeing their own improved part before they found Volvo was ahead of them and that the new V8 VXC90 part met their own criteria. That's what I call a technical forum.

Roy

[4wheeldriver]

Is it this R your referring to there Roy??

!cid_8A8D2694F6134293A8B46891E622236A@30K9L3J.jpg

Any one know what this is??

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by 4wheeldriver

Is it this R your referring to there Roy??

Attachment 14340

Any one know what this is??

Check out my photo gallery I just added a double "R" car. ;-)

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Just to make it clear the pictures above are from a sweedspeed "R" cars thread.

The first failed spline and two new spline sleeves shown are from/for "R" cars. The new spline on the right is the original fitment and is the one that has been failing every 3 to 7 thousand miles. That is a serious problem. It has NEVER been fitted to an XC90.

The new fourth generation spine shown last is from a V8 XC90 and is recommended for use on the "R" vehicles pre 2006 as a replacement by the guys on the swedespeed forum. Post 2006 "R" cars have the spline already. I assume swedespeed recomend ordering the V8 XC90 part to make sure they don't get old stock "R" splines.

They ran a poll of "R" cars affected by the slpine failure an ALL the failures were on PRE 2006 cars. No one posted a post 2006 "R" failure.

The "R" car AWD is obviously relevant to the XC90 as they use the same parts although the "R" cars are more highly stressed but as James says they should be up for the task. I also think the "R" cars transmission works in a harsher enviroment due to being very low to ground as well.

These are my own thoughts on the information I've seen on the net. If anyone wants to disagree thats fine, personally I just would like to see some objectivty in the posts, rather than general none specific compaints. There were also a lot of posts on the swedespeed forum saying the same thing, so I'm not the only one who sees no point in the Volvo's are rubish type post. What's great about the sweedspeed "R" forum is that the guys clubbed to gether to pay for the metal analysis and measurement of all the parts, and even contemplated makeing their own improved part before they found Volvo was ahead of them and that the new V8 VXC90 part met their own criteria. That's what I call a technical forum.

Roy

So Roy, what do I specify ,in terms of parts, when I take my Oct '04 XC 90 D5 SE Geartronic in for repair to it's bevel gear tomorrow so that I can obtain rear wheel drive that will last???

[911-32]

Originally Posted by ianu

Hello all - this is correct - I unfortunately did have the problem (at 72k ish miles) - but even outside of the warranty period I managed to negotiate a 70/30 split in my favour of the repair cost with the warranty rep at the Dealer because I insisted this was not an expense I expected to be incurring on a car 3 1/2 years old with only 72k miles on it. The worst case without the discount included the bevel gear replacement which if I recall was in the region of £1300 - £1500. But if they could seperate the spline it would be a lot lot less. My invoice shows they had to heat the sleeve up to remove it - the total cost to me came to £154. The breakdown of the bill shows the sleeve at £85 before discount + other bits.
The sympton I experienced was front wheelspin (and horrendous torque steer) in the damp or wet especially accellerating out of junctions or exiting roundabouts.
Mine is an 05 MY - and yes I've had a few problems - some of them have been common to others on this forum and the warranty has picked them all up - but it's the best car I've ever had and smiles per mile I'd be hard pushed to beat it.
Mines just had it's 96k service - it's sat on the drive with the Average fuel trip reading 40.3 after mostly motorway work this week.
The best thing is with this forum - you know what to look out for and what questions to ask when you're out shopping for one.
Good luck
Thanks Ian

Are you saying that they were able to separate the spline in your case and it cost only £154? This the kind of fix I would like to know more about.

[Rockhopper]

Originally Posted by 911-32

Are you saying that they were able to separate the spline in your case and it cost only £154? This the kind of fix I would like to know more about.

The sleeve itself is 'only' about £88. Its the labour to get it out that bumps up the cost (~£250). That's if they can get it out - otherwise its a new angle gear at more like £1500, despite the gear being fine.

Ianu managed to negotiate Volvo contributions. My dealer wouldn't entertain that with mine. Good luck with that one.

[ianu]

Originally Posted by Rockhopper

The sleeve itself is 'only' about £88. Its the labour to get it out that bumps up the cost (~£250). That's if they can get it out - otherwise its a new angle gear at more like £1500, despite the gear being fine.

Ianu managed to negotiate Volvo contributions. My dealer wouldn't entertain that with mine. Good luck with that one.

Yes this bill would have been a lot higher if a) they hadn't managed to seperate it and b) Volvo hadn't agreed to contribute to the cost. Obviously labour could end up being the biggest portion.
Obviously depending on age and mileage of what you buy even if it's out of Warranty as mine was it'd absolutely be worth challenging it to be a shared cost. In my case the Dealer was very good and the warranty rep at the dealer suggested that I speak to Volvo UK directly to plead my case as I was not satisfied with the original offer of a 30% contribution. I did - and I believe there was a further exchange between them and the dealer and they effectively switched the offer 70/30.
I suppose you pays your money and takes your chance - point here is you know it's a possibility - how you protect yourself from it depends on the car you buy, its history, distance from a Volvo warranty and/or your relationship from where you buy it.
Surely there must be a simple check a garage can do if they access to MOT 'brake test rollers' to see if it will pull itself out ?
I've seen the AWD system demonstrated on nothing more complicated than a free standing metal frame with 2 rollers on it (at a Volvo Freedom Drive and a Range Rover Experience drive) (I've seen them used for standing large cable drums on too) - if you can get 2 - you can pretty much prove any combination.
SO - yes potentially it's a big bill - if you protect against it - it could be a fairly small one - but it wouldn't stop me buying another one - I'd just know to look out for it.
Cheers
Ian.
PS Anyone know a chrome plating specialist - see other thread in General Topics.

[Beeman]

Very interested to see that Volvo UK were prepared to offer a 70% contribution to costs. Have you always had your sevicing done by a Volvo dealer??
I left to use an independent Volvo specialist for the 3rd and subsequent services on my 54 XC 90 and Volvo UK didn't want to know about a contribution to cost of eplacement of the bevel gear!
Veiled hints at lack of loyalty etc!

[ianu]

Originally Posted by Beeman

Very interested to see that Volvo UK were prepared to offer a 70% contribution to costs. Have you always had your sevicing done by a Volvo dealer??
I left to use an independent Volvo specialist for the 3rd and subsequent services on my 54 XC 90 and Volvo UK didn't want to know about a contribution to cost of eplacement of the bevel gear!
Veiled hints at lack of loyalty etc!

Yes - must admit up until the last service (96k) - I've been a regular customer here so maybe that helped, They've supplied 2 cars from new for me - a V70 and XC90 and probably had in the region of 300k's worth of service bills between 3 cars over the last 8 years (V70/V70XC/XC90).
I'm holding my breath at the moment as I've got a brake fluid leak thread open on here - so I'll be tentatively looking for some quotes about that fairly soon as it looking like a Servo replacement is required.

[Beeman]

I am now the proud owner of a new bevel gear and am minus £1500.
Of this, Warranty Direct will pick up the most and I will have to cover the difference between the allowed £40 per hour and my dealership's labour cost of £84/hour. At 4.4hr for the job I'll have to find the best part of £200.
Haven't yet been able to prove to myself that there is now AWD but hope to soon.
What I would say to anyone contemplating buying an older XC 90 is "check that the rear wheels can actually drive."
Also, "at the last service prior to the expiry of an existing warranty - get the rear wheel component of drive checked out(along with all the other things)".
It could save you money and ensure that you get what you expect to get i.e. AWD.