XC70: General New to me XC70

[Tatsfield]

Once you have had a tyre run flat in the early hours of a Sunday morning on a long distance cross continental trip to catch a ferry, you really appreciate being able to replace the flat tyre with a spare wheel that has no speed or distance limitations and that return your car to you in the form that you should expect it to be. Dependency on non existent tyre shops in strange foreign countries isw something that can easily be written into an owners manual but that no one should have to rely on in real life. Volvo could have designed the interior of the car to accommodate a real spare and not worried so much about a gadget to stop your shopping bags from rolling around. Someone in Gothenburg issued the design brief. It didn't happen by accident when they looked at the ground clearance!

[Olaf Els]

For those that don't want a space-saver spare, I'm wondering if a 215/65 R16 tyre and suitable wheel would fit in the spare wheel well? This size was an original offering on the P3 XC70, I believe.

[apersson850]

This is what it looks like if you try to put a 215/65 16" in the boot of my XC70. My winter tires are that dimension. The summer tires on our two cars are either 235/55 17" or 235/50 18". They are even bulkier, of course.

The temporary spare is a compromise between cost, weight, space requirements and frequency of need, of course. It's not only the width of the tire that's the problem, it's also the diameter, which can be seen here.

The car could have been designed to house such a wheel, of course. But it would have required quite a bit more space than the last new Volvo I bought with a real spare, the 850 Turbo. It had "extreme" tires by 1993 standard, 205/50 16". They would perhaps fit in this hole, in the XC70.

By the way, we've had some flats on our XC70 cars. I had one just prior to making a trip to the UK a few years ago. But since I grew up in a trucking company, I've learned habits like inspecting things before major hauls. I noticed low air pressure ten days before the trip, found the nail sitting in there, put the winter tyre on and got another tyre to replace the punctured one. Before the trip.

[sam1]

Anyone got a locking wheel nut key of below pattern i can use for 5 mins to unlock my wheels?!

[Tatsfield]

You might get lucky but the odds against someone reading this forum having exactly the same key types as you are very high. I suspect you are going to have to get the thing removed by destructive brute force. I once had a set of these sort of "security" bolts and they were a constant source of trouble even without losing the key. Once I'd had them removed and replaced by ordi9nary bolts I never had any trouble again. Nor did anyone steal my wheels. That crime against very ordinary old cars with ageing mass produced alloy wheels is quite rare these days. There are far more cases of people tearing out their hair by the roadside late at night with a flat tyre and no wheel key!

[sam1]

I found the locking wheel nut key opposite where i live the other day. Very annoying. I had already looked along the kerb where i found it too!

The xc70 is going well. I have flushed the trans 3 times but still not happy with the colour going to do it another few times. Bevel gear oil changed, haldex oil changed.
Just had diff seal replaced so almost there and happy. Garage advised me the massive rear subframe bushes are on the way out too... arrg. Will look on vida to see if they're tricky. The garage said they are d'oh

[Olaf Els]

Originally Posted by sam1

I found the locking wheel nut key opposite where i live the other day. Very annoying. I had already looked along the kerb where i found it too!

The xc70 is going well. I have flushed the trans 3 times but still not happy with the colour going to do it another few times. Bevel gear oil changed, haldex oil changed.

Glad you found the wheel nut key.

Did you need to drop the prop shaft and remove the differential flange to change the Haldex fluid? If so, relatively easy to do?

[sam1]

Originally Posted by Olaf Els

Did you need to drop the prop shaft and remove the differential flange to change the Haldex fluid? If so, relatively easy to do?

No I did not as mine is not that version (can't remember which it is). To drain i think there was a drain screw as well as taking the haldex pump off to clean the plastic filter on the end of it. Then the fill was through a plastic casing on the side. I think someone told me which version it is earlier in this thread. But no - no prop shaft dropping

[Olaf Els]

Originally Posted by sam1

No I did not as mine is not that version (can't remember which it is). To drain i think there was a drain screw as well as taking the haldex pump off to clean the plastic filter on the end of it. Then the fill was through a plastic casing on the side. I think someone told me which version it is earlier in this thread. But no - no prop shaft dropping

Thank you for the info. My XC70 is a couple of model years ahead of yours, so I guess has a different Haldex type.