My dog is the proud new owner of a Volvo V70R

Undo the front motor mount and jack it up a wee bit, or use a bent boxend and don't change the bolt.

I presume thats an A frame bolt?

In reply to Woody :

Looks like I remembered right.

Gearwrenches are your friends, especially the offset ones.

Swedes have more patience and smaller hands?

I’m not super proud of this, but I will say that it worked way, way, better than I ever expected it to.

Also... Don't ever do this.

Old part is out.

The new part was as hard to get in as the old one was to get out. 

I just took four Advil. 

I've seen that as a tech tip in Car Craft magazine for drilling holes in the frame.  Strap a hand drill to the floor jack and turn it into a hydraulic drill press.

If it worked and you still have all nine fingers, all thirteen teeth, and your eye, then it wasn't very dumb, was it? 

So, funny story...

I took on this task because there was an annoying clunk in the right front of the car. I couldn't feel it in the steering, and I couldn't duplicate it by rocking the wheel with the car jacked up. Nevertheless, having already replaced the failure prone front sway bar links, I figured that it had to be either the upper shock mounts, or the ball joints on the lower control arms. Since the LCA's were cheaper (and seemingly easier to replace), I decided to change those first.

In order to do the job, I needed to put the right side of the car up on a jack stand. So naturally, I gave the car a pretty good shake before climbing under it to do the work. As the day went on, I needed to turn the steering wheel a few times for access to various bolts. Since the left front wheel was still on the ground, I'd give the car another safety shake each time, usually from the driver's side, but the once from the passenger's side.

That's when I discovered the super loose bolt on the right front fender, hiding inside the door jamb. I think that this was probably the source of the clunking noise that I was chasing in the first place.

Either way, I was halfway through the job, so I finished swapping in the new front LCA, and then tackled the loose bolt.

As it turns out, the bolt fastens into a clip that fits into a square hole in the frame of the car. The clip had come out of its  hole.

If you are still clunking, open the hood.  Locate the big washer at the top of the strut.  Grab, and attempt to rotate.  If one rotates, replace the rubber spring mount.  Not the turn plate, the spring mount.

Javelin said:

In reply to Woody :

I'm so stoked that all of the deferred maintenance will be completed by the time I buy this from you!

Oh...you're going to love this next part then.

Woody said:

Javelin said:

In reply to Woody :

I'm so stoked that all of the deferred maintenance will be completed by the time I buy this from you!

Oh...you're going to love this next part then.

Go on...

The suspense!!!

Narrator:  Evan mentioned last week that he kinda missed the P80 that he had.  Pete agreed that it was a surprisingly fun car and it would be nice to have one.

clutchsmoke said:

The suspense!!!

The suspension? 

Let me start by saying that it's really cold out an my back hurts.

So, there have been a few things that I have wanted to address on this car but I've been putting off. First, there's the front end clunk that I've been chasing. Neither the new sway bar end links, nor the lower control arm (both known problems) cured it. And, while I know that the timing belt was changed at least once in the car's 111,500 miles, that happened nearly ten years ago. For peace of mind, it was time for a new one.

The problem is that, while I am perfectly capable of doing this kind of stuff, I really didn't feel like it. In spite of the fact that I am one of the cheapest guys on the planet, I decided to shell out some cash and have someone else do it.

I brought the car to the only shop that I trust. It's a small local place owned by a couple of very talented brothers. They always have a bunch of cool cars outside, including plenty of vintage stuff, rally cars, vintage race bikes and home built specials. In addition, there's generally a few Volvos of similar vintage there at any time, including three this week. I guess that either means that these cars are total crap, or that these guys really know what they're doing when it comes to old Volvos.

I talked to them about the timing belt job and said that I wanted to change the belt, pulleys, tensioner, water pump, thermostat and any seals that needed to be done.

He said, "We'll replace anything that can kill the engine if it fails."

I found that to be an acceptable answer.

I made a list...

-Timing belt, etc..

-Find source of the front end clunk

-Adjust the parking brake (I made a couple of attempts at this, but then lost my motivation. I figured, "While it's in the shop...")

...and dropped the car off.

The timing belt went smoothly and was uneventful. We suspected that the clunk was probably the upper strut mount on the passenger side (common point of failure), but when they pulled it off, they found that the mount was still ok, but the strut itself had completely failed. It was completely dry, with no sign of leakage, so it's probably been gone for a long time. They called and asked if I wanted to do new front struts. I had been thinking about it anyway, so I told them to go ahead and do it. We ordered a new pair of KYBs.

They also found that the lower motor mount was completely shot, so I told them to go ahead and replace it.

Right around this point, it occurred to me that since it was such a PITA to replace the right front lower control arm, I never bothered to replace the other one.

Since they were swapping in the new front struts anyway, I told them that I'd drop off the other new lower control arm that was sitting on the shelf in my garage.

This morning, I dropped off the new lower control arm, and they were already starting on the front struts. I actually had the chance to go into the shop, check out progress on the car, and talk to Turbo Matt. He said that overall, it was a great car and asked what I paid. He said that it was a little less than he had expected.

He couldn't wait to show me the old motor mount ("worst he'd ever seen"), and said that the old upper strut mounts were still useable (Me: "$20 each? Replace them anyway.").

He said that whoever owned the car before me had really taken good care of it.

I asked if there was anything special that I needed to do to maintain the all wheel drive system. He said not really, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to change the fluid in the the bevel drive and rear differential sometime, as they were probably original.

Me: "Might as well do it while it's here..."

That's entirely responsible.

The car was there for two full days, and I'm very happy with the results.

They replaced the timing belt, two idler pulleys, tensioner, water pump, thermostat and coolant, left front lower control arm, front struts and upper strut mounts, lower motor mount, and fluid in the bevel drive and rear differential. They also made the parking brake work (finally) and reset the service light that I've been staring at since I bought the car.

It wasn't cheap, as we had over twelve hundred dollars worth of parts, but I didn't have to do any of the work in the cold garage. I figure that it would have taken me a few weeks to get all of this stuff done on my own, and the dog and I would be without the car for the whole time.

We think it was worth it. With the new timing belt, I have a lot more confidence that the car will last for the duration of the dog.

The clunk is gone, and what I had always thought to be a rough shifting transmission, must have been driveline lash due to the bad motor mount. Shifts are now buttery smooth.

The parking brake works as it should.

And, to sort of reinforce my choice of shops, when I was paying the bill I noticed that the calendar in the office had a picture of my all time favorite Volvo on it:

The calendar page was open to November of 2000.

And three different guys who work there asked if I wanted to sell the car...

FWIW, the angle gear weakness isn't so much the fluid inside, so much as the splined contact with the transmission, which wears out due to its not actually being located by anything other than the splines, so it is guaranteed to be just off center enough to fret the splines until they are weak enough to snap at what is probably the worst probable time.

Maintenance requires removing the right side axle, unbolting the driveshaft, and then removing the angle gear, and then flipping it off because of course you have to.

Just purchased a high mile 99 t5 V70 (my 4th p80 car)  and this thread is so spot on with what these cars are known for, same exact quirks and all. Although I already coined it a "beater" at 273k miles, I truly enjoy the regression of owning an older car and find myself wanting to fix it up, maintain and enjoy. 

In reply to westsidetalon :

Nice car!