What did you do to your S80/V70/XC70 today?
 

A lot of forums have a general "What did you do...." thread as a sticky, for people to post their general fixing, fettling and tinkering. Not sure if a Mod wants to make this one so.

I'll start...

Had 4 new matched tyres fitted to replace the black circles of death fitted when I bought it...massive improvement over the rubbish that was on there, particularly the ride quality. If anyone ever offers you "Fullrun" or "Autogrip" tyres.....run, run away and don't look back. What the previous owner was thinking is beyond me: they really were dreadful, nasty things with zero wet grip. Now using some Hankook Optimo 4S chosen as (a) I've had Hankooks before and whilst they're no Michelin/Pirelli, they're good tyres and (b) via a contact, who's arguing at £50 a corner v £112 best price anywhere else.

Had a 4 wheel alignment...the guy let me hang about whilst it was done: interesting to note the bolts with cams that provide the adjustment on the rear.

Did yet another sump dump - must be the 6th or 7th: I'm not counting, just doing it until the oil starts to come out the same colour as it went it!

I also fitted a new battery to my Suunto Stinger dive computer which is quite fiddly and the nice man at Timpsons pressure tested it for me for a fiver...but that doesn't really count.

Today I fitted new dash top in black ready for flocking (after France) and fitted infinity tweeter to the top speaker grills and wired them up much better than standard

Touched in some damage on the silver strippy thing on the rear bumper that mysteriously appeared overnight and gave it a thorough vacuum as it was repellent in there after months of no cleaning, a 10 month old and a moulting Dog. The Dog smell got to me in the heat so I had to get it done. Hasn't helped as the previous owner also had a Dog so the car still whiffs of Dog and my super nose can smell it!!

Maybe next week it'll get a wash, wish I had more time to keep on top of it but I haven't lately :( It's also due a service!!

Today I gave it a bit of a detail.
Wash
Clay bar
wash
Polish with my DA
Then finished off with a coat of collinite marque d'elegance wax

Looks good! Car isn't perfect, the odd stone chip here & there, bit of tar I couldn't shift to the back end but apart from that she looks good now! :)

Then I priced up the big service due soon and had a look under the bonnet to try figure out what's involved for the timing belt replacement

A quick clean, inside and out as well as purchasing a Tunit box - on offer this week, £50 deposit then £13 a month for 36months. Been looking at these for quite a while and was waiting for such a promotion. Should take car up to 217bhp (I have the 185 model) and around 345lb/ft torque. Still no match for our XC60 Polestar, but closer at least :)

Interesting to hear about the tyre recommendations - will probably need a new set in a couple of months so will add to the shortlist (albeit doubt I have anyone who can offer me the same discount ;)

Never heard of Tune It before - had a look at their website and it looks interesting although I can't fathom their pricing in terms of what are you getting eg 6 months interest free credit at £32 per month = £180ish quid??? Or you take 18 months at nearly 40 quid (£720) with a bit of extra warranty thrown in.

£518, that's quite a hefty price tag. Better be flipping good.

Had the unit installed Wednesday (did myself, very straightforward) and left it on the default setting (5, out of 9). Then completed a 150mile drive - over the distance, I averaged 41.1mpg (never made it over 40mpg without the unit before, in fact 38mpg was my tops). But not only did I gain more on the economy, I found the 'death lurch' had disappeared. The car feels way more responsive now and is actually more relaxing to drive - I also feel it is more composed when on the move, idles better too (sounds more refined). I'm completely sold on this unit.

Today I thought I'd try setting 9 out - wow, what a difference still. Much more punchy and more like my Polestar'd XC60 (which I love to drive). Not sure how long I will leave it on setting 9 as I'm sure I'll be visiting the fuel stations more often as a result, but I can safely say, of all the car purchases I have made over the years, this is right up there with some of the best!

Can't recommend the unit enough - once you get over the small deposit (£50), it's then £13 a month for 36 months. Some will cringe as that's a long time, but it's not really a huge amount of money for what this unit actually does to the car in the way it transforms it. Truly, a wonderful addition!

Today I also had a 13 pin Tow Trust detachable bar installed - super happy with the job! Even had a 7 pin adapter thrown in for free! Now we can tow the caravan or put the bikes on the Thule bar rack again!

Drove back from holiday in Alnwick, fun on the A1. A few overtakes just for the sake of it.

Wash
De tar
Wash
Clay Bar
Polish
Wax
Black trim dressed

Ready to win the BKV now! :D

icarsoft i906
 

I snapped one of these up used on eBay for £56! I was expecting the usual eBay bidding war but no! I got it.

This evening I read all modules, cleared a load of stored DTCs and best of all, all I had to do was take it out of the box, run an update, plug it in and bingo...no messing about with virtual machines, registry hacks or buying "Pro" copies of Windows. I plugged it in...it worked and with no need to even read the instructions. Fantastic. It also gives live data streams which is useful.

I know it doesn't have all of the functionality of VIDA/DICE but it's so easy and hassle free.

Now I've cleared everything I can check it in a week just to check everything. The only thing that jumped out at me was a low turbo boost DTC but there's no engine check light on and it might explain why I found a receipt in the pile that came with it, for a new turbo hose.

Filled it to the brim with all the stuff I'd collected teaching in the same school, ready to transport some of it to my new job.
Felt good!
:-)

ha ha ... meant to say teaching in the same school for the last 22 years!

Wheels balance and alignment. Now it's much better car than it was yesterday.

I think it would be better if I stated what I haven't done!

I sold it :D

Thank god!!

Went over it with my Bilt Hamber clay bar - just use with water: no over-priced 'clay bar lubricant' needed. Does exactly what it says - gets reddish brown streaks as it lifts contaminants out of the paint. You can feel the paint getting smoother with each successive pass. Gave it a quick wash and then waxed it.

Only £11 and worth every penny compared to the over-priced stuff in Halfords. Other (cheap) clay bars have 'marred' the paint on other cars in the past meaning you have to follow with a polish - not this stuff. Use it, wash the car, wax - job done.

Now the paint has that lovely glass feeling under the fingertips...I'm not one of those saddo 'detailers' but I do love that glass smooth feel when you run your fingers over a freshly clay-ed car. Finish with a coat of wax (Turtle Original Hardshell - because that's what I have had knocking around: that or Ice wax) and it's gleaming.

I keep hearing good things about the Autoglym wax.....but £45 quid for a small pot! You must be joking.

Well in the last 3 weeks I have replaced the Turbo > Intercooler and Intercooler > Intake Boost pipes with do88 silicon pipes and Mikalor clamps. I also replaced the Turbo Resanator pipes with do88 silicon pipes. I have replaced the pressure sensor on the intercooler. Whilst having half of the front of the car dismantled, I gave everything a good clean and addressed the rust issues on the bottom radiator support.

At the same time I also removed the pipe leading from the EGR valve to Intake Manifold and removed all the gunk. I also cleaned up the EGR valve at the same time and did what I could with the intake manifold.

After reassembling everything I had an issue with hot running which turned out to be the radiator fans not working. Cleaned the connections and all was good.

Then last Friday the battery failed. I've now fitted a Bosch S5 010 battery.




It's been a busy and expensive few weeks.

Having bought a 64gb usb stick to download the sat nav update. It Worked eventually although the main dealer hadn't a clue.
I thought I would use it to store my cd's and play them through the infotainment system
500 CD's later I have only used one third of it's capacity!
So that's 1,500 albums in a device smaller than my thumbnail!
My wife can't now complain that she hasn't got anything to listen to in the car! ��

The car is a very well maintained MY2012 XC70 so there is very little to do to it by way of repairs. I have started adding minor modifications and additions:

1. I bought a remote tailgate close module from Evgeny Kosourov and fitted it. Very pleased with the ability to close the tailgate not only with the key fob but also with the dash switch. A great mod.

2. I bought and fitted, although fitting is a gross exaggeration, a heavy duty rubber boot mat which is designed for the MY2012 XC70/V70 range and sits perfectly with raised edges to prevent spillages of liquids ruining the boot carpets.

3. I intended to uprate the sat nav map with on-line map downloads but found that on MY2012 cars this is not possible unless you have the sat nav operating software upgraded by Volvo. They asked £55 for the job and I thought that it was worth it to have free map upgrades for life. Then the main Volvo dealer couldn't get the software update to load and asked Volvo UK to do it remotely by computer internet connection. They couldn't get it to load either and pronounced the sat nav unit faulty. Under the Volvo warranty they replaced the sat nav unit and of course to do so necessitated loading the operating software and the map which were both the latest versions and because this was done under warranty it was free of charge. So I now have a new sat nav which accepts free on-line downloaded map upgrades and which has the latest map loaded without having to pay the £55. Most pleased with that.

I'm looking around for possible ECU rewrites to uprate the power output and hoping some computer literate enthusiast will see the value of fitting some form of more usable mode selection for the suspension system that doesn't involve taking your hand off the wheel and your eyes off the road to fumble behind the transmission selector to find the right setting for the road on which you are driving from moment to moment. Any bright ideas out there?

Just fitted a stainless steel rear bumper cover to my 60 plate XC70. Looks good, simple to fit, but you have to be very careful as the self-adhesive strips are "instant grab" - now have a very very small crease in the front edge. Have also fitted a Volvo XC70 Load Liner - it's a sort of stiff grained rubber material - fairly flexible, but fits perfectly. The one in my old 960 was rigid - neighbours always thought I was moving a garden pond! Mud flaps next - I have them but it's raining!

I replaced the disintegrated led parking/side lights with normal ones. :lightbulb:

Mud Flaps front and rear now fitted to my XC70. Also collected the cargo load cover, which some how got left at the dealers when I picked the car up a week ago.

Done an oil change on my S80 :-)

Recently fitted my HIDs with 5000k reflector type bulbs.....awesome: and guess what...no one has flashed me with in my view disproves the view that all HIDs are a blinding, scatter nightmare.

Also polished my windscreen with Cerium Oxide Treo 99%, a 2 inch glass polishing pad and rather than a rotary drill (very messy) attached it to my oscillating multi tool. The results are very good - the flaring from headlights and low sun was so bad I was considering a new windscreen but the results are excellent. All in, £10 for the polishing pad and the Cerium oxide, 45 mins polishing and a good result.

Still getting to know my newly-acquired S80. Had a 40-item list of things to learn a few days ago. It's down to 14 items now.

Today I checked the engine coolant level, oil level (using the digital gauge), topped up the screenwash, learned what Contrast Mode and Colour Mode was for the dash display, set the wipers parking position, set up the satnav to work the way I want it to work, learned I had no front fog lights, used my new vacuum cleaner to clean the carpet mats, tested out Sports mode, checked the tyre depth (noticed that the dealership had replaced one of the front tyres), deflated the over-inflated tyres to the recommended tyre pressures, loaded up the car with personal knick-knacks (like sunglasses, notepad, pens, umbrella, etc), tried to figure out where I could store my first-aid kit (unsuccessfully) and drove it somewhat enthusiastically for a while.

I have fitted LED number plate lights and Phillips cool blue fog lights.

Lots of TLC today. Took the mats out and washed them using a wet vac and I was lucky that we had several hours of sunshine today so allowed them to dry outside. I also used the wet vac to wash the carpets inside the car and the boot area.

Also detailed the wheels and tyres before the heavens opened!

Blue fog lights
 

Short wavelength blue light is less able to penetrate fog than long wavelength yellow light. This is because the long lazy waveform of yellow light passes between the water molecules in the foggy air while the buzzy short waveform of blue light is wider and strikes more water molecules and scatters. Original fog lights always used to have yellow tinted bulbs. If you have fitted blue light emitting bulbs, the fog lights are less likely to be as helpful in the event of fog and it is illegal to use the things at any other time, so your mod seems to be somewhat self defeating. I suppose it might be considered to look "cool" but personally I prefer systems on my car to be efficacious rather than eye candy although it totally within your right to have whatever colour fog lights you prefer.

Polished the exhaust tips with Autosol metal polish today. Came up like new!

Detailed the exterior today before the rain came and fitted new wiper blades. The wipers are now inaudible!

Noticed a dipped beam failure message, reached into the glove box to check the manual for the bulb type....

Bloody dealer hadn't replaced the wallet of books after the last service!!! Arnold Clark on Inverness in case anyone is wondering. Shower of sh!t, they really are.

I put in fuel and drove!
Still clocking miles, not spending on anything but fuel, just the way I like it!

Towed my old 1984 Land Rover up from the field, been resting there for several years, squirted wd40 over the throttle and choke linkages, pulled off the fuel pipe from the carb and pumped out dirty petrol, changed battery of course, squirted carb cleaner into air intake, wd40 in the distributor and put petrol in.
Ignition switch didn't work, turn it back and forward a few times and the starter turned but didn't engage, just turned it on and off a few times and it engaged, fired right up and ticked over purring like a pussycat.
Handbrake stuck on now so have to fix that but how many vehicles would start up and run after living outside uncovered for almost five years?
Maybe an old Volvo.......
:)

Managed to squeeze in a bit of detailing before the heavens opened. I've got a new glaze (Chemical Guys Blacklight) that I wanted to try out. Really impressed with it!

http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/z...psobi5wlpo.jpg

Bled the entire brake system...fluid was the colour of Golden Syrup. Ended up doing it "the old fashioned way" as my pressure bleeder just seemed to blow it out of the sensor cap despite lowering the pressure right down.

I filled the tank.

Oh, and put on a set of Bosch wiper blades which, unlike the Halfords own-brand ones, actually work. And I then got a full refund from Halfords. Which was nice, especially as the Bosch blades were less expensive (via the Bay - they seem genuine - - ) than the Halfords ones were.

Checked and set the tyre pressures early this morning. Found that they were down by 2psi all round due to the much colder weather now. Recalibrated the tyre pressure monitoring system with a short drive.

Preparing for a snow foam cleaning of my car soon. Should be fun!

Changed the oil and filter.

Was going to do a sump dump whilst I was at it but the little plug in the centre of the sump plug rounded......aarggghh😡 That is so annoying and I don't understand why as I torqued it properly last time. I'm going to have to buy a new one and probably the central tube and plug...hopefully drill/grind out the centre so the "reverse socket" thing can be inserted and with any luck that should be it. Bugger and double bugger.