Oh my dayz this has probably got to be the most over due update you'll ever see. Or maybe not...but here goes. Hopefully gives a chuckle if not a raised eyebrow. Grab a coffee.
So in my original post starting this thread I indicated that I had just bought an 06 plate v70 mk2 Petrol auto (my second v70) as a dog wagon, back in 2017 iirc and it had a couple of warnings/issues at time of purchase, including a steering angle sensor fault and what turned out to be a very poor wheel alignment (bad front toe out). I dealt with the wheel alignment after needlessly doing front control arm bushes suspecting they were the issue to the car wandering on the road. Have since driven with a Service reminder light, and steering/antiskid warning all this time.
Aside from that, as testament to how sturdy and on and on and on these cars are, since I have had it I have done bare minimum, only one oil change, forced due to leaky oil filter o-ring, one set of plugs and one air filter (before covid hit i think) and only replaced tyres with part worns, and patched the holy disintegrating rear exhaust box which is now a gun gum casting, for MOT in terms of vehicle care for the MOT's as needed/failed. Ive put over 90k on this car.
As an ex motor tech I have been committing the motherload of motoring maintenance sins (or lack thereof) and this car has not let me down once. I drive like a sedated sloth so am easy on the car and play the mpg game. I get the dash avg mpg reading up to 34mpg in winter (colder air) and get about 28-29 in warmer months. I have a feeling that's not great but hey, its an auto. If there is anything "known" maintenance wise to improve this do let me know
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Turning over a new leaf now
Over the past two-ish weeks I have started to give the car some long overdue love in time for its next (now overdue) MOT. First up was the deep deep deep interior clean. seats and mats out, carpets lifted and rear sound deadening out to hoover out all the dog hair and gravel and I can assure there was a lot of it...everywhere like a second carpet !! Especially under rear seats. Now all gone and my arms got a good workout scrubbing with the hoover. Next a good wash, removed the roof racks to clear the mobile moss garden and evict the spiders. refurbed the very brown headlight lenses/covers (sand/polish/laquer) now crystal white like new.
Put seats back in, and dogdammit I have an airbag light on. Bought a dongle, downloaded an app (about half a dozen of them actually), ended up buying a VIDA and lappy from a member on here (thx Steven!). Airbag light sorted. Had already done the trip meter trick to reset the service reminder prior to that arriving.
Now to tackle ABS warnings. approx 3 years back I also started getting a secondary warning come up above 50mph. With the VIDA/lappy I also got a spare SAS. Fitted that and it was still giving an error, but differently. Took it off, dismantled, cleaned, refitted, still no good. Turns out it was 180 degrees out according to VIDA, disassembled and reassembled as it should be and got that fixed. Decided to tackle the original SAS from the car, did the same strip clean and rebuild, but error still same. Took apart again, saw a post on Russian forum about trim pot on the PCB. Set that right and rebuilt and refitted and working nicely after doing calibration with the VIDA. Took a couple of attempts to get trim pot correct. got pretty good at taking those apart and putting back together. That SAS is now back on the car and been reliable too. I'll be putting the other reco one on fleabay if anyones interested.
Turns out the car was a bit peeved at getting this show of lurv, as a coil pack decided to fail and give me a misfire, out of the blue while going nowhere,. Just a random instant misfire on one startup with VIDA connected. Showed vyl 5 misfire. Swapped coils on cyls and the miss followed the coil. Ordered new coil from fleabay together with a front right ABS sensor (as per VIDA faults). Parts arrived, fitted coil, misfire fixed. Fitted sensor, ABS light still coming on at +50mph. Should have checked the toothed reluctor ring first as it had a rather large and obvious crack. Just ordered two of those from the fleabay, will arrive tomorrow. Once they are fitted it looks like ill have an error free V70 for the first time since purchase in 2017. Its still sinking in! Ive got a new car feel! The wash definitely improved driving performance.
Once the MOT is done, it will be tyres asap. Then plan the exhaust (centre and rear silencers) and Cambelt with obligatory tensioner and waterpump while i'm there in a couple months time. Hopefully not a bad job to do. Have looked at the cambelt and its looking fine and is tight too.
So thats my update. And if anyone in the Northampton/shire area needs a VIDA readout or faults cleared, id be happy to help to pay forward some on the good VIDA/lappy deal I received. Just send a DM.
Happy Volvo's!