Big call...repair or not V70R 1998

[Sparrowhawk]

Hi guys,

I haven't been on here for a few months but I have a dilemma...

I bought my Volvo V70R auto 1998, 150k miles 3 years ago for £1,100.

The car was in good condition and running well.

Since I've had it I've had a number of jobs done starting with that pesky oil leak at the back of the engine £600.

More recently she's had

New pads and discs all around
Front ball joint
Track rod ends
Heater matrix
Throttle cable
Radiator
Boot catch
Traction control sensor
PCV
Rear bumper brackets
Rear o/s calliper
Some paint work
Alloy refurb
A few other small bits and pieces

Total spend around £2.6k
All jobs done by a certified Volvo mechanic in a Volvo garage (not dealership).

I still need to get the Tracs control unit sorted but...

She's just started blowing a bit of blue smoke after a couple of minutes idling. I only noticed this after the latest job, the radiator replacement. It looks like it's an engine strip down and rebuild, or nearly as good as.

The car is in very good condition, one of the much better ones left on the road apparently. Mileage £196k.

Do I get these final jobs done or cut my losses now? I love the car and she's served me very well.

Any advice much appreciated with huge thanks.

[Thanatos]

It might be turbo seals or valve stems as you think I would plough my money in as 1 I like the car
2 better the devil you know
3 buying another doesn't mean it's a better car

[Sparrowhawk]

My thinking is...the car was £26k odd new and has cost me less than £4K including purchase cost. It's in very good condition and possibly worth more now than when I bought it.

Are turbo seals or valve stems a big job?

[Thanatos]

Turbo seals no just remove turbo send it to a place to referb it about £150 valve stem seals a bit more involved head off sent away

[Sparrowhawk]

Thanks Thantos, much appreciated.

[acshortt5]

Sounds more like the stem seals to me. Try chucking in a bottle of forte oil seal conditioner - get the genuine stuff (about £13 off ebay) and if you are running thinner oil change it to 10w40 semi synthetic and you may find that helps and will be a lot cheaper than turbo rebuild/valve stem seal replacement.

Rebuilding the turbo is fairly easy (once it's on the table in front of you...), there is a good guide on here which I followed when doing mine.

[domhart10]

... it really depends how fond you are of the car, I would keep it if it was mine. With my current one ive had it for couple years now and been putting money into it since I bought it pretty much, even when things go wrong I look straight away for potential things that would be going wrong and change / upgrade them when I can.

defenitly keep the R, its an awesome car and a rarity on the roads

[Keyframe]

you're not taking into consideration the 46000 miles of motoring you've already enjoyed in the last 3 years.

Get it fixed and keep driving it, I budget on £1000+ annually for my 250,000 mile T-5R and I've averaged just over 10,000 miles/year for the last 8 years. All Volvo R models are getting rare and sought after. If ever you come to sell it, originality, plenty of documented service history and MOT certificates to back up the mileage will be invaluable.

[luggsey]

Originally Posted by Sparrowhawk

Hi guys,

I haven't been on here for a few months but I have a dilemma...

I bought my Volvo V70R auto 1998, 150k miles 3 years ago for £1,100.

The car was in good condition and running well.

Since I've had it I've had a number of jobs done starting with that pesky oil leak at the back of the engine £600.

More recently she's had

New pads and discs all around
Front ball joint
Track rod ends
Heater matrix
Throttle cable
Radiator
Boot catch
Traction control sensor
PCV
Rear bumper brackets
Rear o/s calliper
Some paint work
Alloy refurb
A few other small bits and pieces

Total spend around £2.6k
All jobs done by a certified Volvo mechanic in a Volvo garage (not dealership).

I still need to get the Tracs control unit sorted but...

She's just started blowing a bit of blue smoke after a couple of minutes idling. I only noticed this after the latest job, the radiator replacement. It looks like it's an engine strip down and rebuild, or nearly as good as.

The car is in very good condition, one of the much better ones left on the road apparently. Mileage £196k.

Do I get these final jobs done or cut my losses now? I love the car and she's served me very well.

Any advice much appreciated with huge thanks.

If you can lose the car for a while without too much problem I would get the head refurbished if it was mine.
I sold my 1998 land rover freelander recently because it needed about ten smallish jobs doing including the sunroof leaking. I couldn't do it all weekends outside in February so I had to get a Volvo!

[Alex121]

Unfortunately, blue smoke on start up/idle points to stem seals. You won't get blue smoke at idle from a turbine seal in the turbo leaking - I know as my T4 needs it's turbo rebuilding/replacing (again) because my PCV blocked up and took it out.

If you're local to him give Tim Williams a shout, he'll no doubt be able to advise on an engine rebuild