Something I love about our readers is that everyone is an expert in something. We have everyone from professional drivers and engineers to fellow journalists and other creatives. I think it gives the Autopian character you won’t find anywhere else.
Dan Roth demonstrated this with Volvo knowledge in this morning’s Shitbox Showdown:
CT plate with XX-1234 pattern indicates an older owner who likely cared for the car more carefully. That pattern is OLD. My parents and grandparents had plates like that. AW means it was probably initially issued in the mid 1960s.
As for the XC, which was my pick here, its not likely JUST the solenoid. I did the solenoids in one of my S60s – there’s a Sonnax Zip Kit (and a bunch of info) that can help or maybe fix it.
DIY is a little involved. You need to support the engine from above (a pair of 2x6s across the engine bay with a lifting eye to connect to the engine lift point), loosen and space the subframe and then remove the trans pan bolts, some of which I found to have corroded socket heads (torx) to it took careful work with a small cold chisel and hammer to loosen. Replaced with hex cap hardware.
The solenoids are in there.
You’ll also want to flush with 3309 spec trans fluid – a couple of buckets and a hose arrangement on the cooler likes will work – it takes quite a bit before it runs clear.
At this point, however, the trans probably isn’t as expensive as it was in my time of ownership. The AW55-50 was used in a bunch of GM (including Saab and Saturn) stuff, Nissans, and, of course, Toyotas (AW= Toyota).
Parts are cheaper when they come from other brands boxes. For example – you may need a rebuild, and that will require a new valvebody (these are multilayer, complicated things that wear – the bores get enlarged where the valves move and cause pressure losses – the Zip kit parts address this). I BELIEVE an Equinox VB cross-refs to the Volvo. You may have to adapt wiring connectors (depin, use old connectors, repin).
Anyway. That’s a lot of car for less than two grand, even if a trans swap or repair is another 1509-2K.
Jason wrote about how the bizarre Auto Scare Bomb, a spark plug-based firework that you used to be able to buy to prank an unsuspecting motorist. This device pushed the boundaries of safe pranking, but it’s so weird. JDS gives a related story:
Yes, Jason, they were spark-activated fireworks. In the early 80’s, I talked my dad into ordering stuff from a fireworks catalog that clearly stated on the order form “Determining the legality of these devices in any given location is the user’s responsibility.” Among the order was one of those under-hood fireworks. One afternoon, I thought it would be hilarious to put it in the farm truck, because my older sister was supposed to go to the feed store. One wire around a spark plug post, one wire to ground, and done.
The real hilarity ensued when my mom got tired of my sister not doing her chore, decided to go to the feed store herself, and set off my carefully-planned prank. A cloud of smoke, several bangs and loud whistles, and my mom is running for the house with me in close pursuit, yelling “Wait ! It’s just a prank and wasn’t meant for you!” We laugh about it now. She didn’t laugh about it then.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Topshot graphic photo: Volvo
I’m gonna claim a COTD “honorable mention” for my story about the prank gone wrong. Honestly, my mom probably should be sainted for not disowning me, just for the number of times I put cigarette loads (look it up) in her Virginia Slims so they blew up in her face. Love you, mom.
I put a couple of cigarette loads in my parents’ Camel non-filters in an attempt to get them to quit when I was in grade school. It did not work.
Owning a P2 Volvo either means you will have an intimate relationship with it or you will pay a lot of money to a shop.
Given that most of them are pushing 20 years old, all that’s left are the DIY folks and it’s pretty common to know your wagon inside and out.
My AW-55/50SN broke so I got the fun of swapping in a junkyard unit. I did so many things wrong along the way like the worst mistake anyone can make: “well, while I’m in here…”. Good lord have I dug my own grave.
Now I know way more about the engine management systems than I ever wanted to. I thought it wise to refresh the turbo (only the CHRA, not the whole thing) as the original had 140k+ miles on it. It seems like that move just pushed everything downhill. Boost leaks, wastegate actuator problems, wastegate control valve may or may not be a problem. It will make boost from about 1k rpm to 2.5k and then it just falls off a cliff. It literally will not accerlate once it gets into that hole unless you force a downshift, then it hits 3k and makes awful sounds as the boost finally comes on. I’m not sure if the wastegate actuator is sticking, but at this point, I can have it off the car in about 15 minutes.
I now own a smoke tester which I’ve never needed for any other car. Helped me find some leaks, but still having issues with that turbo.
Pray for me and my hardheaded bretheren, we are a dogmatic lot who believe in wagons and weird swedish engineering. They do indeed have an interesting character to them, soulless appliances they are not. They are pretty damn fussy though. My P3 wagon is a peach by comparison. Just a dumb slow I6 and it goes every day without drama.
Of course, I need a city commuter for a new job where I’ll have to leave my car in Chicago (on the street) for many days at a time, so of course I should buy a Camry or Corolla, but I’m instead shopping for S60s with the turbo inline 6 engine (only because they’re a lot cheaper than the wagons, else I’d get another wagon).
Send help.
You sure a bad MAF isn’t the source of your boost issues? My S60 T5 ran mostly fine for commuting with a bad MAF, to the point I didn’t notice something wrong for a while
I said the Volvo scared me, and I was right.
10/10 would drive that blue Volvo in the top shot. Mine was beige.
That Volvo plate age comment is completely wrong. It’s no older than 2015.
Yeah – I missed that it’s five, not four digits. The XX-1234 is old, but I guess they went the similar XX-12345 in 2015
Brainstorm . . . Volvo should reboot/update their heritage square wagons (240/7/9/70) and do the opposite of what VW did with the ID.Buzz marketing strategy.
Bring back the wagons!
You kidding? VW got 20 years of mileage from teasing a return of the bus.
And about 18 months of lackluster sales in the U.S.
I’m not saying it was a success, but they got a lot of press and marketing miles out of the concept.
It was the only positive news from VW during dieselgate.
I dunno’ . . . much of the press has been how they pissed away a golden opportunity.
They absolutely blew it as far as creating a vehicle people will buy and drive, but until production details came out people loved it.
The id.buzz was much better as vaporware.
Edit: I forgot how silly these things were priced. Anything with the 2-tone paint around me is ~$73k! That’s Ferrari 348 / 355 money. (I love the 348 – Testarossa side strakes but still fits through a garage door)
Problem is, they sold wagons and nobody bought them. Instead they bought XC60s and XC90s.
Only a handful of us weirdos here want wagons and most of us buy them used, so we don’t count.
I wish wagons would come back, but they’re just not going to. Like everything else that used to be normal, now they’re just being sold as a luxury item. We live in a strange world where you can buy a Porsche wagon but not a Buick wagon; this is indeed the dark timeline.
The whole point of the wagon was it’s utilitarian nature. Ain’t nobody going to bring home a used dryer or a pile of wet dogs in the back of a Taycan. You’re not going to tie a stack of plywood sheets to the top of your Mercedes E63 wagon. It’s like most trucks/SUVs are marketed and sold: cosplay utility wrapped up in an overpriced luxury package with a FAT markup. It’s like the Lincoln Blackwood notion that everyone made fun of has finally come full circle–I guess Ford was right all those years ago.
I will keep cursing at my raggedy ass V70 for as long as I can. I have indeed tied plywood sheets to the roof, loaded it up with a bunch of 8 foot 4x4s because the front passenger seat folds forward/flat so I can put that crap inside and close the hatch. It swallowed a small dirt bike that a neighbor left at my house (on it’s side, but at least it went in). I’ve stuffed two mountain bikes inside and three passengers, not worried that the tire was going to mark up the alcantara headliner (because it has a mud-colored headliner already).
They wouldn’t be selling a wagon with the reboot. They’d be selling nostalgia.
Volvo hardly tried to sell them the last few years. I tried to buy a V60 or V90 last year – called the dealer to set up an appointment to see a couple they had on the lot and do a test drive. Showed up and he had keys to the wrong V60, couldn’t find keys to the one optioned how I wanted it, and didn’t even know where the V90 was. The actual quote was “let’s go check the other lot while you test drive the 60”.
I ended up with an A6 Allroad. It’s premium but not in the E63 or RS6 range and before it had 10,000 miles on it I had bags of gravel and bags of mulch in the back, plywood and 2×4’s strapped to the roof rack several times, and a trailer hitch installed. Not sure what my plan is to replace it if everyone stops making wagons but I have a few years to figure that out I guess.
They made multiple mistakes with their latest wagons IMO, the deal-breaker for me is that the cargo area was far smaller than the old Volvo wagons and the V60 was waay smaller than say an Outback.
I so badly wanted to like the current crop of Volvos, but several years ago I test drove the new V90 wagon (just as a proxy for the brand as a whole) and we spent the entire test drive with the salesman trying to get the voice controls to work, as well as find sub-menus in the touchscreen.
It was my first truly screen-heavy car I ever drove, and I swore them all off from that point. At least to the degree I can, since they’re all pretty entrenched in them now.
I hear that! Two years ago, I rode along with my mom while she took a fairly new XC60 out for a test drive. Beautiful car, beautiful interior – she really wanted to love it. That screen though- neither one of us could figure it out. She said she was sure she could eventually figure it out, but she didn’t want to.
She ended up buying a same year Acura MDX. It actually had TWO screens, which I thought was interesting, but it still had physical controls for stuff. I learned later that the Acura was a fairly old design by then. I looked it up and owners at the time like it because they could run nav on one screen and audio on the other.
I also decided I didn’t want a vehicle with screens for everything. My new truck has the small screen and physical controls for EVERYTHING, I love it.