S70 T5M Heater Core

[ohsleeper]

First of all, hello all as for i am new to volvospeed

I drove to RI yesterday from NH to test drive, and hopefully drive home an s70 T5M but when i test drove the car i got the coolant smell when i was playing with the climate control (ac doesnt work of course) so this scared me off from buying the car, especially since they want a kings ransom for it and seem to know nothing about the car, just a small used car lot. so very disappointed last night i did a little reading and found that its most likely the heater core that has failed. so my questions are is pulling the carpet back something you can easily do on a test drive? and if it has failed how hard will it to rid of the coolant smell? should i be wary of it being a heater core and something else like a head gasket?

point is i really want this car should i buy it?

thanks for helping a noob

[--Aaron--]

Welcome.

Most importantly, asking price? how many miles? exterior/interior condition? aside from the possible coolant issue, does it run smooth? any kind of service history?

Service records or lack there of help dictate the pricing on these cars, if there is none I would bargain with the dealership. I say this because if there's no history of anything being done it's almost a given that things like the timing belt and associated parts would need refreshed upon purchasing the car or shortly after. Timing components are everything with our cars. PCV systems are very important as well, a clogged system can easily lead to major oil leaks along with other problems.

In regards to the coolant issue you're asking about, personally I would get under the hood and examine the coolant in the tank making sure there's no traces of oil. Pull the oil dipstick as well and make sure you don't have chocolate milk goo on that as well.

Also, it'd be a good idea to crawl under the car and have a look at the bottom faces of the motor/trans./turbo looking for any leaks.

PCV system functionality can usually be identified by pulling the oil dipstick and making sure it's not chugging smoke like a train.

The carpet is very easily pulled back to check under for coolant traces. Just grab the carpet at the forward most points on both the drivers and passengers side and pull toward the back of the front doors. If there are traces of coolant I'd have the dealership use OEM parts for the repair or tell them you're walking away.

The coolant smell isn't the easiest to remove but it can be done. The best way would probably be to pull both front most sections of carpet and throw them in a nice washer. Or pressure wash them and scrub down good with some sort of upholstery cleaner.

[ohsleeper]

wow first of all thanks for the quick reply. i love enthusiasts.

the car is a 98 with 137k and they are asking $4,995(i would like to talk them down considerably)

the exterior (dark green, sorry dont know the real color names yet )is in fairly good condition there are a couple rock chips on the hood, maybe a 2inch ding on one of the front fenders, a couple small scratches here and there, a little curb rash on one of the columbias, and the windshield has a small chip in it and the windshield in general seemed pretty sand blasted (my old 92 960 was the same).

the interior (tan leather with the wood trim pieces) is clean and in good condition minus a couple things, the biggest thing was that the leather on all 4 doors was shrunken and pulled tight over the indent for the armrest which seemed odd to me, other than that the passenger side window button was kind of chewed up, the headliner had a few not very noticeable stains in it, some of the soft touch type coating on the head unit was worn off and the scan arrow buttons didnt work very well, there were a few nicks in and under the glove box. everything else was very clean and in good shape. nice interior overall. i guess the driver side seat had a bit of wear on the bolster but was not that bad at all.

as for the maintenance of the car i honestly didnt ask how much paperwork was had, when i got back to the stealership i was pretty sure i wasnt taking it home with me because of the coolant smell so i didnt ask. he said that the timing belt was just done (due at 140k right?) but who knows if thats true, again didnt ask for paperwork. when i drove the car on the highway it seemed to have a pretty good shimmy in it that got worse up around 80-90 (closed test driving course in cumberland, RI of course) when i got back to the dealership i looked at the tires and the fronts where ready to be replaced but were the same but the 2 back tires were different from each other and different from the 2 matching ones in the front which was another thing that turned me off. i dont get why dealerships think they can get all the money when the car doesnt even have a fresh set of tires? long story short i assume thats whats causing the shimmy. i also drove through some road construction where the road was torn up and the suspension didnt seem to have any rattles or clunks. i did check the dipstick tube to see if there was any vacuum but i couldnt feel any which probably means that thing that recirculates the exhaust needs to be cleaned right? i did not check the oil because i didnt feel like waiting around after driving the car and again was pretty sure i wasnt interested. the coolant bottle was full but i did not inspect its contents. engine and exhaust both sounded good no rattles no ticks or anything.

thats about it...the dealership offers a warranty with the car but i dont know what the details of it are usually they are kind of ridiculous. i didnt take the car to a mechanic cause i dont know any down there.

thats about it i guess. :unsure:

[ohsleeper]

here is a link for some visuals...

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=38926458&listingRecNum=1&criteria=sf1Dir%3DDESC%26mkId%3D20044%26stkTyp%3DU%26mdId%3D21918%26rd%3D150%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-prcId-mkId-mdId%26zc%3D03237%26prcId%3D28580%26rn%3D0%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26stkTypId%3D28881%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26sf2Nm%3Dmiles%26rpp%3D50%26feedSegId%3D28705&aff=national

[--Aaron--]

Haha, no problem at all.....this is my early morning while the fiance sleeps in Volvospeed time.

For year/model/miles the price is a tad bit high. Not being able to prove to you that any maint. items were taken care of there should be some bargaining room. I would def. ask if there's proof of the timing service being done. At 140K it's actually recommended that the timing belt, tensioner, tensioner pulley, idler and water pump all be replaced. So if they prove just the timing belt was done I would tackle the tensioner and both pulleys the next time I could afford to buy the parts. The water pump.......some do not change it around this mileage, I would to be safe but that would be your call. I look at it as doing it once and being done for a while.

The interior sounds good overall although you'll find not alot of people here care for tan interior too much, I think a clean tan interior is very respectable but that's just my personal opinion. It sounds like with a little bit of picking here and there you could have the interior back to near mint condition and personally I wouldn't fuss about it.

The exterior condition sounds about average for a used car, nothing really sticks out and says stay away to me.

The shimmey you felt is almost def. being caused by stupid tires more than likely being all out of balance. I'd be willing to bet the alignment's off as well. But, with any old car.......shortly after I purchase I snag a brand new set of tires, have them balanced and a fresh alignment done. No big deal really.......just a little extra money on top of the actual car's price to keep in mind.

As far as the vacuum not being felt from the dipstick I wouldn't get too worried, in most cases if the PCV system needs serviced it will chug. A good way to tell is to put a tissue or paper towel over the opening to see what happens. On the flip side you'd be jumping into a car that you know nothing about, as a precautionary measure I'd probably replace the PCV system which is around ~150 and will take you a few hours. It's soo worth it though, a clogged PCV can cause many problems if neglected.

I would check out the coolant's condition if you go back, examine under the car....motor/trans/turbo checking for any leaks and see if you can get any info. on previous service that has legitimate proof.

If all seems well I'd think more closer to 4K would be a better price. Just naming a few things.......take new tires/mounting, balancing/alignment, timing components (if not documented being changed), PCV system..........all those things at minimum are going to cost a few hundred, maybe 600/700?

Just picking your brain a bit.....it doesn't sound like a bad deal though if you can negotiate a better price.

here is a link for some visuals...

http://www.cars.com/...05&aff=national

Jesus that car looks like it's in damn good shape! Oh and about the door panels, the inserts tend to delaminate like that.......it's a pretty common issue.

Your options there would be to talk to an upholstery shop or source good inserts. (The panels are an insert/outer shell combo and separate easily.)

[ohsleeper]

thanks again Aaron. and yes it really is in good shape i was so excited when i found the car i thought for sure i'd be driving it home . its begging for an xc grille some sport springs and some pegs . fortunately i have a friend down there that i think i'm going to have go test drive the car and pull the carpet back and check the coolant and oil and the underside of the car and ask about some maintenance records. i'll have him maybe make a lowball offer just for kicks and giggles. do you think i should negotiate the price and buy it as is or should i have them fix the heater core if it is infact the issue?

oh and if anyone else sees my post and the car within i officially declare DIBS! :P

[--Aaron--]

No problem, glad to offer advice.

Haha, thinking about mods before you buy the car I bet your wallet is hating you.

It's cool though, the things you mentioned are all fun things.

It'd be a very wise idea to take someone back with you that knows about the cars. I agree with doing that 100%.

Def. check out the few things we've talked about here, assuming no maint. proof can be presented and all else seems well I would shoot out an offer around 4K or so.

If it truly does need a heater core def. insist that the dealership repair it.......it's all part of a dealership selling a "roadworthy" car. You could always say, well, I'll pay X amount for the car with a new OEM heater core installed. The parts/labor for that job you're probably talking around 300 or so........

I'd say if everything looks good, maint. records are not available and the heater core is either fine or replaced by them...........if you can get the car for around the 4K mark you're doing pretty good.

Haha, you made it known you're interested in the car. No one's going to step on your toes. :D

[ohsleeper]

thank you sir. your wife can officially wake up haha

[--Aaron--]

thank you sir. your wife can officially wake up haha

No problem again. If you think of anything else don't hesitate to ask. There is PLENTY of respectable input that can be had here.

Don't say that, she needs to sleep a while yet.

Possibly until I go to work tonight. :lol:

[db130]

> a little curb rash on one of the columbias

the s70/v70 t5 rims are called Perfos, btw, and it appears that the car has 3 Perfos but the left rear rim is a Columba(from a 850 turbo)

so.... mismatching tires and wheels and likely leaking heater core and inoperative air conditioning? to me that is a $3k car

that dealership would have to blow me away with the price in order for me to consider it.

[Big Will]

If it's just a heater core, that's really easy to fix. With some basic tools you can fix that in under an hour. Add about 20 minutes to do the blower motor if you want since it's convenient. If the AC doesn't work then of course there are other problems - it could be as simple as a re-charge needed but if you have the dreaded evaporator leak (which they all do eventually) then it's an expensive or at least labor intensive problem.

You should have some bargaining room on the car armed with the information in this thread. Good luck. And kudos to Aaron for giving a heap of good advice.

And really good eye on the mismatched rim. Indeed 3 are the correct Perfos, but one is a Columba from an 850 Turbo. I would take a careful look at the body paneling around that area of the car to see if the paint is a slightly different shade or has less orange peel in it indicating the car had an accident and the shop ordered the wrong rim to replace a broken one.

[--Aaron--]

If it's just a heater core, that's really easy to fix. With some basic tools you can fix that in under an hour. Add about 20 minutes to do the blower motor if you want since it's convenient. If the AC doesn't work then of course there are other problems - it could be as simple as a re-charge needed but if you have the dreaded evaporator leak (which they all do eventually) then it's an expensive or at least labor intensive problem.

You should have some bargaining room on the car armed with the information in this thread. Good luck. And kudos to Aaron for giving a heap of good advice.

And really good eye on the mismatched rim. Indeed 3 are the correct Perfos, but one is a Columba from an 850 Turbo. I would take a careful look at the body paneling around that area of the car to see if the paint is a slightly different shade or has less orange peel in it indicating the car had an accident and the shop ordered the wrong rim to replace a broken one.

Thanks man, great advice.

Justin got an S70 a while back that had one Columba and three Perfos. Sure enough there were receipts in the glove box telling us that the corner with the Columba was in a decent fender bender.

[SlapShot]

Adding to what others have said...if they replaced the timing belt it doesn't mean they replaced the tensioner. I got screwed pretty bad after the place i bought the car stated on their inspection they replaced it upon receiving the car when they hadn't (they only did the belt)...which led to blown motor 10k miles later while on I-95.