01' S40 50K warranty about to expire - what to look for?

[KevinH]

Hi,

My sister's '01 S40 is about to reach 50K miles so her warranty is
going to expire. Last week her heater core failed, 10 miles short of
50K, so thankfully that will be covered under warranty. She's a
little nervous now what else might die as soon as the warranty
expires.

I used to drive an 87 740T and frequented this board quite a lot
(until the engine blew last summer) and always found good advice here,
so hopefully folks will be able to help me out here.

What are the common gremlins that strike the S40. What should we look
for which causes problems to S40 owners? Any major TSBs that she
should have done under warranty for free or are TSBs always free
anyway? Her car has the 1.9T engine (I believe that was the only
engine available here in the US). She asked her dealer if they could
give the car an inspection to find problems, and she was told they
don't normally do that. The warranty only covers things that are
broken and they don't like to go looking for stuff - Sounds like a
b.s. answer to me.

She's heard that she can also purchase an extended warranty? She
doesn't know the details of this yet (she's waiting for a call back
from the dealer's business manager). Anyone know anything about the
extended warranty? Is this a 'Volvo' warranty good at all Volvo
dealerships? What does it cover/cost?

Thanks in advance for your responses,

KevinH
kevinhorgan1 "at" netscape.net

 

[Fred Flintstone]

The heater core? Was the coolant ever flushed/replaced? The problem with a
lot of this stuff is that Volvo doesn't call out any preventative
maintenance in the manual. Coolant should be flushed and replaced every
two years to replenish the anti-corrosion properties in the additives.
Volvo says the stuff is permanent. Since the heater core is about to be
replaced, that will take care of that item (better late than never, I
guess).

The automatic transmission fluid should also be flushed and replaced if that
hasn't been done. To get the dealer to do it, you might have to complain
about hard shifting. One look at the dipstick and the dealer will replace
the fluid without further questions.

Other than that stuff, you'll have a very hard time getting the dealer to do
anything.

Yes, you can get an extended warranty. Its pretty easy to do if the
original hasn't run out. You can take the car to any dealer or almost any
independent shop to have work performed under the extended warranty (check
first). Is it worth it? Well, it sounds like the car hasn't been
maintained as well as it could have, so in this case, maybe yes.

Unfortunately, just following the manufacturers recommended service isn't
always enough. Changing the oil isn't enough. All the fluids should be
replaced every two years - coolant, ATF, brake fluid and power steering
fluid. Even with that, you can only hope for the best.

John

 

[D. K. Lockhart, Jr.]

Kevin,

If she's worried, it would probably be worth her piece of mind to get an
extended warranty, but it'll cost her a bit more since she's probably over
50K now, and most of them look for at least 6 months to a year of mfg
warranty left. I just purchased a 2nd hand 01 V70 2.4T and purchased a
bumper to bumper 36 month 45K mile warranty for about $750 (dealer said that
was his cost to help coax me into buying the car)

I don't think the dealer's answer on the "inspection" is out of line...
nothing in a warranty says anything (at least any warranty I've ever read)
about them performing what's basically preventative maintenance. A warranty
is there to cover problems that arise. I think their profit margins are less
on warranty work, so there's really no incentive for them to look for
problems. That's not to say she couldn't "hire" them to inspect the car and
if they found something, hopefully they'd deal with it under warranty if the
found something covered.

My extended warranty is NOT a Volvo, but it's good at most any licensed
garage across North America as I think you'd find most are.

Good luck!

Don
01 V70 2.4T 96 850