S80 Warranty?

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Hank

I recently got a 2001 S80 (non turbo) in great shape for the price of a new
ford focus. Saw it on eBay and drove 400 miles to look at it. Call me nuts.

The factory warranty is almost done, and I am scared to death of a major
repair bill. Extended warranties run around 2k or so. Car pretty much
perfect so far, only a slight rattle from the moonroof and glove box is all
I could find wrong.

Any other S80 owners out there? What do you think? Roll the dice?
 
Hank said:
I recently got a 2001 S80 (non turbo) in great shape for the price of a new
ford focus. Saw it on eBay and drove 400 miles to look at it. Call me nuts.

The factory warranty is almost done, and I am scared to death of a major
repair bill. Extended warranties run around 2k or so. Car pretty much
perfect so far, only a slight rattle from the moonroof and glove box is all
I could find wrong.

Any other S80 owners out there? What do you think? Roll the dice?
Click to expand...
I bought a "certified" 2001 S80T6 about 13 mo ago. It's been fine.
It did have a broken front motor mount when I went in for service
(common problem). My warrany covered it but the actual cost is about
$100 bucks or so. I felt safe getting it as it had the extended warranty.

I don't believe they are as bad as the early reputation (Consumers
Report) and others gave them (S80). I expect it will give you good
service. I am satisfied with mine. Only other problem I have had is a
few bulbs but I think that's standard for Volvo's.

I previously had an 850 and drove it to 120K w/o major repairs.

You might could get an extended warranty with a higher deductable (less
money up front) to help if you had a major failure.

Fred-
 
Hank said:
I recently got a 2001 S80 (non turbo) in great shape for the price of a new
ford focus. Saw it on eBay and drove 400 miles to look at it. Call me nuts.

The factory warranty is almost done, and I am scared to death of a major
repair bill. Extended warranties run around 2k or so. Car pretty much
perfect so far, only a slight rattle from the moonroof and glove box is all
I could find wrong.

Any other S80 owners out there? What do you think? Roll the dice?
Click to expand...


Go ahead. I bought the same car new in October of '01 and I've now got
nearly 53,000 miles on it. So far so good (mostly).

However --- as I understand it I am nearing a crucial milestone. I have
gotten the impression that at 60,000 miles I will need to have my timing
belt changed. Never having had a Volvo before, I am a bit leary about what
I'm in for on this one. Naturally the salesperson didn't proudly proclaim
this fact while attempting to get my signature on the buyer's order and a
check. I guess longtime Volvo owners/lovers become sort of enured to this
requirement and don't object too much. Apparently it is considered
"preventive maintenance" rather than a breakdown. Some have told me to get
plenty of Vaseline and get ready to be well and truly shafted. Apparently
your new acquisition is still under warranty so I'll guess it has somewhere
in the high 30's or low forty thousand mile category. The point is that
you, too, will be staring this 60K ordeal in the face within a year or year
and a half...and of course it's non-warrantable and probably wouldn't be
covered even if you DID opt to spend extra bucks to buy the extended
warranty.

Is it a good car? Yes and no. I mostly enjoy mine although I would have
liked it more if it had the turbo. It is comfortable and fairly quiet
except I admit there's a disturbingly high level of mechanical whirring, and
fan noise during acceleration. Not the nice kind of sound like a Ferrari
either. It helps to turn the radio way up so you can't hear it. This and
the fact that it takes 3 acres to make a u-turn are downers. Plus, the
steering is a bit under-boosted at low speeds and takes more effort than a
normal car.

Otherwise mine is still rock-solid. No rattles. No wind noise. No rain
leaking in from faulty door seals. And I sort of like the eclectic
appearance of the thing. I mean it doesn't LOOK like your typical
homogenized FWD Acura or other such stuff, does it?

Yeah. It ain't great but it's alright.

Inspired?

Pat
 
However --- as I understand it I am nearing a crucial milestone. I have
gotten the impression that at 60,000 miles I will need to have my timing
belt changed. Never having had a Volvo before, I am a bit leary about
what
I'm in for on this one. Naturally the salesperson didn't proudly proclaim
this fact while attempting to get my signature on the buyer's order and a
check. I guess longtime Volvo owners/lovers become sort of enured to this
requirement and don't object too much.
Click to expand...

I think most car owners of most makes face this at some point. I have had
cars that have needed this at 40k and ones needing it at 100k but they all
need it.
 
Hank said:
I recently got a 2001 S80 (non turbo) in great shape for the price of a new
ford focus. Saw it on eBay and drove 400 miles to look at it. Call me nuts.

The factory warranty is almost done, and I am scared to death of a major
repair bill. Extended warranties run around 2k or so. Car pretty much
perfect so far, only a slight rattle from the moonroof and glove box is all
I could find wrong.

Any other S80 owners out there? What do you think? Roll the dice?
Click to expand...
I´ve now had my -99 S80 2,9 company car for three years and driven about
120000kms, it has 185000kms on the clock.
During this time had changed: starter motor, cooling fan kit, battery, front
shocks, front disc rotors and pads, one set of tires, top engine support,
one headlight, both front fog lights and about 20 light bulbs in the tail
lights.

I could consider getting on once again, but it must be with a 170hp or more
engine. 140hp is far to week for that car.

This May I drove in germany during long stretches around 240km/h and it
handled nicely.

Johan
Stockholm
 
Timing belt replacement is in almost all new cars, is indeed preventative
maintenance, and if not done in time will be much more expensive than the
replacement cost. My daughter's '85 Honda Civic had a belt break and ended
up with an engine overhaul to replace valves bent when the belt broke and
the engine stopped cold.

Every car I have had for the last 15 years has needed a timing belt
replacement in the 60-80k mile range.
 
Expect to pay about $300-$500 for the 60K service. I have been a Volvo owner
for almost 10 years now. I currently own a S60. Same issue(s), sunroof
carriage rattles, drivers door is now rattling to no end. All will be
covered by warranty. However, I wouldn't waste your money on purchasing an
extended warranty. Pending your mileage, you should not have any major issue
for quite sometime.
 
I think most car owners of most makes face this at some point. I have had
cars that have needed this at 40k and ones needing it at 100k but they all
need it.
Click to expand...

Some cars have timing chains or push rods, so they don't have timing
belts that need to be changed. However, timing belts are quite common
these days.
 
Timing belt replacements are a fact of life for the vast majority of
overhead cam engines sold today.

John
 
I think the vehicles with a timing chain are the ones that cause engine
problems. I had a belt break in my 1987 Volvo 745 and the engine was fine.
BTW, service intervals vary greatly too. My Subaru Outback is 105,000 miles
between timing belt changes.
 
Some "interference" motors are on belts - the engines in the 960's, 850's,
S60/S70/V70/S80/S90/V90 probably the S/V40, as well as the 16Valve 740's,
many new VW engines are interference, and on belts (my Golf TDI for one...
it's interval period is a little longer then our Volvo tho... 60K Kms
compared to 45K kms - tho I think the sticker on the engine is outdated, I
think there is a new belt that lasts longer).

I'm sure there are some "non-interference" motors that have timing chains -
chains are just noisier then belts that could be why belts are used.
 
Its not just belts or chains that can cuase problems when they let go...

I had a MK2 Ford Capri V6 with a Nylon toothed timing gear that decided to
let go... result?
Nine valves out of twelve made contact with the pistons and were bent...
Fortunately, apart from removing the sump and replacing the valves there was
no other major work required....

And that was a pushrod engine! Incidentally - thats a common problem on that
engine!

A.
 
I've never even heard of a timing gear... (we've only had Volvo's, VW's, and
an old Audi that I can only remember from pictures - Volvo and VW both use
belts... that's all I really know) I would imagine you would use a gear on
an engine where belt breakage would be absolutely detrimental... Or are
these gears what all pushrod engines use? (is pushrod where the term "we
threw a rod" comes from when talking about engine failure - I always thought
it meant a connecting rod, but both would be bad).
 
Timing gears tend to be used on older engines (usually V configurations)
where the distance from the crankshaft to camshaft is relatively small (as
in a push rod engine). The benefit of a gear is low noise and low
maintenance. They do sap more power than either a chain or a belt.

Throwing a rod does refer to the conrod. Pushrods almost always fail by
bending or snapping - neither of which are particularly fatal to an engine
(unlike throwing a rod!).

I remember a tale of a well knwon rally driver in the Rally of NZ a number
of years retiring from the event with 'Electrical failure'.

When pressed, he admitted the starter motor had fallen off.

When further pressed it was revealed that in actual fact the reason the
starter motor had fallen off was because the conrod knocked it off!

A.
 
<< I've never even heard of a timing gear... (we've only had Volvo's, VW's, and

an old Audi that I can only remember from pictures - Volvo and VW both use
belts... that's all I really know) >>

I had a fibre timing gear on my 1975 245. When it failed the car stopped cold.
Replaced the gear with no other problems and car ran until my brother failed to
check the oil for 9 months and threw a rod.

Ronald W. Reed, MBA

1975 245, 1980 244GL, 1986 244GL, 1990 745T
 
Rob said:
I've never even heard of a timing gear... (we've only had Volvo's, VW's, and
an old Audi that I can only remember from pictures - Volvo and VW both use
belts... that's all I really know) I would imagine you would use a gear on
an engine where belt breakage would be absolutely detrimental... Or are
these gears what all pushrod engines use? (is pushrod where the term "we
threw a rod" comes from when talking about engine failure - I always thought
it meant a connecting rod, but both would be bad).
Click to expand...

Super high performance (purpose built racing engines) often use a train
of gears to drive their overhead cams because they allow more precise
control of cam timing. Belts and chains stretch and shrink with every
power pulse. Ducati (and others I'm sure) even had an engine where the
cams were driven by a tower shaft - a kind of driveshaft with bevel
gears.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
 
Go ahead. I bought the same car new in October of '01 and I've now got
nearly 53,000 miles on it. So far so good (mostly).

However --- as I understand it I am nearing a crucial milestone. I have
gotten the impression that at 60,000 miles I will need to have my timing
belt changed. Never having had a Volvo before, I am a bit leary about what
I'm in for on this one. Naturally the salesperson didn't proudly proclaim
this fact while attempting to get my signature on the buyer's order and a
check. I guess longtime Volvo owners/lovers become sort of enured to this
requirement and don't object too much. Apparently it is considered
"preventive maintenance" rather than a breakdown. Some have told me to get
plenty of Vaseline and get ready to be well and truly shafted. Apparently
your new acquisition is still under warranty so I'll guess it has somewhere
in the high 30's or low forty thousand mile category. The point is that
you, too, will be staring this 60K ordeal in the face within a year or year
and a half...and of course it's non-warrantable and probably wouldn't be
covered even if you DID opt to spend extra bucks to buy the extended
warranty.
Click to expand...

That is not correct! The timing belt doesn't need to be replaced until
105,000 miles or 14 years (whichever comes first). At 60,000 miles Volvo
recommends replacement of the belt that drives the alternator, power
steering pumps, etc.but that is a simple replacement. The S80 has a longer
service schedule for belts than many newer cars.
Is it a good car? Yes and no. I mostly enjoy mine although I would have
liked it more if it had the turbo. It is comfortable and fairly quiet
except I admit there's a disturbingly high level of mechanical whirring, and
fan noise during acceleration.
Click to expand...

I have the T-6 and was shocked when I got a new 2.9 loaner during one of the
scheduled services. The T-6 is very smooth and quiet compared to the 2.9
which does sound like it's straining for anything but the most gentle
acceleration. I wonder if the T-6 has more sound-proofing installed or if
the engine is just that much more quiet?

Spanky
 
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