canis is in the market for an XC90

[YorkshireDave]

Originally Posted by canis

Hello everybody. I'm back. Back on the forum.
... But I've been given the proverbial green light by my wife to buy an XC90.
~canis

Where DO we start...

Tug boat sound. The 2.4 uses hydraulic lifters, listen to it from a cold start. There should be no rattling and after just a few seconds it should sound 'sweet'. If you hear a chuffing sound - run! Lift the bonnet & put your hand in the air intake that sits atop the rad. If you can feel a pulsing with the sound then its an indication that lifters have failed. This often needs a head rebuild AND camshafts. Onve expensive sound I can tell you: move on.
- Gearbox. The one fitted to the 2006 model is sh1te. Its the least reliable in an XC90 and over £3.5k to replace. Ask me how I know! Just stay away.
- AWD issues (Haldex & DEM) are easily sorted.
- Exhaust. My back box recently failed. It was £350 plus for a rear box so instead I had a complete stainless system fitted for £400
- Parts are less easy come by now for the Ph2 IMHO. This means prices have crept up.
- CEM can be an issue with poor waterproofing causing them to corrode and giving odd symptoms. Get it sorted via Volvo Diagnostics in Tilbury (same as DEM rebuild).
- Gearbox wont shift into 6th unless you doing 50+ no matter the load. This impacts consumption.
- Consumption not good, ever, but better on younger than 2010 apparently. I find running tyres at 40psi is best compromise.

I'll never part with mine and I've told my family it can carry my coffin! To me its far more environmentally friendly to keep and old vehicle on the road than keep buy (sh1te) new.

Overall, just enjoy it [/LIST]

[canis]

Originally Posted by GrahamBrown1

Why a pedal and not a leaver like the other P2 cars I don’t know haha.

Can you tell me more about this? Any pictures online. I mean, I'm gonna JFGI now but ... y'know, if you see something.

[GrahamBrown1]

Originally Posted by canis

Can you tell me more about this? Any pictures online. I mean, I'm gonna JFGI now but ... y'know, if you see something.

All I meant was the v70, S60,s80 similar years known as the P2 platform which the XC90 has a lot of similarities with had the very same hand brake set up with shoes inside the rear disks but they hand a proper handbrake leaver like any other car not a pedal. Adjustment on the leaver to tighten the cable ect was as simple as pulling back a little trim and adjusting via a 10mm socket.

Now google adjusting an xc90 handbrake and look at the Pilarva. And if you lose the little clip well you be cursing haha. It’s a right going on or at least the ones I’ve done have been.

[canis]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I appreciate that. I've bought one! Ackowledging there could be some demon down the road, seems to this untrained eye to be in pretty good shape. Current status: So far so good.

The stereo is useless, at least to me. It sounds glorious, but half the controls don't work. If the previous owner is reading this, I'll return your CD as soon as I can get to it, but the eject button doesn't work either. I did get some of the controls to work, but still not the eject, and besides, I want to replace it for something more modern which can play USB, probabbly mechless, and single DIN size so I can squeeze a CB radio in there too. I also discovered it can't play data discs containing mp3 information - and I now have two CDs stuck in there.

Seems to be something wrong with the sidelights. I want the running lights on, but the headlamps off. Currently the car does the opposite. I've not looked into this any further at this stage. I'll probably end up re-wiring them to work in a normal fashion the same way I did with the V40. And yes, it is possible to solve daytime running headlights with just one cut. I wrote an article on it in the V40 section, but I doubt the images are still showing.

The car needs painting underneath entirely. It is twenty years old and all of it's paint is gone. The hull itself, the subframe, suspension components, all of it. I'm thinking I'll do that probably in stages. At some point it'll probably need brake pipes and bushes, so that will present the perfect opportunity to rust proof it a little. It's either that, or just run it into the ground.

Regarding brakes, this is where my sorry tale begins. Not of the car, of my own incompetance. I vaguely remember attempting to remove the drum from my Cortina when I was 17. It wouldn't come off, felt like loads of springy things behind, so I decided to leave it alone. And I've been doing it ever since. I've skillfully avoided drum brakes all my life.

I recognised I would just have to bite the bullet with the XC90 and learn how to do drum brakes. And there's no reason why not. It's just levers and springs, right? It's not magic, it's just a machine. So I watched a youtube video. The chap removed the caliper using the slide pins first method. Then removed a small 10mm bolt fastening the disc/drum to the hub, hit it a few times with a hammer and pulled it off with ease. Mine wouldn't budge. As all those years before, it just felt like a load of springy things behind it.

Now... I can't see. All I've got in front of me is a brake drum-cum-disc-type-thing around which i can't even get my fingers. It's loose, but something is holding it. I'm trying to picture in my mind. Are the shoes doing it? Surely the shoes shoudl be the only things capable of touching the drum inside. I had remembered to release the handbrake, so why are they clamping the drum? Why won't they let go? What is holding this thing?

It took some doing, but I did eventually brute force the thing off, but it doesn't seem to want to go back on again. Do the shoes need clamping in some way and then releasing after the drum is offered into position?

I just haven't got a clue what's going on. I seem to be missing some fundamental understanding of these [del]stupid antiquated arcaic contraptions[/del] brakes. Can anyone help?

[john.wigley]

Nice one, 'canis'. Just a thought, could the running light problem be a software rather than a wiring issue on a car of that age? I don't know, but it might be worth checking before disturbing any wiring?

Keep us posted!

Regards, John.

Edit: Is there a 'lip' (caused by wear) on the edge of the drum preventing it from passing over the shoes? If there is, is it possible to grind it off? J.

[mrfixer]

You would need to unload the hand brake (foot) cable to let the rear discs come away as there's no adjustment any where else

[GrahamBrown1]

The rear disks often are a pain to remove due to build up of corrosion. Make sure the backing plates for the handbrake shoes are in good condition. These often rot. If the shoes are not held correctly then they will never work.

[Simmy]

Originally Posted by canis

Thanks for all the advice, guys. I appreciate that. I've bought one! Ackowledging there could be some demon down the road, seems to this untrained eye to be in pretty good shape. Current status: So far so good.

The stereo is useless, at least to me. It sounds glorious, but half the controls don't work. If the previous owner is reading this, I'll return your CD as soon as I can get to it, but the eject button doesn't work either. I did get some of the controls to work, but still not the eject, and besides, I want to replace it for something more modern which can play USB, probabbly mechless, and single DIN size so I can squeeze a CB radio in there too. I also discovered it can't play data discs containing mp3 information - and I now have two CDs stuck in there.

Seems to be something wrong with the sidelights. I want the running lights on, but the headlamps off. Currently the car does the opposite. I've not looked into this any further at this stage. I'll probably end up re-wiring them to work in a normal fashion the same way I did with the V40. And yes, it is possible to solve daytime running headlights with just one cut. I wrote an article on it in the V40 section, but I doubt the images are still showing.

The car needs painting underneath entirely. It is twenty years old and all of it's paint is gone. The hull itself, the subframe, suspension components, all of it. I'm thinking I'll do that probably in stages. At some point it'll probably need brake pipes and bushes, so that will present the perfect opportunity to rust proof it a little. It's either that, or just run it into the ground.

Regarding brakes, this is where my sorry tale begins. Not of the car, of my own incompetance. I vaguely remember attempting to remove the drum from my Cortina when I was 17. It wouldn't come off, felt like loads of springy things behind, so I decided to leave it alone. And I've been doing it ever since. I've skillfully avoided drum brakes all my life.

I recognised I would just have to bite the bullet with the XC90 and learn how to do drum brakes. And there's no reason why not. It's just levers and springs, right? It's not magic, it's just a machine. So I watched a youtube video. The chap removed the caliper using the slide pins first method. Then removed a small 10mm bolt fastening the disc/drum to the hub, hit it a few times with a hammer and pulled it off with ease. Mine wouldn't budge. As all those years before, it just felt like a load of springy things behind it.

Now... I can't see. All I've got in front of me is a brake drum-cum-disc-type-thing around which i can't even get my fingers. It's loose, but something is holding it. I'm trying to picture in my mind. Are the shoes doing it? Surely the shoes shoudl be the only things capable of touching the drum inside. I had remembered to release the handbrake, so why are they clamping the drum? Why won't they let go? What is holding this thing?

It took some doing, but I did eventually brute force the thing off, but it doesn't seem to want to go back on again. Do the shoes need clamping in some way and then releasing after the drum is offered into position?

I just haven't got a clue what's going on. I seem to be missing some fundamental understanding of these [del]stupid antiquated arcaic contraptions[/del] brakes. Can anyone help?

release all tension in the cable .check if aftermarket adjusters have been fitted instead of the standard H bar check the shoe expanders are not seized and the shoe retaining springs that hold them to the back plate ar still in place if you decide to replace the shoes use only genuine volvo ones or you will never get a good working hand brake .

[canis]

I thought I'd post a little update, in case anybody's interested.

I think I've got the parking brake sorted. I decided the front brakes were good enough to not require replacement yet. The discs are wearing uniformly. The pads look in good order with plenty of friction material remaining.

They stop the car okay, but the pedal travel is just a little further than I'd like. I think I'll flush the hydraulic fluid soon. This is a job already on the list. I'm simply bringing it forward a bit.

I spent the day examining the 6/7th seats and the wheel changing tools. It even has it's own little tool kit in a delightful leather pouch. The grease on the jack is twenty years old and had become more like amber than grease, so I cleaned that up and applied some fresh stuff. Gave it a thorough hoovering. It was clean anyway, but I got all the tiny bits between narrow gaps with compressed air.

I'm over the moon! Every time I find out something new about it, I find it's been over-engineered enough to impress me. So far everything checks out. I've not gone through it obsessively, but the work history I recieved checks out with what I'm finding on the car. Things have been replaced. I even discovered some genuine volvo touch-up paints squirreled away. This car has been cared for, and it all feels very, very honest. 'nuff 'spect to the previous owner.

I totally love this car. Being of an economic class where the only way I can own something of this quality is to buy one this old, there's much work to do on my free days. But in my mind, that's not any different to doing paid work for someone else, and buying a newer car with the money earned. I imagine Rishi Sunak probably uses one of these just to get to his bathroom when he needs a pee during the night.

It's caused a stirr among the neighbours. The chap over the road has a Discovery, so we've found common ground there. We might have to have a race...

I'm still working out ways to install an auxilliary battery. This is important to us, as we use the car as a power source when we're camping/tramping/etc. It turns out the interior lighting is more complex than I had originally imagined, but I believe with ingeniuos use of relays I can achieve what I want to do without the car noticing or operating any differently. Hopefully I can extend that to the windows too, and the radio but that's a while down the road yet. I can't afford all these repairs and a new radio. I'm also installing USB chargers, some of which will be in internal compartments so electronic devices can charge entirely out of sight of opportunistic theives. I'm not doing this just for my own bent, this will be a car for the entire family to use for holidays and such.

It's when you press the interior light button and it fades up gradually, but not slowly. It's the little things like this. Volvo didn't need to go to this extreme, but they did anyway. And I love that.

Ah, why am I rambling on? You guys all know what I'm talking about. I guess I've just been in a Ford too long. It felt like a climb-down from the previous Volvo, but this is a quantum-leap back up again!

The parking brake works now, and I'm much better familiarised with the drum brakes I've been avoiding all my life. I'm happy with the progress I'm making. It's a big car, there's so much to learn but I'm getting there.

And I appreciate all the advice I'm getting. Please keep educating me.

[john.wigley]

Glad you like your new car 'canis'. I was a little worried that you were losing the faith when you were struggling with the hand brake, but pleased that your persistence has paid off.

Hope the car continues to please; do keep us posted! Well done.

Regards, John.