• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

S/V/C What to look for when buying a 3.2 P3 car?

Finally got around to doing rear shocks and trailing arm bushings. The shocks are factory Volvo units and have zero life left. The passenger side bushing fell out it was so destroyed. Knocking the shell out was east with a chisel and ball peen. I went with the poly bushings in the rear, we’ll see how that turns out. My car is way rustier than I thought and while everything came apart okay it made the job very unpleasant. It also took far longer than expected so I’ll have to finish tomorrow.

Maybe I’ll like the car more when it has a functional suspension? Still only getting 18 mpg in mixed driving which hurts pretty bad when regular is $4.50.
 
Which is why I think if you're given the choice between the 3.2 and the 3.0, you are better off with the 3.0. The gas mileage isn't any worse and you get a substantial increase in usable power.
 
ortho stice said:
Still only getting 18 mpg in mixed driving which hurts pretty bad when regular is $4.50.
Click to expand...
My P2 is in that ballpark too. Commuter driving is ~16-17mpg.

Be sure to check whether it calls for premium. I'm not sure about P3s but my P2 needs at least midgrade for it to not complain and pull timing.

Gets good mileage on highway cruises at least.
 
ovlov760 said:
Which is why I think if you're given the choice between the 3.2 and the 3.0, you are better off with the 3.0. The gas mileage isn't any worse and you get a substantial increase in usable power.
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen a T6 for sale locally (for tbricks pricing as I’m a deadbeat) maybe ever.

I should say I’ve had winter tires on this whole time so maybe I’ll see a minor improvement when the all seasons go back on.
 
I just picked up a 17 xc60 T5 with the 4 cyl VEP (turbo only, not supercharged). So far I'm getting 9L/100km which is 26mpg according to google. That is mixed highway/rural road/city. I'm pretty happy with that. Wonder what I'll get it down to on a highway trip.
 
What is the chance of a warped head/blown HG after an overheating event on these SI6's?

A nice V70 just popped up close to me that "overheated" and they bought a new car.
 
HiSPL said:
What is the chance of a warped head/blown HG after an overheating event on these SI6's?

A nice V70 just popped up close to me that "overheated" and they bought a new car.
Click to expand...
I've seen hundred of cars with the over heated warning that continue on with life. But most of them don't drive 100km before shutting down. Guess it depends how long they drove
 
The p3 has a low coolant warning, but there's no dedicated temp gauge. Does the message center have a warning for overheating?
 
I think you get the red triangle with an overheat warning and shut car off message (not that I’ve ever seen it, this is a vague memory from reading through the manual).
 
I've gotten overheat "stop safely" messages for both engine and trans temp in mine. You'll also get a dstc temporarily off message if the brakes are really hot.
 
ovlov760 said:
Does it appear before any damage is done?
Click to expand...
Seems too. Like I said, I've seen hundreds of these cars come in with the warning, and not seeminly destroying HGs. I think it must come on early. I'm sure if you keep driving for a 100Km it is going to damage something.
 
You might be able to get a can extender. I had one in a p2 xc90 I had. It would display coolant temp, and a bunch of other stuff.
 
Well it is a whole lot better with a functional rear suspension. Unfortunately without the deafening squeaks I can now hear the front knocking around like crazy over bumps. I gave it a shake down when I had the front in the air to put on my all season tires, and it doesn't seem to be balljoint or tierod related. I also cannot feel it in the steering wheel. Strut mounts? Presumably if the rear shocks are original the front struts could be, too.

As for the poly trailing arm bushings, they seem to work okay. The kit felt a little bootleg (they use small roll-pins to attach two brackets together) but it's dead silent so far. We'll see what it's like after a W. PA winter. There are plenty of videos about installing this kit while leaving the arms on the car, but I could not figure that out and had to dismount the trailing arms. Luckily I did brakes a few months ago so that stuff came apart quickly. All the rear bushings for the various control arms seem intact and okay and the end links for the swaybar are practically brand new.

Next week I think I'll go for the belt drive service, though I need to order a water pump still. I think I'm about $2500 into it at this point, which seems good to me.
 
Check your front links? They like to pop apart.

The upper bearings are also a failure point, but they more, bind then cause a "boing boing" type noise(while turning slow speeds/idling) as the spring loads up enough tension to overcome the bad bearing.

I'd also look for a broken front spring.
 
GTJordan said:
Check your front links? They like to pop apart.

The upper bearings are also a failure point, but they more, bind then cause a "boing boing" type noise(while turning slow speeds/idling) as the spring loads up enough tension to overcome the bad bearing.

I'd also look for a broken front spring.
Click to expand...

Two months later and I can say, it was indeed an end link. The PO had replaced only one side and the other was absolutely wrecked. Also the struts were original Volvo brand with 167k miles on them and completely blown out. All in all not the worst job in the world but the balljoint studs were seized into both steering knuckles and had to take some serious beating with the mini sledge to release. I probably should have bought OEM Sachs struts but I don't care about this car so it got some Monroe quick strut assemblies. I also probably should have done wheel bearings since I already had everything apart but I didn't want to spend the money (and I still need to do the accessory drive belt service including waterpump so budget is tight).

It is a completely transformed car. I might even like it now? Once I put new tires on that will be the true test. Still averaging 19 mpg, still wish it had bluetooth audio capabilities, still think it's kind of ugly.

Oh! Also if you get one of these push on the windshield from the inside. Turns out mine had cracked the urethane entirely across the top and was loose. The tell was the enormous amount of water pouring into the cabin during rainstorms.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top