Howard's P2 Volvo Maintenance

Our Two Volvos

We have owned 2 P2 generation (2001-2007 S60/V70 XC70) Volvo wagons for a few years now. Our first one is a 2001 V70 T5 which was purchased at 46k miles. Currently (8/2008), it is up to 110k miles. Our other one is a 2001 XC70 also purchased used. It is now (8/2008) at 73k miles.

 I have done much of the debugging and maintenance on these two vehicles. This site is to capture the common problems I've encountered and tips I found from various sources on the internet. So take a look on the topics on the left and see what maybe of interest to you :)

If you want to ask me any questions, I'd be glad to help. I can be reached at howardc64@yahoo.com

If you are new to these Volvos, here is a quick bullet list of issues specific to this car that can cause some damages.

  • Before dis/reconnect battery, read this. Your climate control can get damaged if not following a precise sequence. This seems to be reasonable frequent as I get emails from people here and there.
  • Flush your automatic transmission fluid every 30k or 50k (not in Volvo's maint schedule). This is the weak point on this car. Read this.
  • Don't put ATF in your power steering system as indicated in your owner's manual. Pre 2005 owner's manuals are wrong. It is a special fluid. Read this.

Hopefully, these few quick items specific to this vehicle help you to avoid damaging your car. Otherwise, have a nice look and see what are some of the other common problems I've encountered.

Credits And Advertising

Much of the information in here resides in the various Volvo forums I've frequented in the course of maintaining my cars. Certainly, a big thanks to the collective community that provided the information. A list of forums are listed in the Helpful Sites page on the left.

This site is not meant to replace those forums in anyway. There are no forums to ask for information from the community here. This site was meant to collect many of the common issues with this particular car in one place to save someone research time or mistakes by not having researched enough background.

As for the google ads advertising on top of these pages. It comes from freewebs.com and I don't earn anything. This website built on their free (to me) service. In return, they get to stick ads in. Its a pretty fair trade I think :)