Volvo XC70 2.5T :- Cleaned, ticketed and ready to go.

13,415 · April 4

5 minutes ago, ruffgeezer said:

Oh and I must change the clamp on the rear silencer. I use M10 70mm clamps on the XC70s from a tractor parts firm, you.get far more pull on an M10 thread U clamp, the M8 tend to break before you get much crush on an exhaust that big. I've been trying hard to forget about the full stainless steel system on ebay for £700.

I wonder at what point I should waft the XC in @Bear's direction.

Before I try doing the same suspension jobs on it the diesel? 😂

I expect the petrol won't deliver the even 46mpg I've been getting for too many short cold runs...

You've put a lot of work in, so I assume it's as good as I feared when the word "scrap" mentioned!

7,808 · April 4

I'm not sure to be honest, at least the pez one will get up to temperature properly on short journeys.

It's not bad, it's a shame about the shit bits of paint, I must confess I've considered a wide side stripe graphic to cover it.

Stand by for unsolicited sunroof pictures. 😇

7,808 · April 8

We've escaped away for a few days to west Yorkshire, but I have been arranging plenty of work for when I return.

The Volvo doesn't have either of it's remote fobs and from what information I can glean, it's a dealer only job to program new ones. All this against a cheap car seems a bit much so I've ordered this instead:-

In the hope that I can piggy back the circuitry from the door locking and use the cheap remote system to spoof the signal from the drivers door.

In other news, local hero @bangernomics has collected a timing belt kit and posted it to me, so I shall also have that to do. Many thanks to him for that, as the kit should include the belt kit and waterpump.

The correct droplinks have also arrived so I'll buzz those on.

I'm not sure if @Dan_ZTT or @FruttyFrutty know when it was last serviced, but it certainly has signs of recent maintenance.

6,263 · April 9

21 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

I'm not sure if @Dan_ZTT or @FruttyFrutty know when it was last serviced, but it certainly has signs of recent maintenance

I'm afraid I just treated this car as a stopgap while my other was being fixed and so I did zero maintenance in the 6 months I had it (apart from fit that headlight bulb upside down 🫣), will have to defer to previous owner... I don't think he's on here that regularly though

7,808 · April 14

Nowhere on the internet said you could do anything but go to a dealer for a new remote for the XC70, but that sounds a bit spendy for my tastes.

As I mentioned above, I got a cheap remote locking kit from China and set about working out how best to fit it.

Behind the dash is usually the place to go for these little units, so I started looking for a sensible spot.

As ever, Ember decided she'd oversee the proceedings.

I looked at how to run the wires through the door shut and into the door, even as far as enlarging the holes in the door plug.

Trouble is that I'd need to get 2 reels of piddly thin cable to make these runs. Time to step back, have a brew and consult the wiring diagrams again, there may be another way.

According to this wiring diagram, there is a constant live going to the driver's door module, and that has 2 -Ve fed signal wires into it from the driver's door locking mechanism. I tagged the signal output wires from the Chinese remote kit into those and piggybacked the DDM 12v supply and fitted the tiny control unit behind the frame for the door handle. I forgot to get pictures by this point, but I soldered all the joints and used loom tape to tidy everything up. After a false alarm due to the back door being on the latch, I now have remote locking again - only this way does not appear to arm the alarm - you can't have everything I suppose!

12,817 · April 15

A Polish bloke cut and programmed a new key for my '05 v70 2.4d. He had a shop on Chillingham Road, Newcastle and charged me £80.

I only had one key and the remote didn't work.

7,808 · April 15

@paulplom the key isn't an issue aprat from being a bit manky, i have 2 working keys but no remotes, the remote is separate from the key on the older Ph2 models.

7,808 · April 19

Made a start on the timing belt yesterday after work as it was warmish not pissing down.

I got all the covers off and timed the engine up ready to pull it all apart when the mood takes me.

Definitely worth changing!

7,808 · May 6

Fitted new belt kit today, fresh water pump and tensioner too.

Also changed air and cabin filters and fitted the front droplink and chucked all the wheels back on.

No pictures today as I really couldn't be arsed taking them, but the XC70 is now ready for an MOT and an oil change then it'll be ready for proving.and possibly sale.

Also finished the berlingo today so that'll be ready to go soon too.

7,808 · Tuesday at 21:55

It's off for it's MOT first thing on Thursday, I shall head out early and kick it's little arse in in the hopes that it gets somewhere near the emissions target. I've put a tractor spec exhaust clamp on the rear silencer - the M8 70mm clamp just doesn't have enough strength to squash the pipe so there is now a M10 clamp, it's a lot stronger.