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01' S40 50K warranty about to expire - what to look for?

Hi,

My sister's '01 S40 is about to reach 50K miles so her warranty is going to expire. Last week her heater core failed, 10 miles short of

50K, so thankfully that will be covered under warranty. She's a little nervous now what else might die as soon as the warranty expires.

I used to drive an 87 740T and frequented this board quite a lot (until the engine blew last summer) and always found good advice here, so hopefully folks will be able to help me out here.

What are the common gremlins that strike the S40. What should we look for which causes problems to S40 owners? Any major TSBs that she should have done under warranty for free or are TSBs always free anyway? Her car has the 1.9T engine (I believe that was the only engine available here in the US). She asked her dealer if they could give the car an inspection to find problems, and she was told they don't normally do that. The warranty only covers things that are broken and they don't like to go looking for stuff - Sounds like a b.s. answer to me.

She's heard that she can also purchase an extended warranty? She doesn't know the details of this yet (she's waiting for a call back from the dealer's business manager). Anyone know anything about the extended warranty? Is this a 'Volvo' warranty good at all Volvo dealerships? What does it cover/cost?

Thanks in advance for your responses,

KevinH kevinhorgan1 "at" netscape.net

Reply to
KevinH
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The heater core? Was the coolant ever flushed/replaced? The problem with a lot of this stuff is that Volvo doesn't call out any preventative maintenance in the manual. Coolant should be flushed and replaced every two years to replenish the anti-corrosion properties in the additives. Volvo says the stuff is permanent. Since the heater core is about to be replaced, that will take care of that item (better late than never, I guess).

The automatic transmission fluid should also be flushed and replaced if that hasn't been done. To get the dealer to do it, you might have to complain about hard shifting. One look at the dipstick and the dealer will replace the fluid without further questions.

Other than that stuff, you'll have a very hard time getting the dealer to do anything.

Yes, you can get an extended warranty. Its pretty easy to do if the original hasn't run out. You can take the car to any dealer or almost any independent shop to have work performed under the extended warranty (check first). Is it worth it? Well, it sounds like the car hasn't been maintained as well as it could have, so in this case, maybe yes.

Unfortunately, just following the manufacturers recommended service isn't always enough. Changing the oil isn't enough. All the fluids should be replaced every two years - coolant, ATF, brake fluid and power steering fluid. Even with that, you can only hope for the best.

John

Reply to
Fred Flintstone

Kevin,

If she's worried, it would probably be worth her piece of mind to get an extended warranty, but it'll cost her a bit more since she's probably over

50K now, and most of them look for at least 6 months to a year of mfg warranty left. I just purchased a 2nd hand 01 V70 2.4T and purchased a bumper to bumper 36 month 45K mile warranty for about $750 (dealer said that was his cost to help coax me into buying the car)

I don't think the dealer's answer on the "inspection" is out of line... nothing in a warranty says anything (at least any warranty I've ever read) about them performing what's basically preventative maintenance. A warranty is there to cover problems that arise. I think their profit margins are less on warranty work, so there's really no incentive for them to look for problems. That's not to say she couldn't "hire" them to inspect the car and if they found something, hopefully they'd deal with it under warranty if the found something covered.

My extended warranty is NOT a Volvo, but it's good at most any licensed garage across North America as I think you'd find most are.

Good luck!

Don

01 V70 2.4T 96 850
Reply to
D. K. Lockhart, Jr.

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