I love my wagon. With the back seat folded down it swallows camping and kayaking gear, leaving room for four kayaks on the roof rack. It has comfortable, heated leather seats which are a godsend after sleeping on the frozen ground. It has all wheel drive and has traversed unmaintained roads throughout the New River Gorge and Muskingum Valley. I've showed it considerable love over the years and it has showed me what a pain in the ass Swedish engineering is.
Volvo wagons are known for suspension issues so the broken front coil springs, ball joints, control arms, and tie rod ends all came as no surprise. The fuel pump is also a known issue and although Volvo extended the warranty on the fuel pump, mine died after the extended mileage. All of the ignition coils have been replaced, some more than once, but that's a diagnosable hiccup. The washer pump recently died and with 215,000 miles on the wagon, I don't feel like tearing apart the wheel well to access it. The half-empty water bottles laying on the floor work great for washing the windshield.
There is one additional known issue with early 2000 Volvos that seems to be unsolvable. For instance, yesterday I was on my way from Fort Myers to Sarasota (about an hour drive) for a job interview. I was driving about 80 MPH and rocking out to the XM Outlaw Country channel when the wagon suddenly shut down. I put it in neutral and turned on the hazards, which did not work. The power steering died, the brake booster died, the horn died, and the engine would not turn over. But Hank Jr was still whiskey bent and hell bound while I coasted to a stop at the end of the nearest exit.
There was no check engine light or warning message displayed on the dash. I opened the hood and peeled back the timing belt cover. It was still intact so I attempted to restart the engine. It turned over but still would not start. After several attempts at restarting, a "reduced engine performance" message displayed on the dash. "Well, no shit," I thought as I tried turning the engine over again. But similar to the previous two occurrences, it would not start.
The first time the mystery occurred, I was on my way home from a job interview in Tampa. I had the wagon towed to Bobby, a reputable mechanic in town. As soon as the car came off the tow truck, it started. Bobby ran a diagnostic scan and found nothing. The second time the mystery occurred, I was on my way to a family reunion in Berne Township when the wagon shut down just north of Valdosta, Georgia. It was the middle of the summer and I had my bluetick along with me. We spent several hours on the shoulder of I-75 in the blazing summer sun waiting for a tow truck. Again, as soon as the wagon was dropped off to a mechanic (Enos from Dukes of Hazzard's mechanic) it started right up. I had my OBD II scanner with me but with no check engine light triggered, no errors were stored. Enos' mechanic took it to a dealer in town and let it idle on the diagnostic computer for an hour and achieved no results. Enos' Volvo 850 wagon was in the lot. The mechanic told me Enos didn't have $3,000 for the repair so he was keeping it until Enos could afford to pick it up.
Yesterday it came as no surprise that the wagon started right up after it went for a ride on a tow truck. Once it finally started, the reduced engine performance message cleared and it ran normally, just like the previous occurrences. They say Harley Davidsons are like hound dogs because they like to ride in the back of a truck. I beg to differ. My Harley, which is older than the wagon, has never let me down (accept for a torn accelerator pump) and the wagon has stranded me on the interstate numerous times. I suppose it's finally time to consider a newer used problem to drive.
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