you can shop at IPD or VIVA . com

 

Welcome Tommy40hands!

If it hasn't already been done, your S40 needs a timing belt right now. The interval is every 10 years or 120k miles.

I would expect your car to need front control arms (for torn rear bushings), front struts with strut bearings, motor mounts and lower radiator hose soon.

I just did the 127.5k service on my S40 last week and was disappointed (but not surprised) to see one of the rear bushings on my front control arm is beginning to tear.

I bought my car with 93k miles on it 4 years ago and have replaced the rear main seal due to leaking (very unusual), lower radiator hose (preventative maintenance during the RMS job), timing belt, oil filter housing seals (due to leaking), Leak Detection pump (to fix Check Engine Light), trunk lid wire harness (broken wire resulting in "Trunk Lid Open" message) and a couple of trim pieces and a battery. I religiously follow the maintenance schedule, rotate the tires every 3750 miles and alignment at least once a year along with regular detailing the car including keeping wax on the paint every 3 months or so. I buy almost all of my parts from fcp euro (for their lifetime warranty) and do all of my own work (I am Volvo master certified technician but no longer work at a Volvo dealer).

In my 8 years at Volvo dealers, I found that these cars do not tolerate neglect. They will eat tires if you don't keep a rotation and alignment schedule and much worse will happen if you don't have a competent person maintaining your car - preferably someone who knows their vulnerabilities.

My wife daily drives the S40 and I will say with as much humility as I can, the car is in as good condition now as it ever was and it is a pleasure to drive it. Which amounts to maybe on the weekends for me.

 

Thanks for tips! The tires are brand new and it was at a Volvo dealership for awhile before it got
to the lot I bought it at. The car fax showed it was inspected every year. How would I check the timing belt? It’s been a few years since I’ve owned a car and I want to make sure this one lasts as long as I can.

 

If a Volvo dealer or half-decent Indy shop did the timing belt there will be a very obvious sticker with date/mileage on the belt cover, left hand side if the engine looking from the front

 

Also with the 10yr mark is tensioners and belts. Tensioners are not listed anywhere but are mentioned that they should be replaced every 10 years. Apparently, if the belts come off they like to go into the timing belt and cause a world of headache.

Do a DIY polyurethane fill on some newer control arms and it will help them last more than 25-50,000 miles. You essentially turn it into a solid bushing, as that rubber, even on mine, goes out VERY quickly. You have a post-facelift car so you should be able to get the solid rubber Meyle HD control arms if you want to as well, which eliminates the hydraulic fluid that comes out of the stock arms and starts the failure process.

IPDUSA and FCPEURO are your two hotspots for parts. VolvoPartsLisle is for part diagrams.

 

Upper radiator hose -- #1 S40 engine killer, IMO