Please give me your experiences with fixing your early XC's, (98,99,00) with viscous coupling. How much did you spend and who did you have perform the repairs, dealer or independent? How many of you disengaged the AWD functionality because of the cost of repair? I am trying to figure out my own course of action and would appreciate your experience.

I had a 98XC with $90k miles when the angle/bevel gear died. One independent mechanic thought it was the viscous coupling, but he suggested I bring it to the dealer for a second opinion. The dealer said it was the angle gear.

So, while I did not have a VC failure, it was suspected at one point. The symptoms were a loud clunking and squeal while moving. I personally thought it might have been the viscous coupling, but replacing the angle gear solved the problem.

The angle gear for the "early build" '98 cost $1,700 to replace (at a dealer). The worst part is that no replacement parts were available in North America for about 4 weeks. Ouch. The dealer nicely agreed to rent me a car for the month. The originally quoted price was something like $2,100, but he eventually sold me the angle gear at his cost, resulting in the final $1,700 price tag for the job.

I tried to be careful with tires/inflation/matching, etc. To no avail.

After that experience last summer, we decided it wasn't worth it to keep dumping money into the 98XC, so we unloaded the Volvo and bought a Honda Pilot.

Good luck.