Okay, here's a long-winded story of how I have continued to run my V70 into the ground and now I'd like to try to revive it (or get rid of it...) It's got about 140,000 miles and I drive it about 1,000 miles per week!

The car was great when I got it (used), except it shook at speeds over 60mph. Thought it was wheel/tire balance, ended up being a bent wheel AND a bent rotor (and there's possibly a bent suspension piece somewhere, too, but it's better now and doesn't eat tires so I'm not looking anymore.)

Next, the AC started to blow warm so I got some nifty stop-leak, recharged it and haven't had a problem since (almost 2 yrs ago).

e-brake cables were stuck and shoes were disintegrated (found this when replacing the bad rotor, so I bought new cables and shoes which I have yet to replace...after about a year of having the parts.)

It's probably time for a timing belt (140k) and water pump and tune-up.

The car "hums" while driving. I think I've traced that to the center "carrier" bearing on the right (passenger) front axle, as it speeds up when turning right and the sound is coming far inboard of the hubs when up in the air. Oh, I bought the axle when I bought the e-brake parts! I'm quite motivated, can't you tell?

Recently, started getting what seems like a dull CV joint "click", although it's a little lower in tone than that. It's only on hard turns and happens when turning HARD left or right. All CV boots are intact and no grease has escaped. Greased the stops, even though this is a rotating noise, to see if it helped and it didn't.

Power steering rack appears to leak. "Bellows" are wet and I have to add fluid once a year.

Last year the secondary AIR pump seized and was dimming my lights, setting CEL, etc. I yanked it out, cut out all the hoses, and threw it away. I "fooled" the CEL by putting a resistor in the secondary O2 sensor signal wires. This worked for quite a while but now either my resistor failed or the sensor is finally shot (or both).

Other than that, it looks and rides great. I change the oil with synthetic but never change the trans/diff fluids (which I'm thinking about having done). I don't drive the car hard at all and it gets about 19mpg on average, which I don't think is too bad.

The car retails in great shape (which you can tell it is currently not in) for about $6k, give or take. I got it for about $5k a few years ago with much less mileage but borrowed a little extra to do a few things to the house so I still owe almost $6k on the loan.

I figure to have a shop do the work (if anyone will even do it) will cost north of $2,000. I don't have the time to do it myself anymore and my past experiences with this car are enough to tell me that I shouldn't be touching it anyway.

I could probably squeeze it through PA inspection (due this month) with the help of a few unscrupulous friends (the car is safe...new brakes all around, suspension is tight, etc) but the CEL is lit up so it won't pass.

Oh, and the stupid red clippy thing from hell in the right rear door lock mechanism broke and I'm too scared/lazy to try the unofficial "fix" on Bay13. So people can only enter via 3 doors until someone unlocks the 4th from the inside!

Alright, sorry this was so long and b1tchy but I'd really like to get a lot of input before I make any drastic decisions. I'd rather not buy a newer car right now but I will if this seems to be a lost cause or more expensive than it's worth. I really like the car but I'm not the kind of person to hang onto something for sentimental value. Thanks!

Mike