jI want to preface this by saying that I am a Volvo newbie. I purchased my 1998 V70 T5 April 2000 with 50K miles. Before I bought it, I took it to a Volvo specialist and he informed me it was "Just getting broken in" and that those drops of oil I spied was just residue from the last oil change. Compression checked out great and the car was in excellent shape inside and out.

Since that time I have put about 30K on it (mostly highway) and it has become evident that the oil is a leak in the main seal (or so I am told). I must keep an eye on the oil level at all times. The door lock motors in the right front and left rear doors have stopped working and last weekend on a four hour trip back from Charleston to NC the AC stopped working. Also the left blinker blinks at a faster rate than the right.

1. Anyone else out there with a leaky main seal? Isn't this car too new to have this problem? How much can I expect to pay to get this thing replaced? It makes one hell of a mess in my drip pan in the garage.

2. Anyone else out there with multiple malfunctioning/nonworking door lock motors? How much should I expect the pay to get these replaced/repaired.

3. The AC had not given us a problem until the trip. It was working fine at the beginning of the trip until about 2 hours into the trip, the blast of cool air turned into a trickle no matter what setting we put the system on. When I cranked up the fan, I could hear the fan motor blowing loudly, but no air (besides the trickle) would come out of the vents. The next morning the AC worked properly.

4. I have checked all the blinker bulbs and they are all burning. Why would the blinking rate change for the left blinker?

Despite all these problems, I love this car and will buy another one after this one. It is much nicer and even faster than my Integra GS-R.

Thanks for any advice.

Brent Fidler