Recently I purchased a 2006 V70 FWD NA with M56 manual transmission and about 90K miles. The previous owner bought it for European delivery and it was shipped home to USA after a few years in Europe. Records that came with the car indicate it was mostly serviced at Volvo dealers.

The biggest issue I noticed before purchase was the car veering slightly when brakes were applied / released, perhaps due to worn struts or control arms. The car also veers slightly under throttle application / release.

Today I realized that the problem is partly from brakes - the right front and left rear rotors are not shiny and dont get warm after multiple hard stops. I dont think the RF and LR calipers are frozen or binding, if they were it is more likely that the rotors would be overheating. There are no dash warnings or ABS light to indicate a problem. With heavy brake application from 30-40 mph on a dry road surface, the left front tire starts to lock up and ABS activates only on that wheel. That is correct behavior, the LF skids because it is the brake that is mostly stopping the car.

The clutch master cylinder was replaced just before I bought the car. Perhaps air was introduced into brake lines during that repair ? I think there is some brake line pressure for the RF and LR calipers but not enough for significant braking.

First check will be the calipers to make sure they arent binding, then confirm that the pistons do move when brake pedal is pushed. Bleeding all calipers would probably be the next step.

Has anyone seen a problem where one half of the dual diagonal brake system doesnt work ? Which section of the master cylinder is for the RF / LR calipers ? I dont know if a problem in the ABS system can remove line pressure from the RF / LR circuit.


Thanks,

Mike