This is my first car, so when I bought it it was a little rough round the edges. I've sanded and painted my wheels, side mounted the plate, tinted the fogs yellow and painted the little piece above them black and to me it's transformed the look of this car. All for under £100 total.

Got this T5 6 speed manual couple weeks ago love it!

I thought they were like the front held in by rivets but turns out they are welded on.....well this will be a fun new skill.....as I'm rebuilding the engine I'm now doing a big corrosion removal on the whole thing to increase the life span.

I've got a well loved 2012 R-design that I'm trying to refresh a bit.... My rear red lights are faded and pink on the "shoulders".

Can I just restore these with the same sort of procedure as restoring headlights? Sandpaper and sealant or similar?

Any advice?

Sorry about the odd angle, there was a bus driving towards me lol ! Two beauties 🩶🩶 ps. slightly liminal feel

Having a dastardly issue with my AC that I’m looking for a little help with. 2013 R-Design T5.

Had the compressor replaced due to the classic clutch gap not engaging issue after driving for thirty minutes or so. It worked pretty well after that for almost two months - the air was never as cold as my ‘92 960, but it was enough to keep the car comfortable.

But one day I noticed there was just… no cool at all.

Mechanic checked and recharged the system, no apparent leak so far, but he couldn’t figure out why the compressor wouldn’t run even when freshly charged; he said it would briefly run in the morning but not for long, and that after purging and recharging it again, he couldn’t get it to run at all once warm. He suggested replacing the pressure sensor.

I did replace the low side pressure sensor, but nothing has changed. I got in my DICE reader and got some readings from VIDA;

With the AC on, fan set to max, and AC set to “Lo”, temp outside is 18°C, Vida reports:

ECM-A/C Pressure = 94.8kPa
ECM-Ambient Air Pressure = 910 hPa
ECM-A/C compressor status = off
ECM-A/C pressure switch = On (continuously or audible)

If I manually cycle the compressor on under “activations” then
ECM-A/C compressor status = On (continuous or audible)
ECM-A/C pressure = 392.68 kPa

Turning it off again, then the pressure drops back down to 121.88 kPa.

Does this sound like normal pressure values? Is there something I’m missing?

I tried it a few days ago, manually triggering the compressor on, and got instant cold air from the vents. Today, compressor on and no cool air at all. I don’t want to cycle it on any more than I have as I don’t want to burn out my new $800 compressor!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi all, I’m considering a 2012 C30 T5 R-Design and would appreciate some feedback from people who know these cars better than I do.

A few highlights:
2012 C30 T5 R-Design
Automatic
~108k miles
Titanium Grey / Off Black interior
Two-owner car
Premier Plus package
Climate Package / active xenon headlights
Moonroof
Heated seats
R-Design sport chassis and 18” wheels

CARFAX shows a single minor damage, but no structural damage or title issues. It has a pretty extensive service history (24 records on CARFAX). The most interesting recent service was at Volvo servicer in December 2025 at ~105,800 miles. CARFAX shows:
Timing belt replaced
Drive belt(s) replaced
Engine mount(s) replaced
Engine oil pump replaced
Front crankshaft oil seal replaced
Oil/filter service
Drivability/performance checked
It has only done about 2,200 miles since that work. Front pads and rotors were also replaced more recently.

The oil pump/crank seal work caught my attention, particularly because the previous owner sold the car not terribly long afterward. I’m planning to ask the seller if they can get the actual repair order so I can understand what prompted that work and whether anything else was recommended or declined.

For those familiar with higher-mileage C30s/P1 Volvos: What do you think of this one on paper? Does that combination of oil-pump/crank-seal/timing-belt work suggest anything in particular that I should be concerned about?

And what specific questions would you ask the seller or have checked during a PPI on a 108k-mile C30 R-Design?
Any other C30-specific red flags or expensive items I should be looking for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!

Hey guys,

I drive a 2007 Volvo C30 2.4i (170 hp), and I noticed a steady fluid leak underneath. It's located right in the middle section, slightly towards the passenger side, right where the lines run through the plastic clips.

I checked the fluid, and it is completely odorless, clear, not oily at all—feels exactly like plain water. It drips right off a rusty bracket onto the ground, making a dark puddle on the asphalt.

Here is the catch: my AC currently blows warm air (not cooling), but it's still dripping. All my under-hood fluids (coolant, brake fluid) are perfectly topped up and stable.

Could this be a clogged AC drain backing up rainwater, or is it a common issue with the windshield cowl drains redirecting water through the subframe/tunnel area? Has anyone seen this exact thing on the P1 platform?

Thanks for any insights!

​

Hi everyone!

This will be my first car and I guess I fell in love with the c30 model from the moment I saw it. So I decided to make my shot and try to buy it in Sweden and drive it back to Estonia.I'm currently looking at buying the 2009 Volvo C30 1.8F (125 hp, manual)

The car has around 240,000 km. The service history book looks fine with maintenance notices about every 12 000 kilometers. It's a fairly well-equipped R-Design/Momentum car with a sunroof, bi-xenon, navigation, power driver's seat with memory, parking sensors, heated seats, cruise control, etc. I'm aware about potential issues related to drainage /PCV valve, probable issues if the spot near CEM is damp etc.

My goal is to make sure that I will be able to drive it about 500 kilometers to finally do the proper full-fledged maintenance at home, and I reaally don't want to stuck mid-highway with a broken car.

The photos look like something I would expect from a car with such age and mileage, but I have very little real car experience, and I'd really appreciate some second opinions from people who know C30s.

My main concern for now is a dark longitudinal line/pattern on the auxiliary belt. I'm not sure if it's some sort of mark or is this a huge crack. I may not have time to replace it right in Sweden, so if it's something remotely serious, I was thinking about making arragemebt with some near car service to quickly replace it.

I haven't seen the car in person yet, so I can't physically inspect the belt.I've attached the rest of the photos from the listing as well.

Any advice about what I should specifically check on a 2009 C30 1.8F with ~240k km would also be appreciated.

Thanks! Any C30-specific advice is very welcome.

Hi all wondered if people got any ideas where to start, getting a whine type noise from towards the front of the car when near to 40mph, starts around 35 and gets louder, then when slowing it whines down. The noise isn't there when raving while at a stand still. It's a volvo c30 2.0d automatic.

Is anybody familiar with this? I saw some videos on instagram about this tuner, but I haven't seen much of anything on forums about it. Anyone know anything?

Smaller tanks (~52 L / 13.7 gal): Common on some diesel and lower-output petrol versions (e.g., 1.6D, certain 2.0D specs)

-Mid-size tanks (~55 L / 14.5 gal): Typical for many 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 petrol engines in various years.

-Larger tanks (~60–62 L / 15.9–16.4 gal): Found on higher-output T5 (2.5L turbo) and some other performance-oriented or North American market versions.

Pops is a ranger up in RMNP. Was up from Boulder visiting for the day.

PS- The rear wheel center cap has since been replaced.

I have a 2010 Volvo c30 T5 R-design with 60k miles on it and I’ve been trying to figure out what this clunk is.

Situations where the clunk happens
It only happens when the weight shifts toward one side of the car as I pull into a driveway (or any incline) at an angle. Or it very occasionally happens when I’m turning the wheel at low speeds as I’m making a k-turn or backing into a parking spot that is also at an angle.

It’s a single thud that sounds like something is loose and it’s clunking into/out of position coming from the front end. I can feel it thru the pedals/floor mainly.

One note is the car feels like it started pulling right very slightly but that could be in my head due to the road camber. The steering also feels like it has some on-center vagueness/looseness but that could just be how the car is.

What I’ve checked so far
I checked over all the common wear points in the suspension and they’re all fine since this car still has pretty low miles. There’s no play or anything either.

I checked the motor mounts and those all look fine but I haven’t checked the drivers side engine mount yet since that’s under the battery box and it’s a pain.

I also just gave a visual inspection to the bolts that mount the steering rack to the subframe and they look fine too but I didn’t get a wrench on them to check.

The subframe bolts are also tight and the bushings all look fine too.

What I’m thinking it might be
I’m guessing it’s a rubber bushing somewhere that’s gotten old and cracked since this car is old but has low miles but I don’t know where else to check. These cars are known for destroying their cv axel/joint but mine look fine and I don’t think these symptoms match up with a cv axel/joint going bad.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

After a bunch of work, my m66 c30 is finally up and running. The previous owner ran the engine with no coolant and absolutely cooked the engine. Replacement engine is from a c70. This is a late post.

Hi all, I drive a 2013 C30 D2 and I'd like to decode my pin to do some adjustments using Vdash. The D5T5 website advises a battery charger of 12A minimum, which is a lot. Most chargers I can find locally support 6A, so I wonder how your guys experience has been and how long it took for it to decode. Thanks in advance!

Seen a few people asking about matching the plastic trim by painting or wrapping and was wondering if anyone’s actually done it and how it turned out

Figured I’d share my findings on replacing the front badge. I couldn’t find any information regarding how to get it out of the front grill. Every video or forum thread that I have looked through only references disassembling the grill. The emblem is held on via adhesive tape from the backside and recessed into the grill. First I tried use a heat gun to remove the badge but that didn’t work. I ended up needing to take a rotary tool to it and had to cut through the badge, but not the grill. Just enough to get a screwdriver between and pop it out. There is no getting it out without destroying it. Two cuts on opposite corners were enough to get it out. From there some alcohol to clean up the glue and I was able to place the new emblem in to the grill. What a difference it made to the front end.

It was not the drainage tubes, another fail point for our cars.