2002, S40, 180k, 4dr, loaded, 1.9L with a turbo.

I've been having problems with my motor for a while... finally took it to the repair shop and they said that the cam shaft actuator is leaking oil and needs replaced. I've been looking all over the web to price out a cam shaft actuator just so I have an idea of what to expect in their quote, and I can't find one anywhere. I just want to make sure that the price estimate they give me to do the work is not too crazy for the part. Anyone know how many hours a typical shop would charge for this repair? Typical prices... they already have the whole car apart... so I wouldn't expect labor to be that much more... or should I? Maybe a couple hours?

They also recommend replacing the timing belt because it has oil on it... is this legit? Can the belt be cleaned somehow to get the oil off of it.? The belt was changed at ~108k if I recall correctly.

I did go into the shop unannounced and they showed me everything that was going on... I agree with the things that aren't right. I've figured I've had something wrong with the motor for about 15k miles now... just didn't have the money or time to get it taken care of.

I'm a driveway / weekend mechanic, and have done many many oil changes, break jobs, fluid flushes, basic repairs, etc, but this is a bit out of my league and would appreciate some advise.

I've considered totaling the car but my wife is in love with this car... compared to what we could afford to buy elsewhere.

 

I think this is the part they are wanting to replace... finally found one...

Volvo S40 Camshaft Exhaust V.V.T. Gear | 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

 

Yes, the VVT gear does leak (sooner or later) and it will get oil on the timing belt when it does. When mine started leaking I did not figure it out quick enough and it caused the timing belt to slip and bent all 8 exhaust valves. You definitely want to get this fixed. You can also do this yourself if you have some tools though.

The leak can be fixed by a new o-ring on the VVT gear. Hear is the part that leaks.:


Here is where it lives:


Here are a few threads you might like to read including a DIY guide:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...ng-belt-79991/

GUIDE: Replacing Cam Seals / Crank Seal / VVT Hub - Volvo Owners Club Forum

If you fix the leak and change the belt you will be many dollars ahead.

 

Hudini,

Thanks for your reply - it helped a lot... I didn't do the work, but I was better educated to know what to expect to pay.

They replaced the gear and the timing belt, and it wasn't much more labor because they already had it open to replace all the seals in that area so it ended up being just about the cost of parts... maybe an hour or two more.

One question still though... Before I took the car in for service I noticed a bit of pulsating when I accelerated. I assumed changing the plugs, wires, and getting it to stop leaking oil would also fix this pulsating... but apparently not. The car hasn't thrown any codes since I picked it up tonight, but I'm wondering if this is something that should have been fixed or not when all of this work was done... or if the pulsating is anything I should even worry about and try to stay out of that power band... which is usually easy enough to do...

They did fix the misfiring at idle... which was my main concern and why I took the car in. That was probably just the plugs and wires that fixed that.

Could the pulsating be due to poor gas? I always forget to put in premium (It's my wife's car), and I've been driving it for a while so it's been drinking regular gas for a while probably...

Thanks in advance...

 

If your seals were leaking do yourself a favour and make sure that your PCV is not clogged. If it is, you may find yourself with some leaky seals again if you do not address.

 

One way to find out if it's the fuel. Run it down past E and fill it up with premium. Remember, when you are sitting on E, the tank still has 6 gallons left in it. 16 gallon tank shows empty at 10 gallons. Don't know why they did that.

 

They charged an hour or two extra to replace the belt? It comes off to replace the gear, so there is no extra labor.

 

@pierremcalpine - PCV - Position Control Valve? Thanks for the tip - how do I do this. If they were a good shop - I would think that they would know to do this - right?

@Hudini - I didn't realize that... I might add some fuel injector cleaner while I'm at it...

@ES6T - I take that back - I don't think they charged me any extra labor to do the gear and belt...

The whole thing ended up at a hair over $1200... $80 for 'diagnostic'... I did ask them to take that off... no dice. I had the Gear replaced, new cam plug, vvt gasket, two camshaft seals, timing belt, crankshaft seal, oil cap gasket, plugs and wires, and an oil change. Looks like it was about $700 in labor including the diagnostic. So about 6 hours total at $120... that might be a little rich, but probably not by much... they did charge one hour for the plugs and wires though - which is silly.

This is the first time using this shop, and I used them based on a friends recommendation who is a bit of gear head. Honestly, I haven't been horribly impressed, but I don't think I've been horribly screwed over either considering the amount of time and work that would have taken me to do. I'm not convinced that all the seals needed replaced...

I think taking care of the gear would have fixed a majority of the losing oil problem - possibly the entire problem, and they could have probably saved me some money by just replacing the plug. They also had to know about the cam plug needing replaced before they worked on the seals (the work I approved initially)... If they would have called me right away once they took the belt cover off the car, and let me know before replacing the seals I would have probably still replaced the seals while they were in there. It's just the order that everything was done in that is bothering me.

There was definitely some upselling in there that I declined (new radiator fluid and thermostat, tranny flush, air intake cleaning, and serpentine belt) and really don't appreciate being asked about.

IDK - I'll probably try another shop next time around. I'll never like taking my car to the shop - and I'll probably never love any shop I go to... They are just too expensive and shady, but as my wife and I continue to become more busy in our professional careers, my wife is starting to get more annoyed that I can't take care of the cars as well as I used to.

I'd sure like to see this car hit 240k... That's about 3 more years for us.

Now to figure out this pulsating...

 

Fill it with premium 2 times to be sure. If your car is experiencing knock under boost with some really poor octane fuel then the ECM would pull timing. You would notice a power loss. I am thinking it should not pulse though. More a power drop off. And in cold weather it's more unlikely than on a hot day.

Other areas are the Boost Control Solenoid for the turbo. You would need a boost gauge to watch if the boost is pulsing. Or the voltage not steady causing fuel pressure to vary. Some kind of OBD-II dongle might work to monitor systems if you don't have a DiCE tool.

It only happens during a certain rpm range?

 

Now that you mention it - the car has lost a lot of power over the years... maybe it's related... It has a hard time accelerating from a stop up steep hills when it is just powered on... my driveway has about a 100ft long 7% incline and it has a hard time getting the power to get over the top of that hill some mornings starting at a complete stop.

For tools, I do have a fluke 87 multimeter and a tektronix analog oscilloscope if that would be handy for troubleshooting. I don't have a OBD-II or DICE

I also noticed today that the fuel gauge sender gave a bad reading showed about 1/8 a tank when I knew it was full - I reset the car and it went away... showed full again.

 

All the seals probably didn't need replacement, but it's better to do them when the CVVT gear is off. If a front cam seal leaks later after this work, you're paying to take it all apart again. The price sounds fair. Labor for the cam seals and VVT is 5.5 hours if I remember correctly. Plus the plugs and oil change.

They probably recommended the serpentine belt because it was off for the job, so no labor. Pretty standard practice.

 

ES6T - Thanks for confirming that the price was fair... I also thought the price was fair... but I wasn't sure... I saw how much of they car they had to pull apart to get to the belt and gear... that was absolutely worth 5-6 hours of work... Probably wouldn't take a good tech that long, but it would have certainly taken me that long - or more.

 

Hudini -

I found this video online - I might just go pull that valve from a yard car and see if that fixes the problem... should take less than an hour.

 

PCV = positive crankcase ventilation. The oil trap is what it boils down to. If the trap or any related components get clogged up (which they sometimes do at higher mileage) you will be putting too much pressure on seals, and oil dipstick. Some suggest that a good test is to take off the oil cap and wrap a rubber glove around the top and then turn the engine on. If the glove has the air sucked out of it you are good, if the glove balloons up, this is bad and suggests that you have outward pressure within the motor. I'm a bit of a novice so apologies if this is not quite correct. Here is a link to an IPD replacement kit:


Volvo PCV Breather System Kit 2000-2004 S40 V40 NedCar 115449 8653327 2E8715


here is a link to a fantastic guide that a fellow in the UK put together for the DIYer.


Guide: replacing PCV/ oil seperator system - Volvo Owners Club Forum

 

The labor charge is never about how long it takes. Its what it pays according to various labor guides. A tech familiar with the job can do that in 3 hours or less. That's how we make money.

 

Well, I drove it for a while today and I was happy to see the MPG calculation exceed 32mpg... I was also a little disappointed to see the CEL come back on.

I went to the junk yard to look for the solenoid, but no dice this time... There are several on ebay and this is a super easy fix: 9473212 volvo | eBay

I'm not sure if I should take it back to the shop or not since the CEL is still on... I sure wish I could have got my hands on one of those valves today to see if that was the problem. Is there an easy way to test the valve to see if it is working or not to see if it's something more serious or not?

 

What code came up?

 

Just got it read... P0128 - coolant temp below regulating temp... I picked up a Murray brand thermostat... 192f is this the correct temp for this car? The manual doesn't say...

 

Not sure about the thermostat specs but sounds to me like it could be the coolant temp sensor gone bad. It is located just below the thermostat. Slightly more expensive but almost as easy to replace...$50.

 

Well I pulled the old t-stat and found that it was 180f so maybe that was to low or it was stuck open our something... I think I will order the thermostat temp sensor and replace it too since it was probably the most likely culprit... Maybe I'll order the boost solenoid while I'm at it