Took my baby, 2005 S40 Volvo T5 6 speed manual to dealer to change cabin air filter... and they broke off my accelerator bolts from the firewall!!! I bought this NEW in Sweden, did the overseas delivery etc. This car is in excellent shape never been overnight outside and always in a garage -- no rust anywhere, no dings, etc. They claim the bolts were rusty ???. I am a female and so they are taking me for a ride. Can this be fixed? They said they would have to weld them back on! I am sick.


They are trying to sell me a new car and only giving me $1,000 for this one.


Please I need advice. Can this be welded?


JULY 13 2015--- UPDATE on S40 Accelerator Bolts:
Thanks MIGBRO and everyone else who assisted in helping me with this weird situation. Dealership did WELD a metal plate and 3 bolts under my S40 accelerator pedal. So far so good.. except they had many other items they said were bad. Had a family member (good with cars) and they were full of doo doo.. Had some soft brake shake in steering wheel and my rotors were bad... pads good-- Also, AC has now quit working... They said I needed wheel bearing (have new tires). How do you tell if wheel bearings are bad??
Oh, the cabin air filter had been changed about 2 times prior to this by dealership. My car was always in a downtown garage during work hours and in my garage after work. So rusted bolts not feasible. My clear coat finish is still evident even though I have 183,000 (99% highway) miles on my baby.

Heartbroken in PA.

 

They broke them, they fix-em. Trying to turn a simple filter change into a big bill it seems.

 

Accelerator bolts? I had no clue about that until I found this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzrW7EYlqv0

Having watched the video I can tell you there are several ways to repair broken bolts or studs in those locations. As a matter of fact there's only one bolt that goes through the firewall, the other two fasteners are nuts on studs that should be rust-free. So I'd bet there's only ONE broken bolt.

The people at the dealer that are trying to steal your car are lower than pond scum. What they're doing is fraud and if all else fails, call your Attorney General's office.

Insist they fix what they broke at no charge. If they won't, have your car towed to a trusted shop. Tell me what town you're in and I'll see if I can come up with a suggestion.

 

It isn't too uncommon on older ones.

The accelerator pedal has to be removed to replace the pollen filter. It is held in with three nuts. The three nuts screw onto three studs. These studs are press fit into a bracket. What happens is they strip out so that when you turn the nut, it just spins the stud instead of tightening.

If all three are stripped out, then the bracket either needs to be replaced or removed so the studs can be welded from the back.

Good luck having them fix it for free. That's not how it works. Stuff happens on older cars.

 

The point here is not that they broke this woman's car. It's that they're using that as leverage to try and manipulate her into buying a new car with a $1,000 trade-in on a 2005 vehicle.

I appreciate the knowledge you bring to this forum but I can do without the excuse-making for the dishonesty in your industry.

 

I hate the dishonesty in my industry. And service and sales are two different parts of a dealership. I hate sales even more. But how do you know the car isn't worth only $2500? A $2500 retail value will get a $1000 trade in.

 

She doesn't want to buy a new car. She doesn't want to trade in her car. These ******** are trying to upsell a freakin' cabin filter replacement to a whole new vehicle.

Anyway, thanks for explaining the problem with the bracket. I'm familiar with the clinch studs and this amounts to a design defect. If I had one to look at I could come up with a fix in five minutes.

I recently took two vehicles of mine - a Volvo and a Toyota - to two different shops. I usually do all my own work but decided to try the self-proclaimed Volvo specialist. Also needed a wheel bearing on my Toyota and I didn't have the press tools to do it myself.

Well, the Volvo came back with botched sway bar bushing installation and botched struts installation. The Toyota came back with a damaged brake hard line, a missing brake line clip and with wheel lug nuts torqued higher than 200 ft.lbs., maybe as high as 300 ft.lbs.

I don't think there's a shop out there that does all the work they're paid to do and does it correctly.

 

They don't just randomly appraise cars for trade ins. I doubt they broke the stud(s), and then the advisor called sales to have the car appraised and then called the customer and said "Hey, we broke your accelerator pedal mounting studs. We will give you $1000 for the car."

Sadly, I think you're right about that last line though. You don't even want to know about the stuff I've seen guys in my own dealer do.

 

That must of been a rookie mistake. lol I've seen that and end up fixing about 3 of them. I haven't had all 3 of them broke off though. I never take the pedal off, replace the filter without even taking it off. yes, it's possible and avoids these issues.

 

It's not really a mistake. It can happen to anyone. I take the pedal off because it takes 5 seconds and makes it way easier. So far I haven't had any problems with the studs but I've seen other guys have this happen.

 

The OEM nuts on those studs are VERY tight locknuts. I can imagine the wrong sort of mechanic wringing one of two off. But ALL THREE? Sigh.

Idle curiosity: how long had it been since the cabin filter had been replaced? If those nuts hadn't been touched since 2005, I can imagine problems.

Perhaps an indy mechanic or a body shop will be more open minded about replacing those studs. It doesn't require a mechanical engineer to mount three studs. Hell, JBweld would probably do it.

EST6: what's behind the firewall at that point? Could it be safely drilled through? Could the inside be safely be welded?

 

You have to remove the bracket to replace the studs. Or weld them from the back.