Greetings again. Sometime ago I posted wondering about my car's hesitation on take off I've since gotten used to what I've come to learn as turbo-lag.

Since then I took it in for a routine $50 oil change at the only Volvo repair shop that I know of in the area. Nice place. Washed and cleaned out my car. Great waiting area with free bottles of water and coffee, say nothing of all the new 2013s I got to looking at on the showroom floor *some snazzy rides!*.

The chief mechanic came in to tell me my car was finished... as well as the results of their 50 point (or however many point) inspection of my ride... all that had an estimated cost of $2750 worth of repairs and an assumption that I'd want to get it all fixed that day.

Not made of cash and in need of doing other things with the rest of my day I respectfully declined.

The estimate and repairs needed can be found in the attached files

SO...
Question 1: What are the chances of being able to knock down the cost of repairs if I were to go to... say... a more general non-volvo-specific garage?


!MORE URGENT QUESTION 2!

Driving home from work today I made to what I have come to learn as a common mistake and tilted open the moonroof. First nice day and all...

Well... now it won't shut. It's been working without issue the few times that I've used it... except for today.

I push the button in all the directions and there's nothing. No grinding, no sounds of any kind. Fuse checks out alright, and nothing seems to look as if it's off any tracks.

My research has lead me to an estimated cost of $800. Though it has also lead me to try turning the engine on and off 5 times to reset some sort of computer module so I am going to go and try that first hoping that it'll work. I am seriously starting to hate the feelings of growing frustration I am having for this car that I love so much.

any help with anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

No such luck with turning the engine on and off. *sigh*

 

Parking brake shoes are way overpriced. The shoes and retaining springs are about $95 and labor should be about 1.3 hours.

The power steering reservoir and suction hose are common to leak. The pump usually just seeps. A non-volvo shop should have no problem doing either. Just make sure they use the right clamps.

I would not let a shop not familiar with Volvos (specifically the procedure to rebuild the angle gear) touch the angle gear. There are quite a few special tools to get the seals in at the correct depth, as well as an updated procedure to modify and reseal the case half.

 

Excellent. Thank you. My next question is how urgent do you suppose it is to get the angle gear repaired? He said it was leaking but didn't really hint one way or another as to how bad.

Going to get the moonroof looked at today. The shop called back and said some times you can reset whatever needs to be reset by manually locking and unlocking the door a certain way. Told me how to go about doing it but damned if I could remember it by the time we hung up yesterday.

Hopefully that's all needs to be done. I have no problem looking the fool and have them be all like "yeah... just used the key to lock and unlock your door." if it saves me the cost to have to repair or replace anything.

 

Depends how bad it is leaking. You don't want it to run dry and damage the angle gear, which is about $2000 new if I remember correctly.

The reset is just that, lock and unlock the car a few times.

 

$117 just to look at it. Say nothing of them not being able to get to it for another couple hours in spite of sending me an email saying their schedule is wide open all week... and telling me of this delay after I signed the paperwork and handed my keys over.

1 hour and 2 different busses later I sit home awaiting their call.

should have spent more time last night locking and unlocking the car.


probably going to see if I can find another mechanic after this.

 

If someone presented me with that estimate I'd have a hard time not laughing. That was a pure fishing expedition on the off chance you would bite.

It's amazing how much you can learn just by Googling around. Oil seepage from the angle gear is very common due to the poor seal design. It's possible that you may never have to have this repaired but you'd have to monitor it yourself for a while to figure that out. Read this thread.

The one thing on that list I'd fix right away (assuming it's actually broken) is the rear exhaust hanger. Probably just a missing rubber donut. $5.00 part and one minute's work - well worth the $125.00 you were quoted - not.

 

Seepage is one thing but I see a lot of angle gears leaking badly. If its seeping, I note it and advise the customer to keep monitoring at. It its leaking, I recommend rebuilding it. But then, I'm one of the honest ones.

The rear exhaust hanger that breaks is usually not the rubber part. Its the metal parts that go through the rubber hanger. They make a service bracket, as opposed to replacing the whole thing. Its about $74 for the part.

 

Thanks for supplying the actual facts as usual. Much appreciated.

 

Much appreciated indeed. I'll have to go see what I can find out for myself... once the weather turns nice again and the ground isn't so wet.

On the brighter side of things, the shop didn't get a chance to look at my car the other day. Having to work the next day I went back to get it. As soon as I walked in the guy behind the counter said that as soon as he pulled the car back out into the parking lot he figured he'd give the window a try just to see if anything would happen. Sure enough the window worked and he was able to shut it.

Excellent news. Even better news was that out side of not having a car, the day didn't cost me much of anything.

He said "it seems to be working... for now..." hinting that it's probably not worth trusting and to prevent it from happening again I should still get it in to be looked at. At some point I... might. I doubt it because what the hell do I need to open the moonroof for outside of being all like "look! I have a window on the roof of my car! And it opens!" I don't care. I have AC and 4 other windows that open should they ever need to be opened.

Once again... thank you both for helping me along and sharing with me some of your insights. I'm not very savvy with domestic cars, let alone imports.

Be sure to stay tuned for the next installment of My Trials and Tribulations of My 2004 XC70.

 

So I gassed up the car after work this morning when I got to thinking the car could use some time in the carwash. I opt for the premium wash because... well... I love my car.

I get home, hand the keys over to the wife so she can do some grocery shopping while I take my post work nap.

I get up, check my phone, see that there's a text from my wife that says the following: "Is the door to the gas tank in the driveway?"

Now... I'm not saying that I probably forgot to shut the door to the gas tank after dropping a good $50 worth of gas into it while thinking about getting my car washed... but I probably did.

Whatever the case may be... I'm now missing the door to gas tank. The cap is still on though, so I got that going for me


And thus brings us to the question portion of this post!

1) If by chance the door to my gas tank is waiting for me at the gas station where I got my car washed, is this something I can fix myself?

2) If it isn't something I can fix myself is it something that can be fixed by Joe's Corner Auto Body? Or is it something I should take to the overly priced but reputable Volvo Shop.

3) If the door to my gas tank isn't waiting for me at the gas station, where would a guy like me go about finding one for cheap to be fixed by me, by the guy working at Joe's Corner Auto Body, or at the Volvo Shop?


Again... I appreciate any help I can get, and thank you for tuning in to this latest episode of Trials and Tribulations.

 

1) and 2): Yes, the door might very well be waiting for you at the gas station. What happens often is that the hinge on these doors break which causes the door to fall off. Lucky for you, said hinge is but a $15 part, readily available at the Volvo dealership, and you can install it yourself. Should be easy.

3) If you can't find your fuel door, look for one on eBay, Craigslist, or at your local junkyard (Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market is a good way to access their respective inventories). Additionally, you can see if there's a European auto salvage center in your area that might have some doors in stock.

Bonus: I noted your problems with your power steering pump. When I still had my S60, the pump went bad also, but the dealer suggested replacing it with a used part. The $1,150 figure is for a brand new pump, which I wasn't willing to do. Instead, the dealership got me a used pump with a 12 month warranty for $200, which they put in for another $200 (including flushing and filling the system). I was a lot happier with that, and the pump worked fine for as long as I had the car.