Hey guys! I want to thank you for having this excellent Volvo forum here. I have been recently working on Volvo at our large Ford dealership since we picked up the Volvo line 9 months ago. This place has helped me numerous times on diagnostics and general Volvo concerns. Our Dealer has no "Certified" techs and ony two of us wanted to move to the Volvo line and we are growing in our experience with these cars.

We are actually to the point where we are getting more Volvo work than Ford work because most of the customers that come in from Ohio, PA, and NY heard that our Dealership is doing a great job and we really have not pissed off any customers with shoddy work or un-needed repairs. The other guy and I make it a point to fix every Volvo right the first time and this has been working to our advantage. Both of us use this forum when we get into a bind. Here is an example.............

Just today I had a 93 850 towed in with a "No start" and as any mechanic would do, I checked the fuel, compression, and spark. This car had no spark and I put a new coil on it. The car still had no spark, so I used the "Search" function here and found a post from Tech about the cam sensor. I ran diagnostic codes and wouldn't you know it, erratic cam signal! I put the old coil back on, replaced the cam sensor (almost same price for each part) and the car fired right up! I did not charge for the coil or add any additional labor and the customer was happy. He is now having me do the recommended services I suggested which included the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, timing belt, etc.

So like the title of this post says.............

I just wanted to say "Thank you" and now that I am learning more and more about Volvo, I am contributing to this forum by replying to posts that I can help out in. You guys can expect me to help out where I can, but I am also busy running my PC Gaming website ( http://www.TeamFortressXtreme.com ) and that place takes up alot of my time since there are a few new game releases pending that are related to my site.

See ya around the forums

 

Your welcome. I am glad to see the forum helping others.

Where is your dealership located at? I get crappy service from my Volvo dealership where I am from.

 

I work at a Ford/Volvo in North Western Pennsylvania.

 

Im glad that all of our members have contributed enough to really help out alot of people.

Espically for you. You jumped into the Volvo line not knowing anything at all about it.
I give you props just for that. But glad there is a good databank of knowledge on here that is helping make your job easier.

 

As soon as you said the car would not start and was not getting spark, I thought coil or cam position sensor. And I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I like the fact that I read enough on this board to diagnose what might be wrong with my cars. Half the battle is figuring out what is wrong. You can really learn quite a bit off the itnernet.

I use volvospeed.com quite a bit too, but you really have to be careful over there. Sometimes guys who don't know near as much as they think they do will answer a question and it's not always right. The will even get into debates on who's right and who's wrong. There are quite a few over there that do know what they are talking about though too, and you can usually get an answer quicker over there. But you have make sure whoever answered knows his ****.

 

Well at least I make an efffort. I really think jumping into the Volvo line was a smart move and worst case scenario, a Volvo dealership is hard to come by and there are some real hacks out there who take advantage of people and it is a shame. I am very active on a Ford forum that I offer support on because Ford owners need more help than Volvo owners.

Volvo for life!

 

Hello Johnny,

I'd like to thank you too, for joining the forum with your expertise as a professional. You may not have worked on Volvos for a year yet, but with your strong background, you'll be mastering Volvos in no time. I work on airplanes and when I lived in Chicago, I rented my boss's 850 and it was abused by his cousin, so in7 months of renting the car, I nearly had to re-manufacture it. The only thing I did not get to fix was the ABS module and brake hoses, whose connections were absolutely frozen and neither flare-nut wrenches nor Vise-grip didn't do (the rears are of extreme pain!). Other than that, the car was in great shape and not a spec of rust was on the body; a proof that Swedish steel is the best in the world.

BTW, during the 11 month of working at O'Hare, I volunteered my free time & weekends to fix up Ford trucks that were used for the job, which were abused by many people as well. So,during the11 months I fixed up 4 vehicles (plus some minor defects on airplanes[8D]). Regardless of what people say, Ford trucks are extremely durable, if properly taken care of. I worked on '92 Aerostar, '92 F-350 Custom and '94 F-150XL. All of them were inches away from falling apart, but after I worked on them, they came back to life and I believe there are still several years left on them. BTW, Tech helped me a lot when I worked on the F-350; it was a PAIN!!! (If you're curious, there is a thread on it in the "Off Topic" section) And it had the original fuel filter, which means no one changed it for 14 years!!!

Volvo. For Life.

Best regards,


JPN

EDIT: I found the thread on F-350 at:

https://volvoforums.com/m_52822/tm.htm

 

Nice post Johnny Mullet, Nice post.
I like the fact that even a qualified Ford tech is so humble, your not
a know it all, you are a sponge....you love the info...i'm the same..

v70 2.4t

 

I know exactly what you mean about Hacks out there.
I am at a Indipendant shop now. Alot of them are known to be Hacks. Not ours We like to do stuff as well or better than the Dealer quality work.

I hate short cutting things like alot of people at Dealers to. (That is usually the Flat rate talking) I am on a Salary which I think most shops should have. When on salary you can do a better job fixing the car. You are not trying to beat the clock and get it done fast.

You can take an extra couple of minutes to make sure it is 100% correct and fixed.

Customer satisfaction should always be #1. Not just another job to make $$$$$.

I supplied our shop with the older VADIS program. They already had the VCT2000 interface box. I installed my own copy of Vadis into the laptop and configured the VCT2000 this way we can have almost every option the Dealer has. The only thing we can't do at the Moment is download software.

It wasn't woth it for us to do that as of yet. Espically when they announced the recall for the throttle bodies. Thats what stoppped us from buying everything to be able to download software. If something needs to be done like that we send to the Dealer now.

But with the Vadis I can read any system in the cars and change many options in all the cars.

I just like doing things the proper way not the Half A** way.

So again I give you props for just jumping into the Volvo line and running with it.

Im glad you can use the site to help as well.

That also tells me that we all built a good site here for Info.

 

Hi Tech,

I agree 100% with your opinion. The same is happening in the aviation industry, and the quality of work seems almost a joke to me. At line, the top priority is to get the plane on time, not to make it 100% sound. Unlike the majority of technicians, I had to wait10 years and sacrifice many things in my life just to get my feet in the industry and I never take it for granted, but many seem to. It is a pity & shame, that top executives at airlines are only concerned with reducing the cost of maintenance and having heavy maintenance overseas where labour is cheap. I am 100% against this trend. Very often, you get what you pay for, and the same goes for maintenance. And yes, it takes only a bit of extra time to do a quality job. If there are passengers who are more concerned with on-time performance rather than safety, I'd like to know their reason. I personally would rather leave a few hours late on a sound aircraft than depart on time on an airplane that is going to fall apart in the air.

I think I'm done with line work, as well as working & living in Japan. I really hope to come "home" soon, and work on small business jets in a hangar. At line, I only use a few screwdrivers and a Leatherman pocket tool. And my entire set of Snap-on tools are now resting in my friend's garage in Vermont. Line work is not a "maintenance" at all, as far as I'm concerned. It is more of "kick the airplane on time" kind of deal. De-regulation (1979?) was the first mistake that happened in the industry.

Anyway, keep up the superb job, as many people look at you as a role model.

Thank you for your help, integrity and professionalism, that is the kind of American Spirit I know of.


JPN

 

Wow... sweet. I'm now so glad to be in this forum.

 

wow. this one is inspiring. im just a newbie on this forum and im glad a lot has helped by this forums. i hope i can be one of those lucky people too.