What did you do to your car today?
#962
11-28-2012, 09:34 PM
I am on the final stages of taking the cam cover/head off of my Volvo 850, and doing the works on it, but cash is a bit sparse, since i just spent 1700 cash on the car. i am planning on doing:
-PCV System/oil trap
-Plugs, Wires, Cap and Rotor
-Water Pump
-Oil Change
-Coolant Change
-Tranny fluid and filter change
-Timing belt.
-Hydraulic Lifters
-Valve stem Seals
-Clean carbon from all valves
-Send the fuel injectors off to be cleaned.
-Repair/replace the burnt exhuast valve on cylinder #3
-I may also do pistons. rings, and aftermarket H-Beam Rods. But this is not likely, because i don't have the cash.
I may want to mention that the car has 180,000 miles on it, but the odometer is broken, but ti does have 162 PSI on all cylinders. well, 0 on the one with a burnt exhaust valve, but that will be fixed.
-PCV System/oil trap
-Plugs, Wires, Cap and Rotor
-Water Pump
-Oil Change
-Coolant Change
-Tranny fluid and filter change
-Timing belt.
-Hydraulic Lifters
-Valve stem Seals
-Clean carbon from all valves
-Send the fuel injectors off to be cleaned.
-Repair/replace the burnt exhuast valve on cylinder #3
-I may also do pistons. rings, and aftermarket H-Beam Rods. But this is not likely, because i don't have the cash.
I may want to mention that the car has 180,000 miles on it, but the odometer is broken, but ti does have 162 PSI on all cylinders. well, 0 on the one with a burnt exhaust valve, but that will be fixed.
#963
11-28-2012, 09:36 PM
#966
11-29-2012, 05:31 PM
Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Waterford, MI, USA
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Today i pulled the head off my car to find that an exhaust valve on cylinder #3 indeed had a huge hole in it. about a 7 by 2 mm burn, there was also so ton of carbon on the head. probably from the huge intake leak, bypassing the MAF and every other sensor there is on the intake. so the car had no idea how much air it was getting, so it probably defaulted rich...Super Rich.
Last edited by predxen; 11-29-2012 at 05:36 PM.
#967
11-29-2012, 06:28 PM
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Canada ontario
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#968
12-01-2012, 11:35 PM
Took it to the body shop. wife hit a deer (she's fine, but don't think the deer is). $1742
for a hood, fender, headlight/turnlight and grille from junkyard and paint to match . Can't find a parts car of the same color that I could drive home and "pick" to do the job myself. I can get an "off color" one for $850 but the cost of towing it home and getting a paint job makes the shop's price reasonable. If I had storage for a "picker" to use for future parts I might reconsider, but I don't. 1999 v70 glt, runs great, rides great, many new parts, great interior, was a great exterior, 124k, wife loves the car,... it's a keeper.
for a hood, fender, headlight/turnlight and grille from junkyard and paint to match . Can't find a parts car of the same color that I could drive home and "pick" to do the job myself. I can get an "off color" one for $850 but the cost of towing it home and getting a paint job makes the shop's price reasonable. If I had storage for a "picker" to use for future parts I might reconsider, but I don't. 1999 v70 glt, runs great, rides great, many new parts, great interior, was a great exterior, 124k, wife loves the car,... it's a keeper.
#969
12-01-2012, 11:41 PM
After a few previous days of significant doings for my car, driving round in search of offerings to the maintenance gods, today was only incidental.
Unplugged the 12v adapter. Felt hot even though I had not used it since plugging it in a couple of days earlier.
Checked for coolant leak. Nothing.
Curious, because it was leaking in the days before--sufficient to get me to e-mail mechanics for a repair estimate, also bought anti-freeze to refill it. Manual refuses to disclose the capacity. 
Reset clock—was a couple minutes slow.
Unplugged the 12v adapter. Felt hot even though I had not used it since plugging it in a couple of days earlier.
Checked for coolant leak. Nothing.
Curious, because it was leaking in the days before--sufficient to get me to e-mail mechanics for a repair estimate, also bought anti-freeze to refill it. Manual refuses to disclose the capacity. Reset clock—was a couple minutes slow.
#970
12-02-2012, 08:40 AM
#972
12-03-2012, 11:50 PM
I did a heck of a lot of research on this forum about my coolant leak. I had drawn the conclusion that it was leaking owing to overpressure, which would explain why it only leaked after long trips. The simple solution according to the forum was to replace the radiator cap, the pressure valve for which presumably had gone bad. Big problem, no radiator cap! A mechanic I spoke with said my car ‘has a closed system,’ which is supposed to explain the absence of such a vital component. 
So today I fell back on replacing what the manual calls the ‘coolant reservoir,’ and the mechanic calls an ‘expansion tank.’ They allowed me to watch—always fascinating.
The leak seemed to be at the joint to the larger of 2 hoses. In my book, a new $1 clamp ought to have sufficed, but they proceeded to disconnect the old reservoir and swap it out for the new one I had ordered earlier. I was appalled at the easy access, disconnect and removal. Suspected I could have done it myself. Anyone could. I was charged $57 for 30min labour, yet they didn’t do an expansion test.
Earlier I rode my bicycle to buy the high-speed oil filter at the local dealer. The parts man was having trouble with his computer, which delayed me. When I got out, my bike had been stolen. Two of the mechanics, whom I had made friends with from having been there so much, were washing a car nearby when I arrived, and I greeted them. One was still there when I came out, and I asked him, ‘Did someone move my bike?’ He said he saw a guy get on it and ride away, explaining, ‘I thought he was with you.’
My roommate later opened the box and I happened to notice the o-ring was missing. Have to go back for that tomorrow.
My car had better appreciate the hell out of that filter; it was the most expensive ever. 
So today I fell back on replacing what the manual calls the ‘coolant reservoir,’ and the mechanic calls an ‘expansion tank.’ They allowed me to watch—always fascinating.
The leak seemed to be at the joint to the larger of 2 hoses. In my book, a new $1 clamp ought to have sufficed, but they proceeded to disconnect the old reservoir and swap it out for the new one I had ordered earlier. I was appalled at the easy access, disconnect and removal. Suspected I could have done it myself. Anyone could. I was charged $57 for 30min labour, yet they didn’t do an expansion test.Earlier I rode my bicycle to buy the high-speed oil filter at the local dealer. The parts man was having trouble with his computer, which delayed me. When I got out, my bike had been stolen. Two of the mechanics, whom I had made friends with from having been there so much, were washing a car nearby when I arrived, and I greeted them. One was still there when I came out, and I asked him, ‘Did someone move my bike?’ He said he saw a guy get on it and ride away, explaining, ‘I thought he was with you.’
My roommate later opened the box and I happened to notice the o-ring was missing. Have to go back for that tomorrow.
My car had better appreciate the hell out of that filter; it was the most expensive ever. Last edited by Sir Vivor; 12-07-2012 at 09:36 PM.
#973
12-07-2012, 09:35 PM
Car developed an alarming problem yesterday. Symptom was an abrupt change from a smoothly running engine to a clunky sound/feel. My guess was cylinder related. The dashboard puter problem readout did not have any comment, but it is not in my nature to disregard that sort of thing and hope for the best, so I took it home (i.e., the local mechanic) for a diagnosis ($100).
This morning the report was #3 cylinder coil needs replacement. I set about getting estimates from the selection of Volvo mechanix. I didn’t want the shop it was in to do the work because their estimate is usually quite lofty. But just as I was about to leave, the clerk handed me a document with their estimate, and at $153 it was very near the other shops, which astonished me as the figure I had seen earlier in e-mails from him was $234. This fellow expresses himself so poorly that he had me utterly confused, and I told him they lost my business because of it. If I had clearly understood it was $153, I would have told them to repair it.
He said that the diagnosis included temporarily replacing the busted cylinder coil with a used, but serviceable, one they had in the shop, and that they had just left that one in.
He said I could have it at no charge, but they could obviously not guarantee how long it would last.
Car ran fine.
Incidentally, the warranty company denied my claim for this repair (when I was going to have it done) because my policy ‘only covers the powertrain.’ That what? How much more ‘power’ related can a part be than the cylinder/spark plug/cylinder coil element?
My guess was cylinder related. The dashboard puter problem readout did not have any comment, but it is not in my nature to disregard that sort of thing and hope for the best, so I took it home (i.e., the local mechanic) for a diagnosis ($100).This morning the report was #3 cylinder coil needs replacement. I set about getting estimates from the selection of Volvo mechanix. I didn’t want the shop it was in to do the work because their estimate is usually quite lofty. But just as I was about to leave, the clerk handed me a document with their estimate, and at $153 it was very near the other shops, which astonished me as the figure I had seen earlier in e-mails from him was $234. This fellow expresses himself so poorly that he had me utterly confused, and I told him they lost my business because of it.
If I had clearly understood it was $153, I would have told them to repair it. He said that the diagnosis included temporarily replacing the busted cylinder coil with a used, but serviceable, one they had in the shop, and that they had just left that one in.
He said I could have it at no charge, but they could obviously not guarantee how long it would last. Car ran fine.
Incidentally, the warranty company denied my claim for this repair (when I was going to have it done) because my policy ‘only covers the powertrain.’ That what? How much more ‘power’ related can a part be than the cylinder/spark plug/cylinder coil element?
#974
12-08-2012, 08:37 AM
#975
12-08-2012, 04:50 PM
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: NW Ohio
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#976
12-08-2012, 08:23 PM
#978
12-15-2012, 08:24 PM
Of course, everything under the sun fails, even pyramids, given time. So technically, you are quite correct.
My experience has been to put many hundreds of miles on it since the #3 cylinder coil failure. And there has been nary a peep out of it (replaced with used) nor its brethren. A failure of this part is also not catastro-phobic, and can be driven onward to repair.
As a soldier I witnessed an appalling amount of waste owing to this sort of thinking. Speaking historically, armies must be prone to it, because many of the cities of Europe originally formed from people scrounging a living off the waste of legions, clustering round their castrae. I remember seeing footage of Vietnamese rummaging through vast US dumps during the war. No doubt much of it was perfectly serviceable and entered the Viet economy.
Being ecological minded, I am troubled by the trend to replace over repair.
Where would MacGyver be if he had always to await delivery of new components?Last edited by Sir Vivor; 12-15-2012 at 08:27 PM.
