Hey all, so I've had my c30 for a few years now and absolutely love it. It's a 2007 C30 T5, manual, with about 230k kilometers on it.

However mine has given me a few persistent electrical errors. For the last few months I've had random, intermittent "Reduced engine performance" error that would come at seemingly completely random times, and often I could just turn the car off and on again to reset it, but sometimes not.

I've had issues in past years where it pops up, then the anti-skid came on, and then it gave me that dreaded error where it kills all the power and forces me to pull over to the side of the road...however, a battery swap fixed that for me for a good year or so!

But as I was saying, recently it happened again (the R.E.P, and then the anti skid) and it forced me to pull over and killed my power... I shut it off for a bit, then turned it on and it was fine again. But I was so chapped that I just took it straight to the shop to get checked out.

The shop couldnt figure out what was causing it (even with checking the codes apparently?) but they eventually told me they were pretty sure it was my accelerator pedal? Some sensor in there or something. So that part is apparently 600 bucks. Then they inspected the car more and told me that my coils (they didnt say how many) were broken and that it was dangerous to be on the road, and then they told me that would be like another 2000 dollars or something to replace. Does that line up?

I'm not very car smart so I've always just trusted shops, but maybe I should get a second opinion? If it's true that it costs that much, I'm tempted to just learn how to do everything myself. I bought a cheap civic to drive while I figure out what to do, but man, it just feels wrong not driving the volvo.

Any help would be hugely appreciated, I miss this car and I'm being pressured to sell it, but I can't bring myself to! I want to get it back on the road. I just cant drop 3000 bucks right now.

 

Bin it. Put it in part/ex against a newer car and don't mention the coils.

Replacing the front coil springs should cost hundreds not thousands.

230k kms means it is starting to become a money pit.

Don't let your heart rule your head.

If you like it that much. buy a newer, lower mileage model if you can find one in your area.

Bite the bullet or risk spending far more on it than it is worth.

Good luck, whatever you decide. :-)

 

Here's my 2 cents worth of advice. If you're also Canadian, then I'll have to round that up to a nickel.

Was the "shop" in any way a Volvo dealership? With 50 years of Volvo ownership and repair, my first instinct is to do what I call "first level problem determination". You can ask for advice here as well as using the Internet to search for symptoms that match your case, then read or watch what repair they did.

It's highly unlikely that all 4 coils are broken; otherwise you'd be hearing weird sounds and would have heard when a coil does break. I did have this happen on my City Golf and was able to buy a pair of strut kits from Rock Auto for about $200 USD. I was able to replace both front struts myself with the help of my garage hoist and following an Internet video.

I recently bought my second C30 T5 and had the closest Volvo dealership do the inspection and paid for a list of their repair recommendations for the safety check. I used an excellent Volvo parts store in Toronto that sells original new parts at a decent discount. I even bought and replaced new seat skins for the driver's seat.

So, if you are willing to accept that your C30 will need repairs, there are many less expensive ways to keep the costs in check. I am fortunate enough to have a local garage that allows me to supply my own parts, when I do not have the tools or experience to have a repair done.