In May 2017, my mechanic said two things needed replacing. But he said they could be fixed in 1-2 years and not right away...do you agree? It's now August 2018 and I'm wondering how quickly I should get them fixed because they both cost about $500 each. Your thoughts?

1. Positive battery cable needs replacing due to excessive resistance-voltage drop during start-up. (It works fine right now though)

2. Lower portion of the radiator is splitting apart at the plastic junction so he just wrote down, "radiator replacement".

Thanks!

 

3. Mechanic charges too much and should be replaced. ;-)

Those do both seem pretty steep to me, but may be in line with suggested dealer pricing. Both would seem to be easy enough DIY fixes, if you have any mechanical ambitions at all. I'm not sure how much you need to worry about the cable (if it's working OK now), but I'd at least be a bit concerned about a radiator that's got any kind of split... that can fail and leave you stranded - or if you don't notice the temperature gauge (or ignore it), in need of serious engine work.

 

Thanks for the reply!

This was our mechanic out in CA but now we are back east. Unfortunately I have no mechanical expertise so no way I could DIY. Regarding the positive battery cable's excessive resistance voltage drop, we changed out to a new battery once that happened so then the start up was much better...but he said we would still need to change the positive battery cable?

That makes sense about the radiator...do you think he is saying that the whole radiator needs replacing or just a portion of it? Kind of hard to tell based off his words. And if the radiator part is super important...why did he say we could wait like 1-2 years to fix it? Also, what should I look for on the temperature gauge on the dashboard to make sure everything's ok?

Sorry I don't know a lot about cars lol. Thank you for the help!

 

The radiator is replaced as a unit - there's no partial replacement. Luckily, they're not really all that expensive. If I thought there was any "split" in any part of my radiator, it would be out and replaced post haste - then again, I live in Arizona and it's August, so it's not like you can drive around with a cooling system that's not 100%! ;-)

I'd say to ask a local mechanic at your new location about that battery cable, and see if they agree it should be changed. I can think of any number of reasons the original mechanic would suggest doing so, some of which are valid, some of which aren't. I think a second opinion would be golden in this case.

 

you didn't mention which year your car is... but I think the estimates assuming they include parts are reasonable. Assuming you have a gen 2 (2005+) a replacement radiator will go for 150 to 250 for the parts and a 500 estimate assumes 3 hours labor. For the battery cable, assuming the tech is going to install a new harness vs simply replacing a terminal, then your again talking 200 for the parts and 3 hours labor. The radiator you should fix right away before you blow a seam overhead and warp the head. For the cable, You can start by cleaning and reseating all the terminals - battery end, starter end, ground strap etc. If the cable insulation has bubbles or is raised, that implies there is resistance and that builds heat.

 

Thank you guys for your help, I wanted to provide an update. Also, my car is a 2008 Volvo S40.

So again, the mechanic that recommended changing out the positive battery cable and the radiator was a independent Volvo shop who specifically only works on Volvos. He is from out in California but then we moved cross country and are back east.

So my now local mechanic here in the east is a family owned local business who works on all European vehicles, not just Volvos. So today while I got my oil change, I brought up these two issues from my mechanic out in CA because the mechanic in CA said they should be fixed in about 1-2 years. My mechanic here checked it out and to my surprise, they said they literally saw no issue with both the positive battery cable OR the radiator. The mechanic said he saw a little bit of corrosion on the battery cable but nothing to be worried about. And he said he only saw aluminum with the radiator so had no idea why my Volvo mechanic out in CA said that the "lower portion of the radiator is splitting apart at the plastic junction". I even showed him the notes with those specific words so he would know exactly what it was but he said he still couldn't find any issue...he even took me out there and showed me (not that I understood). One of the other people that works there said she wouldn't even understand why the CA mechanic would have me wait 1-2 years if it was a radiator issue.

So I'm super confused at this point so when I get back home, I call my mechanic in CA telling him that my mechanic here said they literally saw no issues with the two problems he mentioned fixing in 1-2 years. He told me he remembered in May 2017 that the radiator is crusting/splitting on the lower portion of the radiator where the tank meets the core and that perhaps they weren't looking correctly in the right spot. He also remembered that we probably never have replaced the radiator before (which I don't think we have) and that the radiators in these cars usually tend to need replacing around 125,000 miles. Ours has 156,000. He said with his customers when he sees this crusting happen, he just tells them they should go ahead and replace it because it could go at anytime and then leave you on the side of the road. But he said from what he could remember, he didn't remember any leaking happening from the radiator area which is a good thing. Regarding the positive battery cable, he said it might be fine as long as it cranks up right away but if it ever is slow at start up, especially in winter, we should just replace it but the little bit of corrosion might be fine.

So now I'm stuck. I've got two mechanics conflicting one another...what do I do? Take this new information from the CA Volvo mechanic back to my local European mechanic and see if they will relook at the radiator when they said they didn't see any problems?

Just stumped and need help. Sidenote...this makes me wonder. Our AC has been going out after a couple minutes of use so a couple of months ago we took it to our local mechanic here and they said I need a new AC Compressor. So we've just been holding off on doing it but now I'm wondering...that couldn't be caused by this radiator issue instead of needing a new AC Compressor could it? Sorry I don't know much about cars.

Thanks guys.

 

I'd say that you'd be pretty safe forgetting about the radiator and power cable. Your CA mechanic might have been conflating your car with another one, or maybe just mistook some other type of residue on the radiator for signs of a leak.

Our A/C compressors have an issue where the clutch discs wear down a bit too far for the magnetic clutch to pull them closed when they get hot. There are other things that can cause the issue, but it's a whole lot easier to fix the clutch than it is to replace the entire compressor. In fact, a DIYer can do the "fix" in minutes for the cost of a bit of wire or a few zip ties (strategically placed on the face of the clutch, moving the clutch plate a couple mm closer so that it will be pulled in reliably). You might run that by your new mechanic - if the problem really is the clutch spacing (and there's a very good chance it is), he might be willing to do the "cheap and easy fix", which normally restores 100% reliable operation of the compressor for many, many miles (did it to my 2001 V70 and drove it in Arizona for a long time without a single problem afterwards).

 

Thanks, regarding the AC...I already bought the idea up to them about just fixing the clutch but they don't feel comfortable doing that they said and would rather just replace the entire compressor. I even checked with another Volvo mechanic here and they said they would do the same thing...only replace the entire compressor.

Regarding the radiator and power cable...I'm not sure I agree with your assessment on my CA mechanic. He was positive and before I took it to him I actually took it out to a Volvo dealership before taking it to him and they were the ones that both identified both problems. He then just agreed with their assessment? And what makes you think I'm safe to forget about both issues even with that info? Especially if radiators do usually need replacing on these Volvos at 125,000 miles and I'm already at 150,000 miles?

So I'm just so confused what to do.

 

I'm only taking your "new" mechanic at his word. There are only two scenarios...

1) Your CA mechanic was looking for extra work to do on your car - or possibly just misdiagnosed it - and your new local mechanic (who has a vested interest in finding work to do on your car) correctly diagnosed the lack of a "real problem".
2) Your CA mechanic was spot-on, and found a couple problems that sound serious. He also suggested you could wait 1-2 years, which doesn't seem to be consistent with the diagnosis he made - and your new local mechanic is incapable of finding a couple simple problems that have been identified to him, thus missing out on extra work ($$$) on your car.

You can decide which of these two scenarios is most likely, but it's your money, and you're free to spend it on your car any way you wish. The radiator replacement can be considered preventive maintenance, so wouldn't be a bad idea, but I suspect it's not a crisis either (keep in mind that the dire diagnosis came with a 1-2 year window for fixing it). Your car starts just fine, and the new mechanic told you there wasn't a real problem. You could spend the bucks to replace the cabling, but from all indications your car will act precisely the same and will probably be no more likely to fail. If it was my car, I'd look for any sign of corrosion on the cable, and put a little lube on it (preventing any further oxidation), and then promptly forget about it.

FWIW, my V50 just crossed 130,000 miles, and I promise I won't be replacing the radiator any time soon, unless I actually see it leaking. My 235,000 miles Acura MDX has a similar radiator that many will replace at half that many miles, but I've never worried about it, and I won't until I get some indication of a problem.

 

I agree that I'd be surprised if the cables needed replacement. cleaning up the posts and contact points should be considered routine maintenance. As to the radiator - most mechanics look for staining to determine the health of the radiator but that usually is after you noticed having to do periodic refills of the overflow tank. If you don't need to add coolant, you're not leaking. Any stains would be from other sources. Also the radiator is part of a sandwich with the oil cooler and AC condensor so again it may be hard to get a good look at the radiator. More often its a hose (just replaced the upper hose from the thermostat on my S40) or the side seams where the fins meet the side cap... To keep the radiator in good shape you can do bi-annual drains, fresh water flush (de-ionized/de-mineralized bottled water, not tap) then refill with appropriate coolant ("green" aluminum friendly stuff not the yellow "Dexcool"...

 

So just an update:

Today, I called back my local mechanic (family owned and deals with European cars) to let them know what my previous California Volvo mechanic said about where specifically the radiator crusting was and what he said about the positive battery cable. So they said I could bring it down again to relook at it specifically in the spot where the California Volvo mechanic said the issue was with the "crusting/splitting on lower portion of radiator where tank meets the core" and with the positive battery cable.

They were nice enough to get look it all over again and still found nothing wrong. The mechanic even showed me everything under the car in the spots again (even though I didn't understand it). Not only that, he also called the owner to come look at it and they both said they couldn't anything wrong with the radiator or the positive battery cable, especially since the radiator wasn't leaking. They said again the radiator is all aluminum so they had no idea what he meant about the plastic part.

They assured me everything looked fine and I had nothing to worry about....they seem trust worthy. They are always super friendly and explain a lot. But I'm just still so confused why both the Volvo dealership and the Volvo mechanic in California both identified each issue but yet this local business European mechanics couldn't find any issues with both.

I want to be rest assured especially since they looked it over again...just a little part of me still nervous though. Hard to just let it go, lol. They had no idea why those two out in CA would say that and couldn't find any problems. They said they don't even check to replace the radiators in Volvos at regular intervals like the Volvo mechanic in California said he did. The whole time they let me stay out in the garage while they looked it over and had me looking the whole time too and explained everything...so I want to really trust them.

 

The radiator is not all aluminum. The end tanks are plastic and they are press sealed onto the aluminum core. If your original mechanic saw what he believed to be some crusting due to coolant going past the seal, that is probably what gave him concern. The fact that it isn't leaking just means that. I wouldn't toss him under the bus.

He may have tested the battery cable and found enough of a voltage drop from the terminal to the cable end to justify a concern. If the cabling inside the insulation starts to corrode, it will lead to a voltage drop and heat. Enough heat and you have an underhood fire. Looking at the cable won't give you a reading.

Radiators typically give some warning before totally failing. A small leak and its time to replace. The battery cable is not so forgiving.