Hi there! I'm new here, unfortunately due to necessity. My wife's 2005 S40 2.4i has around 87k miles, and has been a little needy lately.

Specifically, right now, the car won't start. Tried jumping and charging the battery, the battery tests good. We had it towed to the nearest Volvo dealer, and they told us the alternator was bad, and a new one would be... wait for it... $1200. They also told us trying to start the car had caused fuel to leak into the oil system, and it would need an oil change.

Anyway, we looked around on the intertubes a bit, and it seems remanufactured alternators are around $200, while a brand new one might be $600 max. Are they really trying to charge us $600-1000 for labor to install an alternator? Is that reasonable? Because it sure doesn't seem like it is.

 

They are called stealerships for a reason. If you cannot DIY then I'd suggest finding a local shop. Replacing it yourself is not overly difficult.

 

Thanks, it gets even better. We towed the car to an independent shop after the $1200 quote, and they found a bad battery was the culprit, and not the alternator. Saved us over $900.

"Stealership" sounds too generous.

 

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