Well it happened this morning. Lost power on my way to work. No smoke or loud noises... just a slight chirp and a miss a couple of times beforehand.

Popped the hood and everything looked fine, until I bent back the timing belt cover to take a quick look... TB was loose ;( That means certain death for the engine, I'm not even going to bother trying to put the belt back on to see if the valves are toast, they almost certainty are. That chirp must have been the TB slipping its way to the junkyard.

So that's it. My Volvo adventures are OVER. Never again. Its all Ford's and Honda's from now on. To heck with these over-engineered POS Volvo's.

Thanks to everyone who helped me keep it on the road this long... I wish you all luck with your Volvo's.

Jeremy

 

You realize the 2004.5 and up to, what 2013, were owned by Ford? My 2005 has FoMoCo parts all over it.

 

That's true, but the Volvo's were still engineered by "Volvo" even if they were bought out by Ford. New management but the Volvo team was still making them.

Don't gt me wrong, they're great cars from 0 to ~120k miles. Its when you have to start doing some serious maintenance to keep them on the road, and all of the electrical components start failing in the interior of the car, that you realize the problem.

My 2002 Ford Focus, 210k miles... runs like new. The interior still looks pretty decent, AND everything 'power' in the interior still WORKS like new. Windows, Climate controls, locks, radio... every little button and switch are all still working fine. Volvo's do not hold up like that.

 

Absolutely agree. Remember when Volvo decided in the 80's that their cars should be "Green"? Somebody thought it was a good idea that the wiring harness insulation should not last any longer than necessary so that when the car goes to the junkyard it will break down. Yea, that didn't work out so well.

Notice how the plastic parts degrade really fast? This is by design. I did notice that my 2005 has much better plastic parts than my 2001. Maybe it was Fords influence or simply Volvo reacting to customer complaints, don't know. I do know my 2005 is a much better car.