I went to my usual go to AC guy to see about getting a bit of refrigerant. To my chagrin he said no way --- he doesn't do Volvo's because you need to remove a bunch of crap to get to the ports.

He may be correct because it looks like the low side sits under the power steering / coolant reservoir. Really????

 

Pulling up the reservoirs is too much work? Really?

 

My AC guy is one of those really good guys and I've been using him for 30 years. But when he is very busy, (which in 94 degree weather he is) he can be short tempered. Plus I know he doesn't like Volvo's.

Is he correct about the need to remove the reservoirs? IF so I tried to pull the power steering one up last night and couldn't get it to release from the coolant reservoir.

I was tired from doing a timing belt on a Subbie in the hot sun yesterday afternoon and didn't want to pull hard and break something.

Any tricks to it?

 

You can probably access it without removing anything actually. I just move the reservoir to make it easier. It releases from the coolant reservoir by prying the top retaining tab and pulling up.

 

The AC guy is correct.....stupid design. I spent a bit of time in the sun trying to get the power steering reservoir ear to release from the coolant tank. No go. Everything pointed toward having it release but it is frozen in the spot and I didn't want to break anything.

I am sure the AC guy has seen it before and he said whenever he works on a Volvo he looses his butt. Probably broke a pwr steering reservoir in the past.

Thinking back of my last 5 cars I've never encountered any car that hides the AC port in such a manner.

A bit more piping and that port could just be right there, hook into it and be done. Not a fan.

 

I know, I know... Anything that takes some effort is a design flaw. A bit more piping to raise the port and guess what- people on the internet complain that the put that port right in the way of doing a timing belt. If you think that port is bad, you should see them on the P3. It's under the cowl cover. Instead of taking 10 seconds to access, it takes about 30.

 

Ha ha ha ....laughing to myself. Yes we do have our I hate engineers moments. For me I can go back to my first cars and remember all the room under the hood. Heck you could sit in there to do work. Now many times you need the hands the size of an elf to fit into areas and we blame engineers and design flaws.

Timing belt on this S60? Let me see. I'm am doing one on my 97 Outback and I had the belt off in 50 minutes. Something tells me it would be longer on the S60.

I'm sitting her thinking of the P544 I had when I was 16 and it was such a minimalist design. Removing an entire engine was done by me, the first one I ever did and all on the fly. Everything was set-up in a common sense manner.

I have no idea why that pwr steering reservoir is so stuck to the coolant tank.

I also need to do a serpentine belt. Not always a fan of tranverse engines and sticking my hands down there between the pulleys and the body is never fun. Heck I'm not even a fan of the serpentine belts. That thing goes and it is over Charlie. The old way of multiple belts meant if you break the AC belt you could still drive home. Pros and cons to all of it.

 

I hear ya. Something that's easy on one car may be a pain in another. I bet you can get the spark plugs out of the S60 way faster that the Subaru. I can have that timing belt replaced in about 25 minutes. But it's all about familiarity. The Subaru belt would probably take me 2 hours having never done one.

Cars are far more complex these days. There's just no way to fit everything needed and also have all the room for access. That goes for any car.

The power steering resevoir could be swollen. It's common and that makes them hard to remove.

 

The subbie belt is an easy thing and the first time was also about an hour. I am glad to hear that 25 minutes on an S60 for a timing belt is possible. even if it would take me twice that long it is still reasonable.

The subbie I have is a 2.2 and the plugs are easy. Not as easy as the flat head six on the Jags I owned. I never looked and I can't remember but are the plugs on the S60 under the plastic cover.

The plugs on a 2.5 DOHC subbie are a PITA and definetly an engineering nightmare. I have my own technique but it is still guessing of you have the plug in the hole.

A swollen pwr steering resv is probably the reason and I think I even noticed it was a bit swollen.

Wish I had my timing kit from Rock Auto for the subbie. I could button it up and take it for a ride. I also wish I would have kept my P544. As a 16 year old in the 1960's, I had a lot of fun in that car.

I need to do the serpentine belt on the S60. I can get a belt from IPD for $29.95. I'm getting lazy and decided to call my Volvo dealer to get a quote to replace the belt. $325? Think I'll be doing it myself. I just didn't feel like trying to squeeze my hand in to get a hex on the belt tensioner but to save $300 I'll skin my knuckles a bit.

 

$325 is way out of line. The labor is only a half hour and the part from them is about $80

 

And that is the problem, there is one dealer in town and they rape you.

I just told my wife that maybe we should sell this car because I get really stressed when I must have dealers do the work on my car.

I'm in my 60's and like to work on our cars but the Volvo isn't that easy for me.

For 18 years I drove Jag XJ6 cars and under the engine was a breeze. I have two 2.2 Subaru's that are a breeze to work on.

I like the Volvo, it is fun but when it goes down it is a PITA. In the almost 2 years we've owned the Volvo the maintenance is almost equal to the 11 years of my previous Jag.

I mean if there wasn't the online repair for the DIM maintenance would total a high amount.

 

Actually you shouldn't get rid of the car. Volvo is coming out with a lifetime parts warranty. Doesnt exactly help us dealer techs but is going to good for customers

 

Doubt if I will do away with the Volvo. Just in a mood because of all the stuff that has happened in the past two weeks. Death in the family, my Subbie breaks a timing belt, Volvo AC is acting bad and yesterday the house AC stopped working. Just seems that people and / or equipment are breaking.

My wife just e-mailed me asking "Does it never freaking stop?"

We rented a car for her to go to work because I can't have her driving in this heat when the AC clutch is dying.