My S60, at 103k miles, has cost me over 3K in repairs in the last two weeks. A brief summary of the issues:

• Regular timing belt replacement
• A mass air flow sensor malfunction and related repairs
• Serpentine belt replacement

Cost was $1400.00 for repairs.

Then I drove it for a week, and the clutch fell to the floor, leading to:

• Slave cylinder replacement (they instructed me to have the whole clutch serviced)

The mechanic test drove the car, and then the master cylinder failed. They are fixing that now (total cost of clutch service is $1800).

About seven months ago, the clutch in the AC failed, that was $600.

My question is: Are the "newer" Volvos designed to fail at 100K? Or is this just a terrifically unfortunate series of events? At this point, I feel the car is a money pit, and I'm terrified the tranny will go next. Should I sell? Your thoughts are appreciated. As it stands, I've spent almost what the car is worth in repairs.

 

Well I think you are paying way too much for the work, but that's what happens with Volvo's if you can't do the work yourself. For instance the MAF, Timing Belt (including Water Pump, Tensioner and Pulley) and the Serpentine Belt would cost you $550 in parts at fcpgroton. I think $850 in labor for doing that is ridiculous. Of course they marked up the parts and made money on them too.

Now your problem is you already got all this money tied up in the car. Hindsight being 20/20 too bad you would not have sold it before putting that much money into it. Now you're in a Catch 22 on whether to cut your losses or keep putting money into it? It's a decision everybody has to make on a car eventually and it's a tought decision. I usually just go on gut feel when it's time to get rid of a car.

 

Thanks for your comment, JimKW. You confirmed how I feel about the whole mess. I wish I had training to take care of these things, but this forum certainly helps. I'd like to learn more.

At least the shop guarantees their work for a year. Considering that just about everything major has been done, my gut says hang on to the car (even a couple of years would be good). My S60 has a manual tranny and my research shows they hold up pretty well. The shop is confident she'll run for a while with no problems. Here's hoping!

 

Time to find another shop! Hang on to the beast. You'll learn to love again. You won't recoup the $$$ and someone will get an excellent car for their money. p.s., my dealer warranties their parts and work for 2 years. Find another shop!

 

The clutch, serpentine belt, and timing belt have to be changed on every car at 100k (with a few exceptions). Its not "failing", it needs maintenance. Regardless of what kind of car you have your going to need to do maintenance on your car, if you cant do it yourself then your going to have to pay a pretty penny to repair a volvo. The more luxury the car is the more expensive it is to fix. If you want cheap maintenance you shouldve gotten a honda

 

JDusza and S60Lover, thanks for your comments. S60Lover, I was a happy lifelong Honda owner before this car. I bought this after my '98 Civic was stolen. And I understand regular maintenance and cost, especially the timing belt (I was expecting it as it was a normal maintenance), but it was pretty darn unfortunate the clutch went in the same week. You would think a clutch on a Volvo would be more durable. The clutch in my '81 Prelude last over 150K.

The saga continues, though. The MAP and MAS issues haven't gone away. I'm driving the car for TWO days after all these repairs, and I get a CEL. This time I pulled the code myself and it was P0106, or problems with the MAP sensor. The shop missed this one, methinks. It says they replaced MAS as it had a short. But now the MAP sensor acts up? Did they misdiagnose or is my car possessed? This shop is a reputable 25+ year place with a spotless record, so I don't think they're screwing me (other than cost), but who knows. I suppose it is time to grumble at them, or am I to expect this as well at 100K? The MAP sensor appears very easy to replace, so I'll do it myself if they think it is the MAP and try to charge me too much to fix. Thoughts?

I miss my Honda. Obviously, I would have driven it into the ground if it wasn't stolen. Trying something different has been painful.