As luck would have it my 5 year 50,000 mile warranty expired last Fall. A few months later I began noticing a noise coming from the front passenger side wheel well - it sounded as if something was broken although the car drove fine and there was no noise about half the time I drove. This went on for about a month and I brought it into my Volvo dealer and the tech diagnosed a broken strut bearing. They recommended I replace both upper strut beariings and mounts which I approved.This was not cheap - $121 in parts plus $596 in labor for a total of $717 plus tax of course. They also recommended a wheel alignment which I also approved for $130. Additionally, I had them perform the 60,000 mile maintenance - $450 and they recommended a new battery and also a CPVM for a total installed price of $354.

Total bill with tax $1,778. Ouch! The free maintenance the last five years was great but this one hurt. I'm assuming these are standard Volvo dealer charges but if not any comments would be appreciated.

Additionally, I have one other question. My left passenger rear window stopped going down a few weeks ago. I thought maybe I'd inadvertently put a window lock on either with a button or through a menu somehow but the dealer checked it out and said they'd have to take it apart to diagnosis it - just diagnosing was going to be about $150 and then a module of some sort might have been the culprit so in light of a possible additional $350 I postponed the repair. Any ideas of what could be the cause? If so your comment would be appreciated. All other windows and doors work fine. Thanks in advance if you're able to help.

 

I'll simply restrict my primary comment to your strut bearings and mounts. This is fairly common failure and it's happened to my wife's S60 twice in 2 years. Fortunately, once repaired by your Volvo service center the parts should be life guaranteed and you should not be on the financial hook for future similar repair bills. One bit of advice, should this happen again you definitely do not want to wait too long before you seek a repair. Once the mounts fail it's totally within the realm of possibility that you could be sporting a new hood ornament in the way of a strut!! As far as diagnosis and parts costs etc., yes It can be expensive to own a Volvo when your Volvo dealer does the servicing but you either accept that or move on to a Honda and/or Toyota which also works in our household.