Hi, a few weeks ago my s70 non turbo began flickering its oil light at idle, once and awhile not every day, well I took it into the shop and they said it was the O rings in the oil sump, so I told them to replace them. Well once the pan was off their was signs of rod bearing bits in the pan. Guess my oil sending unit was from what they said flickering the light around 2psi, not 7psi like it should have and started to rune the engine. The shop told me they could replace the rod bearings and things should be OK since the engine does run very quiet. I thought a used engine would be best but they said I might run into the same issue or worse. New or rebuilt engine is out of the question, its more then the value of the car. I know its hard with out seeing but what is my best choice? Would replacing the rod bearings fix it and last? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks;
Chad

 

Hi Chad:

My thoughts are to have compression tested if that is possible. If compression is fine, have the bearings replaced and move forward. As the mechanic says, you really have no idea on how well a used motor has been taken care of unless you can have a compression test done on it or know a little history about it (from a wrecked car).

 

Im not a mechanic but thinking logically, I'd say no to the used parts for sure. Have you priced out the new or refurb rods?

I have an S70 with 170k miles on it and i've already thought about what i'm going to do if the engine dies on me. I'm going to replace it! I really like the car and an engine swap is somewhere around $5k?

Nowadays you need at least $5k to put down on a vehicle and then you assume payments. If you buy a $5k used car, then you may end up with the same problem you had with the Volvo. With a little TLC, the Volvos will last a VERY long time.