New to the forum, but a lifelong Volvo driver. I have to confess that I do not have near the know-how or expertise as the users of the forum, but I always come here when looking for answers.

My 2002 S80, with 110K mileage, has a cracked camshaft. The mechanic said the repair could top $3K. This would bring the total investment in the car over the past 12 months to $6K. I am thinking the camshaft going is a sign of more problems to come. Any thoughts/advice would be most welcome.

 

how did your tech determine that you have a cracked camshaft? ie is it on the end by the gear or were they working on the head when they saw the crack? This is not a very common failure so I'm curious if the car had any recent work done that could have caused the failure. You didn't mention which engine but the part itself is not that costly - but to replace requires some disassembly of the head. Most shops follow a book quote for the hours so you can call around for estimates. Where things get tricky is what else to replace with the job - ie VVT gear, timing belt/tensioner/idler, cam seals etc can add up. I doubt if this predicts any other failures unless you have an oil pressure issue of sorts. 110K miles is very young for these cars. Many go 2x that.

 

I've been working on Volvo's for a long time. Never saw a cracked cam. I'd get another opinion or find out how he arrived at that conclusion.