Ok, I finally found out what was wrong with my car.

My old posts talk about the shuddering on the road and some of the hesitation issues..

My upper and lower torque mounts/motor mounts are completely shot (the bushings), and the cv joints are hosed from dry rot (arizona) and bad weather (washington). Also, when I replaced the oil trap/pcv system the small thin plastic hose running off the nipple under the intake manifold snapped off in the back and has been losing oil and vac...

I don't want to screw it up again so I called three mechanics in town.

ALL of them aren't interested in doing the labor that I KNOW the vehicle actually needs. Instead they want to charge me between 86.00/hr - 150.00/hr for trouble shooting and because the car isn't "Service Friendly Under the Hood" it could take 6 hours to simply take a look at it and get the UIM off....

First off, I'm not a mechanic and it took me about an hour and a half to figure out how to get the UIM off, 30 minutes to install the breather box, an hour to get the hoses right, 10 seconds to break the pipe, and about 3 hours to get it all put back on with new seals..

Why the hell is it that if you know what needs to be done and you request labor from a shop they can't simply do their job? Why do they need to run the clock up 3 extra hours of labor just to put it back together and then call you to tell you they either A.) have no idea what's wrong or B.) They found the problem and want to charge you the hourly labor rate to get it torn down plus install and parts????

Where the heck are all the honest mechanics?

"Hey I have a job for you"

"No problem I'll do my best"

"Thank you"

 

The problem is mechanics don't rely on best guesses for hourly rates, they use book rates, and often the time allotted for some project is a little excessive, but it gives some allowance for difficult situations, you won't find many shops who don't use book hours.

 

Most mechanics know Volvo owners are strange and crazy so they try to scare you off. Find a Volvo indi shop and try to stick with them. You will quickly learn that they are also strange and crazy, that's why they are willing to work on V olvo's.

 

went to a Volvo shop today. I called and told the guy my situation. 500 for the CV joints (whole axle plus labor), and he needs to take a look at the main hose to make sure before he quotes me.

I told him I'd be by in an hour. When I got there a man was standing around and said "it was such a nice day outside they just cut out before noon, call his cell".
I did, he said "yeah you know washington weather, I had to take advantage of it. Leave the car at the shop with the keys in the drop box and I'll take care of it monday"......

wtf?