HI, my husband and I bought a 2004 xc90 in Nov 2007. The car has been great for the most part. However now it seems now that the car is falling apart. The rear bearings have been redone, first the left and now the right ball joint replaced and also the engine mounts had to be replaced. now the drive shaft has to be replaced because of the broken engine mounts. Then the mechanic informs me that the timing belt is in need of replacing. It seems like form one day to the next the whole car is in need of repair. I realize that most of this is just maintenance that will have to be done in order to keep the car in top shape, it just seems that it is all happening at once. It has 140,000 kms on it we bought it with 90,000.
With regards to the timing belt. is this a job that my husband could do himself?? he has experience working on cars, it would be just finding the time to do it. I just don't want to attempt to do it ourselves if it cannot be done. Honestly since we bought the car we have paid 1500.00 to get the rear bearings done along with the regular service it required at the time(done at Volvo), 350.00 for the front right ball joint (done at Volvo) and today I just paid 869.69 for the engine mounts (upper and lower), front left ball joint and engine torque bushing??(at an independent mechanic) only to be told that I will have to shell out another 700.00 for the timing belt and 1400.00 for the drive shaft??
So you can see if we could do the timing belt in the bay at my husbands offices I am all for saving the 700.00 that that would take.

I guess I am just worrying about what will go wrong next. I love this car and will do whatever it takes to keep it in good condition but I am just tired of it being one thing after another after another.


Kari.

 

Hi Kari,

Welcome to the forum, and I'm sorry that you had to spend so much money to repair your vehicle. Unfortunately, the XC90s do not seem to have good reputation.

As to the ball joint, if it was the steering tie-rod end ball joint, it has been recalled at least for the U.S models so go back to the dealer and negotiate with them; dealers must repair recall items at no charge to the customers. I believe it was a recall item in Japanese market XC90s too, so I would assume it is universal.

http://automallusa.net/2004/volvo/xc90/recalls.html

As to the timing belt, if your husband has never performed the job, I wouldn't take the risk. The job itself is within the capability of DIYers, but if attention to detail has not been followed, the engine would be damaged for good. If your husband did performed this type oftask before and is willing to spend some $CDN on a service manual, then it may save you, otherwise leave it to a technician that specialises in Swedish/European makes. Or, let your hubby do otheritems such as the driveshaft, etc...

I hate to say, but I have a feeling that the shops you've been using have been taking advantage of you. I would learn about modern cars so that you won't get taken. You only need to know the basics, and there is a good book that you can read on your leisure time:

http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Wom...72&sr=1-18

I searched at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_2?...men&page=2

If the XC90 becomes a nightmare, I would suggest that you look for a Japanese SUV. I'm not recommending this because I'm a Japanese (American at heart, though[8D]), I'm only recommending this because in general, Japanese makes are durable & reliableand the repair bill would be a bit less (but not much, probably 5-15% less than European makes). However, Volvo still outperforms all other makes in terms of body-shell structural safety.

Let us know if we can further assist you. Best of luck,


JPN

 

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea if it was the ball joint you mention. I assumed there was only one ball joint on each side of the front. Would I be able to be reimbursed if it were the ones you mention and I have already paid for them out of pocket? I am kind of mad because when I was taking it to Volvo thinking that I was getting the best service, all of these things were overlooked. You would think that if a car is taken to a dealership for a service they would give it the once over just for their records. It would have been nice to catch the engine mounts before it messed up the drive shaft. Oh well wishful thinking I guess. Now I have to deal with the way it is so, I will definitely look at the book you mentioned.
As I was in touch with the mechanic and he would tell me things, I would google what he was saying so that I would be able to make a decision with at least an ounce of knowledge.

This mechanic put all of the parts he had to replace in a box in the back of the car for me to see and he showed me exactly what was wrong with them... something I hadn't seen any of the other times it has been taken in to Volvo.

So one more question and then I will stop bothering, is there a manual for the xc90 out there available to purchase? I have looked on line but have not found anything. Where would I look for this?? I would LOVE to have it.


Thanks for all your helpful information JPN.

Also I noticed that the 04's have a recall on the second and third row seat belts. How would I go about finding out if mine is affected?? I am concerned about this as I have 4 children.

Kari.

 

Hi Kari,

The following site may be of help in regard to all recalls on XC90s in Canada; seems to have quite a bit of info on the child-seat + seatbelt recalls:
http://search.tc.gc.ca/en/search.asp

This may be used as an additional info site:
http://www.volvocanada.com/Privacy/P...icy.aspx?lng=2

As to the ball joint, ask the fellow technician, the one who gave you back the original parts, to do a visual inspection to see if it WAS the tie-rod ball joint that was replaced, and show him the service receipt to see if he can verify it for you. If so, and if you still have the receipt, go back to the dealer and politely demand your money back. If they refuse, contact Volvo's Canadian branch. If that still doesn't solve the problem, I would contact Volvo Cars HQ in Sweden. Try the dealer first, and if nothing works then I'll give you the contact info for Volvo's HQ (which I posted somewhere in the XC90 forum).

Also, when you ask the fellow technician, ask him to do a thorough visual inspection on the undercarriage & the engine compartment. This is worth the money you pay.

The manual is DVD-based, and I believe it is called VIDA. This is the dealer version and seems only available at eBay at the moment, so try searching eBay. I found the following site, but since I'm about to go to work, I couldn't do a thorough search so use this as info only:
http://boston.backpage.com/Electroni...wAd?oid=811505

Come back as many times as you need to.


JPN

 

WoW! Thank you so much, everything has been very helpful!!

will check out those links right now!

kari.