Most airplanes come standard with an "excess money detector" And I'm guessing Swedish cars are similar.
Adventures with a 15 y/o high-maintenance swedish wagon
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Last: 2 yr ago by Tim Weaver
Update, list of problems I need to tackle over Thanksgiving and Christmas:
And a meme (P2R refers to Volvo P2-platform R cars: 2004-2007 S60R and V70R):
- Driver's seat stitching starting to tear, needs to be re-sewn
- Front brakes are warped
- Vibration from rear-right wheel at 50mph
- Front left fog light doesn't work
- Power steering whine, need to diagnose
And a meme (P2R refers to Volvo P2-platform R cars: 2004-2007 S60R and V70R):
Had a maintenance journey in the R over the Christmas break...
I did an oil change and a tire rotation over the weekend and found the front struts were leaking. Oh dear. The adjustable struts are pricey, $800 for the front pair, local Indy quoted $2,200 to replace the front pair. Yikes! Guess I am DIYing. Additionally, the tires need replacing. A very expensive start to 2019...
I did an oil change and a tire rotation over the weekend and found the front struts were leaking. Oh dear. The adjustable struts are pricey, $800 for the front pair, local Indy quoted $2,200 to replace the front pair. Yikes! Guess I am DIYing. Additionally, the tires need replacing. A very expensive start to 2019...
Time for coilovers?
Quote:
Station wagons are all but dead in the US now
Had a law school class taught by a Texas appellate court judge who owned a station wagon. It was a night during the summer so we met every night (or at least 4x a week) and all left at the same time. We gave him so much **** about that car but he swore it was the best he'd ever had. He'd never take anything in court but he did have a sense of humor.
Tim Weaver said:
Time for coilovers?
Currently debating that. I can trick the suspension sensors but there's other stuff that doesn't play nice if you don't install 4C equivalent struts. DSC, headlight systemic abs, etc.
Update from 1/19/19
Car now has new shocks/struts at all four corners. Total cost came out to ~$1,400 to DIY it (yes that's parts only...). Gotta thank 1ags and this board for the knowledge to be able to tackle this myself! Took me on and off about 3-4 hours per corner. Went slowwww and had to make a few hardware store runs to grab extra tools along the way. Of course knowing how to do it all now I could cut that time in half!
Upon taking apart the front struts I noticed that there were no bump stops. None! Not sure what happened to them. Thankfully, Volvo of Plano could overnight me some for $58 shipping cost, they arrived 20 hours later.
Not a fan of working with spring compressors but I took my time and got them done.
Had some help!:
Funny meme:
Car now has new shocks/struts at all four corners. Total cost came out to ~$1,400 to DIY it (yes that's parts only...). Gotta thank 1ags and this board for the knowledge to be able to tackle this myself! Took me on and off about 3-4 hours per corner. Went slowwww and had to make a few hardware store runs to grab extra tools along the way. Of course knowing how to do it all now I could cut that time in half!
Upon taking apart the front struts I noticed that there were no bump stops. None! Not sure what happened to them. Thankfully, Volvo of Plano could overnight me some for $58 shipping cost, they arrived 20 hours later.
Not a fan of working with spring compressors but I took my time and got them done.
Had some help!:
Funny meme:
Update 2/7/19
In the process of tuning my car and my tuner comes back and tells me the car is pinging and running lean. Yikes, no codes, no warning signs, nothing at all. In fact, I messaged 1ags last week and thought I felt what was a failing coil. Seems crazy but I pull out my OBD2 dongle and run some logs and sure enough the car is running lean. Very slightly lean under low load and significantly lean under boost. Been babying the car the last week or so. Haven't had any luck from shops with smoke testing it so it's off to a specialist indy shop next week for an intake pressure test. Going to ghetto-smoke test it this weekend with a $20 YouTube DIY and we'll see if I get any answers from that.
Inspection is due this month so put some new meats on the girl too, love these tires.
In the process of tuning my car and my tuner comes back and tells me the car is pinging and running lean. Yikes, no codes, no warning signs, nothing at all. In fact, I messaged 1ags last week and thought I felt what was a failing coil. Seems crazy but I pull out my OBD2 dongle and run some logs and sure enough the car is running lean. Very slightly lean under low load and significantly lean under boost. Been babying the car the last week or so. Haven't had any luck from shops with smoke testing it so it's off to a specialist indy shop next week for an intake pressure test. Going to ghetto-smoke test it this weekend with a $20 YouTube DIY and we'll see if I get any answers from that.
Inspection is due this month so put some new meats on the girl too, love these tires.
Update 2/20/19
SHE LIVESSSS. This car is the definition of a toxic narcissistic love-hate relationship. This morning on the way to work I was in love with everything running like a top, last week I wanted to sell the car right there and then.
I'm in love until the next thing breaks and then I'll want to sell her all over again.
A meme to continue the trend:
Busted turbo inlet (bottom connects to maf) top connects to turbo, leaking at the nipple at the top
Running some fuel logs (pic at idle), no leaning out anymore
Tearing back into something else this past weekend...
A Volvo in its natural environment
Ghetto smoke test, $22 spent, worked great
SHE LIVESSSS. This car is the definition of a toxic narcissistic love-hate relationship. This morning on the way to work I was in love with everything running like a top, last week I wanted to sell the car right there and then.
- The vacuum leak is fixed, finally. 3 visits to 3 different mechanics, the first two unable to find anything, the third, Bertini's (an actual Volvo Indy) doing a smoke test and replacing the turbo inlet pipe, $340 + $80 for a rental car for two days.
- I learned how to ghetto incense-smoke test my car for $20, good skill to have I guess.
- A 20 minute teamviewer session with my tuner to look over the cars ECM readouts post-repair, everything looks good now. On to tuning...
I'm in love until the next thing breaks and then I'll want to sell her all over again.
A meme to continue the trend:
Busted turbo inlet (bottom connects to maf) top connects to turbo, leaking at the nipple at the top
Running some fuel logs (pic at idle), no leaning out anymore
Tearing back into something else this past weekend...
A Volvo in its natural environment
Ghetto smoke test, $22 spent, worked great
I'm enjoying this thread...hopefully you get a lot of driving enjoyment before your next installment!
No kidding, my second child is due in 8 days. I am hoping for at least a solid 3-4 months to get me through that...Aero95 said:
I'm enjoying this thread...hopefully you get a lot of driving enjoyment before your next installment!
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
Volvo life...The Fife said:
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
I'm fearing the worst on this one. 8 or 9 years ago I got a call from Mrs Fife. She said there's a red light that house with a fan (low coolant), the temperature gauge was all the way up with a light on it, and some other light was on. But don't worry, she drove the car home and was down the street. I was across the country and told her to just put it in the garage and call my parents to see if she could borrow my grandma's sweet '91 Cutty until I got back because the car was probably dead.Dill-Ag13 said:Volvo life...The Fife said:
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
It was a sheared off plastic fitting on the original radiator. I replaced it, refilled, and the car ran and drove just fine... except once every few months you needed to add antifreeze but I figured there was a hose that needed to be tightened somewhere. It started to become more often last year so I had the system pressure tested but no leaks were found. I've checked the compression hot and cold and it's 180-190psi. No antifreeze in the oil or transmission fluid, no oil in antifreeze, no white smoke.
I think there's a crack or warp in the head, or the head gasket is starting to let go. Since it has to be refilled every other day hopefully now it'll be a little easier to troubleshoot.
Have you checked the concentration/mixture of the antifreeze? Is the water boiling off somewhere?
Well, not even 2 months later and there's a new episode. Driving home Thursday afternoon from work my "engine coolant low" warning light came on and I said to myself, not this $%&# again. Immediately put the car in neutral and killed the engine, I coasted about a half mile and ended up stopped on a busy road (no opportunity to pull off at any point during this time), not a good spot to be in. I popped the hood and lo and behold the same coolant hose had popped off and I was fresh out of coolant. I was pissed.
I called AAA for my bucket-list flat bed trip to the Volvo Indy. Once the car was dropped off I politely questioned them as to why this happened again. They had pressure tested the system and found no faults, in the end they replaced the coolant hose and put in new coolant, since it was a warranty repair it was only $98 all in. The cherry on top was that on my drive home I got the low coolant light again, the guys hadn't even properly burped the system. Classic example of a shop that's trying to maintain high quality but is far too busy for their own good.
So from now on I will just carry 3 gallons of 50/50 coolant with me and take care of business myself. I feel like I'm playing russian roulette though. I'll also be replacing the coolant cap, even though it passed the pressure test.
This car is definitely testing my resolve, at this point the only way I keep her long-term is to have a 3rd vehicle as back up, not really something I can financially justify at this point in my life. We'll see.
30 minutes into your drive home and your rad hose gives you this look:
Some memes for your troubles:
I didn't even make this last one...
I called AAA for my bucket-list flat bed trip to the Volvo Indy. Once the car was dropped off I politely questioned them as to why this happened again. They had pressure tested the system and found no faults, in the end they replaced the coolant hose and put in new coolant, since it was a warranty repair it was only $98 all in. The cherry on top was that on my drive home I got the low coolant light again, the guys hadn't even properly burped the system. Classic example of a shop that's trying to maintain high quality but is far too busy for their own good.
So from now on I will just carry 3 gallons of 50/50 coolant with me and take care of business myself. I feel like I'm playing russian roulette though. I'll also be replacing the coolant cap, even though it passed the pressure test.
This car is definitely testing my resolve, at this point the only way I keep her long-term is to have a 3rd vehicle as back up, not really something I can financially justify at this point in my life. We'll see.
30 minutes into your drive home and your rad hose gives you this look:
Some memes for your troubles:
I didn't even make this last one...
looks like woodlands parkway. yeah not a good place to stop if so.
Yep, just missed Falconwing and tried to make it to the next intersection but didn't. My head gaskets are made of unobtainium...
I gotta say, 30 minutes stuck in a lane on Woodlands Parkway and not a single person stopped to offer assistance. I stop every time someone's in trouble if it's safe to do so. Maybe it's because I like cars and can help, idk. Seems crazy to me. Stalled out here:
I gotta say, 30 minutes stuck in a lane on Woodlands Parkway and not a single person stopped to offer assistance. I stop every time someone's in trouble if it's safe to do so. Maybe it's because I like cars and can help, idk. Seems crazy to me. Stalled out here:
Thanks for continuing to post. I find myself actively rooting for you... You are like the protagonist in an epic novel... Hopefully not a tragedy.
Dill-Ag13 said:Volvo life...The Fife said:
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
Turns out mine is an external head gasket leak, probably related to Mrs Fife driving the car home after the OEM radiator failed 9 years ago. She overheated it to the point that about a cup and a half worth of coolant remained in the system.
I've pulled nearly all of the sound system and returned it to stock and I have several interested parties from turbobricks.com. it's been a fun 11 years but it's time to move on. I'll miss our brick.
Jack Cheese said:
Thanks for continuing to post. I find myself actively rooting for you... You are like the protagonist in an epic novel... Hopefully not a tragedy.
Appreciate that, just a regular dude with two kids under 3 trying to make it all work.
So are there any solutions out there? I got to think the easiest would be to underdrive the accessories. Any chance the thermostat is sticking? It bothers me that they would make a performance engine but have cooling issues like this (c7z06 was terrible too.)
I want this to work out! I am current trying to talk the wife into getting rid our boring, dependable mazda3 for something fun and probably 15+ years old that can take the whole family.
I want this to work out! I am current trying to talk the wife into getting rid our boring, dependable mazda3 for something fun and probably 15+ years old that can take the whole family.
Thermostat, pump, and rad overflow cap are the only possible culprits. Head gasket is good.
I'm thinking it's the rad overflow cap as I haven't had any cooling or overheating issues. Got one arriving on Monday.
I'm thinking it's the rad overflow cap as I haven't had any cooling or overheating issues. Got one arriving on Monday.
What is your username on Tbricks? Mine is HiSPL over there.....The Fife said:Dill-Ag13 said:Volvo life...The Fife said:
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
Turns out mine is an external head gasket leak, probably related to Mrs Fife driving the car home after the OEM radiator failed 9 years ago. She overheated it to the point that about a cup and a half worth of coolant remained in the system.
I've pulled nearly all of the sound system and returned it to stock and I have several interested parties from turbobricks.com. it's been a fun 11 years but it's time to move on. I'll miss our brick.
Scuba Steve. I'm the one who needs to get off their ass and finish sale prep this weekend. Replacing a ceiling fan in a bedroom has turned into a huge disaster over here since I'm not ok with the multiple electrical splices the previous owners made outside of junction boxes.Tim Weaver said:What is your username on Tbricks? Mine is HiSPL over there.....The Fife said:Dill-Ag13 said:Volvo life...The Fife said:
You're doing better than me. My 960 is consuming 6-8oz of coolant per day. No visible signs of leaks anywhere...
Turns out mine is an external head gasket leak, probably related to Mrs Fife driving the car home after the OEM radiator failed 9 years ago. She overheated it to the point that about a cup and a half worth of coolant remained in the system.
I've pulled nearly all of the sound system and returned it to stock and I have several interested parties from turbobricks.com. it's been a fun 11 years but it's time to move on. I'll miss our brick.
Well, forum theories are all over the place. Consensus on SwedeSpeed is a cracked block. If that's the case then this adventure has been a Greek Tragedy that will end with a junkyard swap and a Bring A Trailer auction.
New reservoir cap tonight. Getting a block test done tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
New reservoir cap tonight. Getting a block test done tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
TSJ
Joined:
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Dang. Hope it's not the block.
Block test passed but I'm not holding my breath... Mechanic suggested second test (second test free because this shop is awesome) for Thursday to be sure, but said cooling system looks good. Mechanic was familiar with older Volvos.
In other news I've sourced an engine and got some quotes. $500 for the engine (mates rates) and $1200 labor (+ consumables) is where I'm at. Shop that would do the work is a euro shop, not some crack joint. So all in I'm looking at $2,000. Not that bad actually.
Hoping the cap and new upper rad hose fixes it. If not I'll be following Guitarsoup's lead and buying a newer m a n u e l Wagen methinks.
In other news I've sourced an engine and got some quotes. $500 for the engine (mates rates) and $1200 labor (+ consumables) is where I'm at. Shop that would do the work is a euro shop, not some crack joint. So all in I'm looking at $2,000. Not that bad actually.
Hoping the cap and new upper rad hose fixes it. If not I'll be following Guitarsoup's lead and buying a newer m a n u e l Wagen methinks.
Block is good
Hit a milestone today too
Why are you thumbs uping a massive coolant leak?
Because nothing is broken right now
Edit: didn't realize you meant the massive puddle that looks like it's coming from my car. Hopefully not foreshadowing...
Edit: didn't realize you meant the massive puddle that looks like it's coming from my car. Hopefully not foreshadowing...
Mine tested good too, cold. Hope it's not something that opens up when warm.
I ragged mine out on the way home and brought it extremely hot. Wanted to be sure.
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