-solved-1998 C70 diagnostic (worse than I thought)

[Quip1337x]

I found out i need about $5000 to get the c 70 fixed up right. The diagnostic was worse than I thought. 

I'm just going to list the diagnostic issues. $5000 is a good amount of money. Is it worth it? Maybe if i do one job at a time maybe.. this is what they said

Engine oil - "there are a few leaks on this vehicle. The major leak is from the engine oil cooler lines, start there."

Drivability- "Air pump is inoperative, visual inspection shows multiple disconnected vacuum hoses, inter cooler piping is loose."

Brake hoses - "Break hoses are cracking"

CV Joints/Half shafts - " passenger side cv axle is ripped, drivers side is close to ripping- Replace cv axles"

shocks/struts "right front strut mount is bad, there is a severe clunk from that corner everytime you go over a bump- may or may not be caused by the mount"

these are the severe needed to be fixed issues they found during their diagnostic.

I have already put about $2000 into this car. What should i do? Sell the c70 and start fresh with an s70? please let me know.

Edit: the guys there said what they would fix first is the oil leak and the struts/ suspension issues first then work my way down. just those two he said would be around $2000. 

I had some time to think, I decided im going to fix it. Can't just give up on stuff because it needs your help.

[Zappo]

The strut mount I would do myself.  I used to be able to do that in 30 minutes, but I am out of practice since I haven't had stock suspension for some time.

Oil cooler lines leaking is common.  $2000 to fix both?  They are ripping you off.  The vacuum lines and cooler pipes you could do yourself.

I would do it all myself, but I have the tools to do it all.

Do you have tools to do any of the work?

Why does your car have an air pump?  Is he talking about the turbo?  That is the only air pump you should have.

[flyfishing3]

is he near Danny at all? 
 

I don’t know  the PNW at all

 

 

[Zappo]

Few hours drive.  Danny could knock out that list in a few hours if he had all the parts, but I don't think he has a place work on cars right now.  I also don't know when the last time he worked on a car that wasn't his own. 

I see from your other posts that you are getting the cooler lines done for $500.  That is a little high, but not bad for the job.  The lines are probably 200 in parts, if they are stock Volvo.

[Quip1337x]

yeah im already in too deep to go back on the $500 job. ill take a pic of the diagnostic. I wish i knew someone. I know the most out of all the people I know (not a lot).

He was saying an air pump for the secondary air injection system.

Edit: yes i have a jack and jack stands, socket wrench set, drill, L wrenches. tools aren't too expensive. 

I would be more than willing to drive the time it takes and pay labor. 

you can look at the digital inspection here. there is pics. 

https://2un.me/oqae50ku 

The more I think on it. The guy that charged me $400 to put in my A/c compressor(only took two hours) sent me to his buddy who try's to screw me over as well. So now I think I'm being taken advantage of.

[gdog]

8 hours ago, Quip1337x said:

I found out i need about $5000 to get the c 70 fixed up right. The diagnostic was worse than I thought. 

I'm just going to list the diagnostic issues. $5000 is a good amount of money. Is it worth it? Maybe if i do one job at a time maybe.. this is what they said

Engine oil - "there are a few leaks on this vehicle. The major leak is from the engine oil cooler lines, start there."

Drivability- "Air pump is inoperative, visual inspection shows multiple disconnected vacuum hoses, inter cooler piping is loose."

Brake hoses - "Break hoses are cracking"

CV Joints/Half shafts - " passenger side cv axle is ripped, drivers side is close to ripping- Replace cv axles"

shocks/struts "right front strut mount is bad, there is a severe clunk from that corner everytime you go over a bump- may or may not be caused by the mount"

these are the severe needed to be fixed issues they found during their diagnostic.

That's $5000 worth of repairs?!!  Yes, that's a ripoff.  BTW that's 2x what that car is worth.

1. Engine oil leaks:  Unless your car's leaving huge puddles of oil on the ground, it's not that critical that it's fixed asap.  It could stay that way for years; just keep an eye on your oil level and make sure it doesn't get too low.  A lot more oil will go out the tail pipe (e.g. via leaking valve guide seals) than will ever leak on the ground.  If you do the repair yourself, you can go one of two ways: buy the OEM lines and seals from fcp or ipd for about $300 IIRC and install them, or rebuild the lines by replacing just the rubber hose part.  That's what I and others here have done; total parts cost is less than $100.
2. The air pump on your car has absolutely nothing to do with driveability; it's a smog device and since you're in WA, I doubt they even check its functionality.  Unless it's setting a code I don't think you should care about it.
3. Any brake hose over 10 years old is going to looked cracked.  And they will continue to look cracked for at least another 10 years before they even start to begin to fail.  If you're that concerned about it, get some aftermarket steel braided lines for about $100 and install them yourself.  Get yourself a pressure brake bleeder for about $50 and go to town.
4. Aftermarket CV axles can be had for about $70 a piece; yeah they're rebuilt and not the best, but plenty adequate for your purposes.
5. You can rebuild your front suspension with OEM parts (I doubt your shop is using OEM) for less than $500, including the tools you'll need to do the job.

They're recommending you fix stuff that isn't critical, and for ridiculous prices.  For $5000, I'd expect a complete engine rebuild, but I'd never spend that..

If you want to learn how to repair cars yourself, you picked an excellent example with the volvo P80 platform.  They're great cars and they're relatively easy to work on.  Take it slow, one job at a time, and you'll soon be amazing yourself as to what you can accomplish.  Then when you do need to go to a professional tech on occasion, you'll be able to discern yourself if he's BS'ing you, or not.  There are good pro techs out there, I used to be one, but unfortunately there are as many (if not more) shady ones.  It's sad, but true, even at dealerships.

Don't know if it's feasible, but see if local community college offers any auto tech classes; good way to learn.  Can always post on VS if you get stuck; good luck.

 

PS; you should post something like this here BTW:  http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/forum/6-fwdawd-1998-and-prior/

[Zappo]

I still don't get why a turbo car would have a secondary air pump.  I have never seen that before.

[Quip1337x]

I think its funny the "air pump" is not on the digital inspection. I have gone from concerned about my car to angry with this shop. I would back out of this $500 dollar job if i could (I never signed anything) but he did order a part for the oil leak. I think i'm going to try. They could hold my car and pretend it takes longer to make me pay more. Is fixing the oil leak a 2 day job? If these problems aren't immediate concerns then I'd like to try and fix them myself as I go. Is the cv axle a big deal? They made it seem like it was going to fall apart. I tend to worry too much about things.

I bought all those tools very recently to start working on my C70 on my own with help from the VS forum. I started with the fender and headlights. I'm only about 6 months into learning.

I can't take that chance of them holding my car. They can eat one. When they call and wonder where I am, I'll ask them to explain their pricing and why it takes 2 days to put on an oil part.

Edit: there is only a bit of oil or axle greases under my passenger wheel where the axle split. other than that there is no oil on the ground. i think its grease because my oil is clean clean clean. The drips are black.

My turbo kicks in just fine from what i can tell from driving it. It doesnt take many RPMs to spin up, then my body gets pulled back from the velocity. That doesn't sound like "inoperative" to me.

Talked to a guy in town. he says "some of these European rigs do have secondary injection pumps."  but he only said some.

Edit again: called the shop that's trying to screw me. i asked him to explain his pricing. He said we should agree to disagree. I said, "I bet."

[RobT5M]

3 hours ago, Zappo said:

I still don't get why a turbo car would have a secondary air pump.  I have never seen that before.

My 98 had an SAS pump. 
Had it deleted through the tune and sold the pump for like $150 at the time lol.

 

 

OP, you're getting fucked honestly.  
I'd take that 5grand and break 100 off and go buy tools, a jack, some jack stands, and get to work.  
You've got MAYBE a days worth of work to do on the car, and fuck the SAS pump you can find a how to on how to delete it either in the ECU or even just with a resistor.

[gilber33]

4 hours ago, Zappo said:

I still don't get why a turbo car would have a secondary air pump.  I have never seen that before.

All x70s had an SAS pump. It replaced the EGR on the 850s.

1 hour ago, Quip1337x said:

My turbo kicks in just fine from what i can tell from driving it. It doesnt take many RPMs to spin up, then my body gets pulled back from the velocity. That doesn't sound like "inoperative" to me.

Talked to a guy in town. he says "some of these European rigs do have secondary injection pumps."  but he only said some.

The sas pump doesn’t have anything to do with your turbo. It’s for emissions.

 

I think you really need to take a step back and take a breath. I mean no offense, I've been there, but you are overthinking the shit out of all of this. It's been leaking oil how long? You have no idea, you just got it. It could have been leaking for years...and it's been fine.

An axle won't fall apart, but it could bind up if it gets bad enough. Either way, it will tell you when that's going to happen. Sit down. Drink a beer. Make a list of what needs to be addressed and just take it one at a time. Taking the car straight to a shop because you're overwhelmed with all of these things someone told you is wrong with the car (even though they've been wrong with the car for who knows how long) is going to cost you big money.

[Quip1337x]

33 minutes ago, gilber33 said:

I think you really need to take a step back and take a breath. I mean no offense, I've been there, but you are overthinking the stuff out of all of this. It's been leaking oil how long? You have no idea, you just got it. It could have been leaking for years...and it's been fine.

An axle won't fall apart, but it could bind up if it gets bad enough. Either way, it will tell you when that's going to happen. Sit down. Drink a beer. Make a list of what needs to be addressed and just take it one at a time. Taking the car straight to a shop because you're overwhelmed with all of these things someone told you is wrong with the car (even though they've been wrong with the car for who knows how long) is going to cost you big money.

I over think, trust too much, and worry too much. I'll try and slow my roll. Yes I just bought those tools ROBT5M listed a month ago, I think I'll start with the fuel filter. Thanks again VS

[Zappo]

7 hours ago, gilber33 said:

All x70s had an SAS pump. It replaced the EGR on the 850s.

I don't have EGR on my 850 either, and the car was stock when I bought it.

7 hours ago, Quip1337x said:

I over think, trust too much, and worry too much. I'll try and slow my roll. Yes I just bought those tools ROBT5M listed a month ago, I think I'll start with the fuel filter. Thanks again VS

Well, you have a resource here.

Be sure the bleed off the fuel pressure before you do the fuel filter.

Also, Robert DIY is the man.  I still refer to his videos.  

 

[RobT5M]

17 hours ago, Quip1337x said:

I over think, trust too much, and worry too much. I'll try and slow my roll. Yes I just bought those tools ROBT5M listed a month ago, I think I'll start with the fuel filter. Thanks again VS

We'll get you through this, so take a breath. 

:3 Also I didn't sell any tools lol.

 

Do you have a harbor freight nearby?  
Go grab a 20% off coupon, buy a jack.
Grab another 20% off coupon, buy some jack stands.
Grab another and buy some tools.    

That will get you on your way. 

If the car is driving without giving you any headaches right now, I would just tackle 1 job every weekend.  

Oil lines are fairly simple.

Axles are fairly simple, you do need a jack though. (Pop the center cap off the wheel, and break the axle nut free before you jack it up )

Brake hoses are pretty simple as well, though due to age they may take some finesse, just make sure you use the correct wrench so you don't round them off.

For your top mount, just take the wheel off, jack the car up, remove strut.  

Remember cars are put together with nuts and bolts, so as long as you have a wrench and ratchet with sockets, you can take apart almost everything on the vehicle.
Though id also recommend a Torque driver set lol.

 

BEYOND ALL THAT.

You've come into the P80 Volvo game really late in the game compared to everyone above, so relax and just do some searching, if you have any questions feel free to ask, there may be some how tos with missing pictures though so just let us know.

[Quip1337x]

Yeah RobertDIY is the video that helped me get my fender replaced and aligned. And he helped me figure out that my ac compressor was broke. I'm subbed. The worst effect on the C70 is a rough Idle every now and again(hasn't died or anything.)

Also avoid Recommending those harbor freight jack stands. They are failing left and right, splitting down the middle. They have had to recall all of them.

[gdog]

Not a fan of HF at all.  Everything I've ever bought there ended up in the sh*t can.  Why risk your life to save a few bucks?  Not worth it.  Good quality tools don't cost that much more.