What I did today thread...

[silestanix]

@Stuart Bowes, I think silestanix is showing us his new wheels and his car hasn't done it's customary bid for freedom into a shop window.

A truly a glorious and memorable day all round.

Hahaha!

[4x4]

After changing the fuel filter on my V70 which took all of 15 minutes and feeling rather smug about it I told my mate to bring his S60 T5 over and I would change his filter in jig time. Car up on the ramp and everything went wrong from then on. The bolt for the filter bracket was overtightened and rusty to the point the 10mm six sided socket wouldn't grip, I hammered on a 3/8" multi-point socket and it wouldn't grip either so it was out with the air grinder and chop the head off the bolt, then the chisel to remove the flared head from the bolt, then the chisel again to get the remainder of the ragged edges off before the bracket could be removed. Vise grips eventually removed what was left of the bolt and new filter fitted.

Next was his spark plugs, I expected them to squeal in a similar fashion to what mine did the day before, but no, they were just over finger tight and almost fell out, except for number three which had obviously been tightened by a feather duster, it was so loose that the soot from the combustion had blown past the spark plug and covered the entire 'spark plug tube' with soot. All back together now and torqued down to the recommended 25Nm and my mate says the car is now a rocket ship, can I give him some money for petrol?...

[ilmiont]

This weekend: changed the offside rear brake caliper and hose. Minor misadventure with the hard line documented elsewhere. I'd bought a new nearside caliper too, but didn't have time to fit it - as it was working fine, I might leave it for the time being.

Returned to the handbrake situation. Put the new shoes back on, now with new discs. The new discs do fit over the shoes, but only just. With the cable adjuster nut under the console backed virtually all the way off, so the tip of the thread is flush with the top of the nut, I can rotate the wheels about half a revolution by hand. The nearside is a bit freer than the offside.

The test drive result seems unsatisfactory: both rear wheels warm, approaching hot, while the fronts are cool, approaching cold. I saw spot IR temperatures of 80C at the rear, while only reaching 40-45 mph. I know new discs, pads, and shoes may be expected to generate some heat, but this seems excessive.

I'm starting to suspect these new "Made in India" shoes are fractionally thicker than spec. With the old shoes, I could spin the wheel and get 10+ revolutions with no scraping.

I hoped driving it a few miles would settle things down but I'm not sure this is right. At speeds below 30mph, the swish-swish noise of the handbrake shoes scraping the drum is constantly audible. I might put a few more miles on it to see what happens, but fear I'll be stripping it all down again in the very near future - either with another new set of shoes, or the old ones which are a few years old but show no signs of delamination and could probably be sanded of the rust on the surface to stop them binding in the mornings.

---

Easier jobs

- Rear seat cushion bench back in. Replaced both annoying plastic clips which broke during removal.
- Centre console back in. Bit of a challenge, not least because the handbrake is so tight I can't raise it beyond four clicks, which made it tricky to persuade the console around the lever. The 12V feed to the console is a nuisance; somebody's yanked it in the past, broken the wires, and spliced them back together leaving it even shorter than it was from the factory. In time I will undo this repair and splice in a longer stretch of wire instead, as it's now so short I can barely make the connection.
- Vacuumed the interior; looks a bit more like she used to do now, after descending into filthy project car mess over the past few weeks.
- New fuel filler cap fitted.

[Simmy]

volvo hand brake shoes needed

[stuart bowes]

12V feed to the console is a nuisance; somebody's yanked it in the past, broken the wires, and spliced them back together leaving it even shorter than it was from the factory. In time I will undo this repair and splice in a longer stretch of wire instead, as it's now so short I can barely make the connection

that's a nuisance, it was a bit tight as it was originally!

maybe in future when sorting out wiring, consider fitting a twin USB socket instead, for a lot of people that would be considered infinitely more useful. depends what you plan to use it for I guess though

[ilmiont]

volvo hand brake shoes needed

Both sets are Volvo. There's a person in the village who works for Volvo and was in a quality-related role when P2 was new; when he saw me spinning the disc half a revolution with effort he thought the tolerance looked a bit tight and was surprised it was all Volvo equipment, but I decided that as it is moving by hand I would see what it's like in case it just wasn't centred properly or needed a bit of break-in.

I really don't have time to do this again, but think I'm going to take the afternoon off work to put the old ones on yet again, then hopefully get her through MOT (tomorrow!) without issue. I drove 30 miles last night and got back still with clearly audible scraping and seriously warm wheels - the drag is now much worse than what I set out to solve at the start of this saga.

I've slept on it and decided this doesn't feel right, unless someone else jumps in and says they've had the same thing with new shoes and it quickly cleared itself up. I bought the shoe kit back in December but think I will have to ask FRF to refund or replace them; I'm fairly sure Volvo offers a 12-month parts warranty but I'll need to check.

Hopefully the new drum will take care of getting the rust off the old shoes with a little handbrake-on driving. They hold the car fine but the binding was becoming a problem.

that's a nuisance, it was a bit tight as it was originally!

maybe in future when sorting out wiring, consider fitting a twin USB socket instead, for a lot of people that would be considered infinitely more useful. depends what you plan to use it for I guess though

The 1A Auto woman's handbrake cables video makes the wiring look awkward, then I went out to mine and found it a few cm shorter than that. I can't tease the connector out from under the console; I have to reach up behind and guess what I'm doing.

I don't use the rear 12V so will leave it all standard. "What I did last week" was buy a new Samsung charger which is now in the front 12V socket - it supplies 45W over USB-C, so I'll be able to charge my laptop while driving in Scandinavia in the summer. Not cheap, but it's the only reputable brand that makes one with this much power, and I didn't want to risk something cheap from Amazon in this circumstance. The Samsung gets plenty warm enough when supplying 45W but I feel I can trust it.

[japspeed1]

Just a thought...I had the same issue with a hot hub (yes, it sounds like a dubious DILF meme), and after going through the "it must be the brakes" rabbit hole, turned out to be a wheel bearing.

[ilmiont]

I started by jacking it up and spinning the wheels. There wasn't a noticeable improvement from yesterday despite the 30 mile drive. The wheel was still very audibly scraping the shoes, spinning for perhaps one or two revolutions and then suddenly coming to a stop.

I proceeded to take everything off again, for the fourth time in as many weeks. I found the drums and handbrake equipment completely black with dust from last night's test drive.

I cleaned it all up, regreased and put the old shoes back on. The discs easily went over and I had to tighten the centre console nut a few turns to restore the handbrake's operation. Now there's minimal drag with the handbrake released, while 5-6 clicks hold the car securely. I will probably tighten it a little more in time.

After another test drive, I'm much happier. The rear wheels are both cool to the touch. The discs seem to be reading approximately the same temperature, although they are showing about 5-10C warmer than the fronts each time. I won't obsess over that while the rear discs and pads have only 50 miles on them.

I am glad I've done it. I'm even getting pretty good at it; 90 minutes from start to finish, including raising and lowering each side, a few breaks, another chat with the neighbour who works for Volvo, and thoroughly cleaning and greasing it all again. I can get the nasty return springs out in seconds now, and I've learnt the technique for levering the lower shoe and big spring down and behind the expander.

Because I was working against the clock before it got dark, I didn't have time to make measurements of the "old" shoes before they went back on, neither have I been able to do any side-by-side photos. I have photos of both sets of shoes in isolation and will try to see if I can spot a difference, but I think the friction material is simply slightly too thick on the new set I received. The part numbers are definitely the same. I will talk to FRF about whether I can return the set as defective.

- Old shoes, old discs - Wheel spun freely with console nut tightened about 4 turns (as I have new cables, this seems about right)
- New shoes, old discs - Proved impossible.
- New shoes, new discs - Wheel would barely spin with nut backed off as far as I dared. I hoped it would settle down, but got hot wheels at 40mph.
- Old shoes, new discs - Wheel spins freely with the nut turned back in again. There's a light scrape which seems like it will resolve itself; probably just not centred in the drum yet or a high spot on the new drum, etc.

The new offside caliper seems to be working at least, and the brake pedal feels normal (during the job at the weekend, I discovered my pressure bleeder won't hold any pressure, so I had to make do with gravity bleeding the line). The original caliper on the nearside appears to still be healthy too; I have the new one I bought looking at me, but I've really lost my appetite to bother with fitting it for now. That said, it would be just my luck to have the nearside seize after sending its planned replacement back.

MOT first thing in the morning...

[Simmy]

are the cables in the expanders correctly it is possible to get them wrong are the cables free running and in the holders? do you have the h bar or after market adjusters? why did u say made in india for the new shoes. . genuine volvo shoes dont come from india. its very unusual for volvo hand brakes to bind most folk have trouble getting them to grip . i hope that your fix passes the mot for you. keep us posted with the result.:regular_smile:

[ilmiont]

PASS at MOT. No advisories except a verbal suggestion to get the headlamp lenses properly polished before next year.

The tester's words were "the brakes are spot on mate" so I'll try to stop fussing and let them be now!

Weirdly though, we failed to diagnose a new loudish knock which I've been noticing over bumps and in sharper cornering. It's materialised over the past month, and may be coincident with when I hit an awful stretch of potholes hard in the dark and rain. The car still drives and handles fine, and feels as tight in the steering and ride as normal.

I thought the noise was rocks in the undertray, but there were none there when I took it off last night. It was knocking quite badly over a particularly uneven road on the way to MOT today, but I got the pass without anything being detected. I revealed my concern and he gave it another shake test, re-inspected the suspension, and started levering the exhaust mountings around again - nothing found. I drove it away and within a mile there it was again. I will keep monitoring this.

are the cables in the expanders correctly it is possible to get them wrong are the cables free running and in the holders? do you have the h bar or after market adjusters? why did u say made in india for the new shoes. . genuine volvo shoes dont come from india. its very unusual for volvo hand brakes to bind most folk have trouble getting them to grip . i hope that your fix passes the mot for you. keep us posted with the result.:regular_smile:

1) I'm sure the cables are in the expanders correctly. The cables and expanders are brand new. All seem to work fine.
2) Standard H bar.
3) The new shoes are made in India...



I don't see any conclusion other than that the new shoes are wrong. Everything works faultlessly without them. Twice now, I've fitted the new shoes and everything's been too tight; twice I've also refitted the old ones, and the adjustment has matched what others get in the online videos.

[stuart bowes]

the knocks I've had have been:

1 - drop links (rock car side to side with roof rails or top of door shut) which seemed fine on visual inspection but turned out to just need tightening up (despite having done so properly when fitting)

2 - ball joint (knocking over uneven road / pot holes / speed bumps - not easy to diagnose while all bolted up tight, the spring and wishbone are so tightly sprung together you can barely move it by hand but when I took it all apart they were floppy as anything

3 - inner track rod ends (slight knocking when turning hard, and wobbling wheels by hand had a very very slight left/right play, literally about 2mm but enough to annoy me) outers seemed fine apart from a bit of corrosion, replaced inner and outer at same time anyway

there are of course other possibilities, top mounts, etc

from the description 'over bumps and on hard turning' I would look at drop links first (or possibly the roll bar bushes)

[ilmiont]

What I did today, pt. 2: Went for a drive.

All good brakes-wise, but the knocking is real and unmissable. I'm looking for something that's developed quickly, probably as a direct result of the pothole hit (I've barely driven since then), and which has successfully evaded MOT discovery despite them being prompted to look for it.

1. Drop links - 2 years old, Meyle HD. They do seem like a good suspect for the symptoms but MOT man didn't take issue.
2. Ball joint - not sure there's anything I can do to investigate this myself
3. Track rods - are hopefully fine, as I fitted new Volvo inners and outers last August.
4. Top mounts - looked at them in the gloom this evening, neither seems to move by hand.
5. Roll bar bushes - not checked yet, too dark and wet to be crawling under the car.

It seems to be the front nearside and I think I can reproduce it by rocking the corner up and down. It was dark, rainy, and parked on a hill so I didn't want to try this too enthusiastically just yet. The sound seems to be coming from somewhere back from the wheel (back as in towards the rear of the car, not towards the wheel arch).

I've emptied the glovebox. No help. I've tried to think of anything I might have left loose in all my DIY lately. I did have a thought that maybe the handbrake cables aren't secure, but they look snug enough and the noise definitely seems to be from the front, whereas the cable exit point is quite a long way back really.

A few observations:

- Reliably happens midway through a 2nd-exit roundabout. Not sure this is too helpful as weight transfer, steering, and power delivery are all involved then.
- Seems it can happen when coming off the throttle (e.g. 2nd to 3rd gear change as the nose flattens out).
- Is really loud at its worst. It sounds like something is very loose but it all feels tight to drive.

I made a recording but it's basically unusable. I stupidly put my phone in the pop-out cupholder in the dashboard, so most of the noise is the phone vibrating against the hard plastic. There was no knock for most of this recording, but the following points are notable:

02:55 - Interesting bit beginning. Indicating left, tight turn into uneven road.
03:07 - KNOCK into rut. About as bad as it gets.
03:17 - Does it again, more muted.
There are a few more occasions but they're mostly masked by the background noise.
05:01 - about 5mph, with a lot of left steering lock, knock as I turn into my road.

[YOUTUBE]2Oyegk6PZMI[/YOUTUBE]

I'll stop derailing this thread and open a new one if I don't get to the bottom of it. Maybe it will turn out to be a stone somewhere - there's been so much debris on the roads that it wouldn't surprise me if something's got where it shouldn't be.

[Simmy]

PASS at MOT. No advisories except a verbal suggestion to get the headlamp lenses properly polished before next year.

The tester's words were "the brakes are spot on mate" so I'll try to stop fussing and let them be now!

Weirdly though, we failed to diagnose a new loudish knock which I've been noticing over bumps and in sharper cornering. It's materialised over the past month, and may be coincident with when I hit an awful stretch of potholes hard in the dark and rain. The car still drives and handles fine, and feels as tight in the steering and ride as normal.

I thought the noise was rocks in the undertray, but there were none there when I took it off last night. It was knocking quite badly over a particularly uneven road on the way to MOT today, but I got the pass without anything being detected. I revealed my concern and he gave it another shake test, re-inspected the suspension, and started levering the exhaust mountings around again - nothing found. I drove it away and within a mile there it was again. I will keep monitoring this.



1) I'm sure the cables are in the expanders correctly. The cables and expanders are brand new. All seem to work fine.
2) Standard H bar.
3) The new shoes are made in India...



I don't see any conclusion other than that the new shoes are wrong. Everything works faultlessly without them. Twice now, I've fitted the new shoes and everything's been too tight; twice I've also refitted the old ones, and the adjustment has matched what others get in the online videos.

how very strange shoes marked made in india the ones i bought from main dealers were in a blue box marked made in china with no markings on the shoes they solved all my handbrake problems as for the rattle check the top spring mount as they sometimes come unbonded it easy to spot the centre at the top of the shock sticks up higher under the bonnet.

[Simmy]

PASS at MOT. No advisories except a verbal suggestion to get the headlamp lenses properly polished before next year.

The tester's words were "the brakes are spot on mate" so I'll try to stop fussing and let them be now!

Weirdly though, we failed to diagnose a new loudish knock which I've been noticing over bumps and in sharper cornering. It's materialised over the past month, and may be coincident with when I hit an awful stretch of potholes hard in the dark and rain. The car still drives and handles fine, and feels as tight in the steering and ride as normal.

I thought the noise was rocks in the undertray, but there were none there when I took it off last night. It was knocking quite badly over a particularly uneven road on the way to MOT today, but I got the pass without anything being detected. I revealed my concern and he gave it another shake test, re-inspected the suspension, and started levering the exhaust mountings around again - nothing found. I drove it away and within a mile there it was again. I will keep monitoring this.



1) I'm sure the cables are in the expanders correctly. The cables and expanders are brand new. All seem to work fine.
2) Standard H bar.
3) The new shoes are made in India...



I don't see any conclusion other than that the new shoes are wrong. Everything works faultlessly without them. Twice now, I've fitted the new shoes and everything's been too tight; twice I've also refitted the old ones, and the adjustment has matched what others get in the online videos.

how very strange shoes marked made in india the ones i bought from main dealers were in a blue box marked made in china with no markings on the shoes they solved all my handbrake problems as for the rattle check the top spring mount as they sometimes come unbonded it easy to spot the centre at the top of the shock sticks up higher under the bonnet.

[ASt85]

Shoes

Over the last couple of months, since the lat MOT, I've noticed a swish/swish note from the rear drums - the off side is prone to binding if the car is left with the handbrake applied.

On a fairly regular basis I've brought my 2004/5 C70, which has a not dissimilar rear brake assembly to that of the P2, to a halt using the handbrake alone - this appears to clean the crud from the drums/shoes. I have the adjusters for 850's fitted in both my 2004/5 C70 and P2 2004 V70 - NB shoes, pads, front discs, rear disc/drums are all OEM Volvo.

When left with the handbrake applied in damp weather, the C70's frequently binds on - "jumping " between forward and reverse does frees it. It rarely happens in the summer months, which inclines me to think that the C70 OEM shoes may be prone to swelling due to water absorption. This does not ever happen with the V70 - of note the rear shoe OEM codes are different, which implies the specs are different.