Volvo - rip off

The S80 went in today to the main Volvo dealer in Teesside. £100 quoted to put the car onto the diagnostic machine. As if by magic the bill turned into £160 to diagnose the fault - a fault known to Volvo.

I've been offered the standard 50% on the cost of the injectors so bottom line is I'm waiting to collect a bill for £940.

In my opinion Volvo should have a recall on a product they know to be faulty instead of letting the poor hapless motorist pick up a hefty bill.

The main dealer will supply the injectors but Volvo will not pay half the price.

The whole thing absolutely stinks and is not the sort of thing I would expect from a quality car manufacturer whose reputation is one of quality and reliability.

I will be going to the press with this because I firmly believe Volvo should be picking up the tab for what is little better than second class workmanship.

The service manager tried to convince me of the complications of common rail injected diesel. Can't help thinking common rail has worked in Landrovers, tractors, the Austin Montego for years giving reliable and ecomonic performance before the Volvo and Audi got involved.

I've asked him to valuie the car for me - see if I can trade it for something reliable!!!!!

[tj101c70]

Presume you have a 2002/3 D5 S80 ?? and out of warranty,, we had a 03 V70 with 70k on, with the injector problem, Volvo did supply the parts for(aprox £1500 worth), and the customer paid a couple of hours labour.
I would have a look in your books for the phone number, and speak to customer relations, !!

Originally Posted by tj101c70

Presume you have a 2002/3 D5 S80 ?? and out of warranty,, we had a 03 V70 with 70k on, with the injector problem, Volvo did supply the parts for(aprox £1500 worth), and the customer paid a couple of hours labour.
I would have a look in your books for the phone number, and speak to customer relations, !!

Spoke with Volvo and they won't budge on 50%. The main dealer would supply me the injectors but at full cost price and without warranty - so stuffed again.

The upshot of this is that word will get around about the problem with the D5, second hand sales values will drop because who wants to be landed with an unreliable car, Volvo will loose on sails and us hapless saps who own the cars will loose when we come to trade it in.

In my opinion a very short sighted decision by Volvo that will cost them dear in the long term. The problem might be restricted to a certain number of cars but the grapevine does not work like that.

[Suterman]

was it just the injectors?

[pyaap]

Originally Posted by silverfox2

Spoke with Volvo and they won't budge on 50%. The main dealer would supply me the injectors but at full cost price and without warranty - so stuffed again.

This is not true because the moment you make a contribution towards the cost of a part, no matter how small, the part will be fully covered with a 1 year warranty. The same does not apply if Volvo themselves pay for the part in full. This is why its even advisable to make a £1 contribution towards the cost of any part replaced under warranty; if it fails again within a year, Volvo cannot just fob you off.

Whereabouts are you based Silverfox? I might be able to point you in the direction of a dealership who may be able to give you a better deal on the injectors. Alternatively, if you have any friends / contacts in Europe, its worth checking how much the part costs there because there are some amazing differences in the costs of parts sometimes and you'll still get a pan-European warranty with them.

I'm probably just too far down the road now to benefit from your offer. The injectors were due in this morning and I would reckon are being fitted right about now.

There must be some form of controlling device on the injector that changes with temperature. Whether this is getting damaged from heat off the engine?? The standard diagnosis on Vardis has stiffed me £160 but to get the car started all it needed was heat in the engine bay from either a fan heater or by pouring hot water directly onto the injectors. What I didn't try was to try hot water on each injector in turn to see if that would show the problem up. Obviously I can't do that now but someone out there may be able to and I would interested to know the results.

I'm keeping the old injectors (just in case it isn't a quick fix) but I'll try and open one up to see if it is apparent what the problem is.

I do intend to pursue Volvo further but I take on board the £1 contribution = a £1 very well spent.

Another web site looks at the problem of Volvo failed ABS units. People are paying a fortune to buy new Volvo units with the same apparently under specced components. The fix is to replace a couple of the transistors - bottom line price under £1. It is worrying that some of the electronic parts are undersized especially when you look at the heating system with all of its complexity.

My Volvo main dealer is claiming that the injectors are exchange units. I have no issue with an engine or gearbox being an exchange item but surely not an injector. Does anyone know whether Volvo really do want them back.

Apart from not finding garages trustworthy I know of the 5 injectors 4 were o.k. and if the new fix turns out to be as temporary as the factory fitted part I've got 4 spares.

got in touch with a garage I can trust and they tell me that many parts are now exchange - something to do with recycling etc.

The example my friend quoted was a steering pump that would cost £100 but carries a £200 surcharge.

The injectors are sold as new/recon units for the D5 engine so on this basis are collected and returned to Volvo.

The fault was injector based and I am now £940-06 lighter for the privilege of purchasing a car from a dodgy manufacturer and needing a new revised set of injectors.

I said I would go to the press and I will. Volvo are covering something up here that will haunt the D5 engines for many years and have a detrimental affect on the residual prices at trade in.

If Volvo want to sell substandard equipment the public have a right to know and make more informed decisions in their choice to purchase.

On a positive note the car starts easily and the injectors are nice and shiny ....

[pyaap]

Hi again Silverfox2,

Glad the car is finally sorted but sorry its been at such a large expense. I am very surprised to hear that injectors are done on a service exchange because the last time I had my injectors changed, the dealer just handed the 'old' ones back. If this is such a problem with the D5s, its almost worthwhile contacting one of the major independent injector manufacturers in the US to see if they can make something for owners who are being held to ransom in this way.

Do keep us posted on how you get on.

[T240]

I'm seriously amazed at the attitude apparently taken by Volvo in this matter.

I'd love to be able to point the finger at Furd and pass the buck; but with known faults Volvo are, to this day, usually doing a recall - my regular mechanic works for a Volvo main dealer and was telling me recently about the XC90 exchange gearbox recall regime for instance, at no cost to the customer.