First time DIY... all did NOT go to plan!

[Laird Scooby]

When i started reading about a DIY disaster i was expecting something long the lines of wrapping yourself up in wallpaper or accidentally painting the cat!

Joking aside, as has already been pointed out, we've all been there and even after years of experience, things don't always go to plan so don't beat yourself up about it, chalk it up to a learning curve that we've all been on at some point.

If you go down the Mole grip/ Vice grip wrench path to remove the reluctant sump plug, when using any adjustable spanner or wrench, always set it so the moving jaw leads, this reduces the risk of it slipping off and actually improves the grip on the fastener.

When you get a bit more involved and increase your tools kit, i'd suggest a set of impact sockets (most are 6-point so are similar to the "Flat-Drive" ones mentioned) and one of these :

https://www.banggood.com/588VF-2-in-...ientCountry=GB

Surprisingly it's the same as Machine Mart sell for about £120 (check their catalogue to see what i mean) and does the job very well. I've had a few electric impact wrenches but until now they all felt cheap and flimsy and sadly proved themselves to be just that.
Only had my new one a few weeks but have given it some serious punishment and it hasn't felt flimsy once, just done the job. For example, using another device i found some bolts that were in excess of 225lbft - they were ~28 years old, had been sat out in the rain for a few years, lived on a car before that that suffered the "sea breeze effect" so in addition to their original tightening torque of 170Nm (~130lbft), the rust etc was making them much tighter!
This wee beastie shifted them!

Pretty certain it would have shifted your torque rod bolts, might seem an extravagance this early in your mechanical "baptism of fire" but you'll be surprised what you'll use it for! Don't use it to fully tighten wheel nuts though, especially on alloys as it can imapct on the lands where the nuts sit rendering the wheel scrap. Too many "fit-while-u-w8" tyre places do this and i've lost two sets of good alloys (rreplaceable as it turned out) due to this.
You can however use it to "spin" the nuts on (once started by hand to avoid cross-threading) but stop before it starts impacting then use your torque wrench.

Please note i am in no way affiliated with banggood.com nor the manufacturers of the product i've recommended, it's just a good product. Also my ideas on use are in no way instructional, just hints i've found useful.

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

When i started reading about a DIY disaster i was expecting something long the lines of wrapping yourself up in wallpaper or accidentally painting the cat!

Joking aside, as has already been pointed out, we've all been there and even after years of experience, things don't always go to plan so don't beat yourself up about it, chalk it up to a learning curve that we've all been on at some point.

If you go down the Mole grip/ Vice grip wrench path to remove the reluctant sump plug, when using any adjustable spanner or wrench, always set it so the moving jaw leads, this reduces the risk of it slipping off and actually improves the grip on the fastener.

When you get a bit more involved and increase your tools kit, i'd suggest a set of impact sockets (most are 6-point so are similar to the "Flat-Drive" ones mentioned) and one of these :

https://www.banggood.com/588VF-2-in-...ientCountry=GB

Surprisingly it's the same as Machine Mart sell for about £120 (check their catalogue to see what i mean) and does the job very well. I've had a few electric impact wrenches but until now they all felt cheap and flimsy and sadly proved themselves to be just that.
Only had my new one a few weeks but have given it some serious punishment and it hasn't felt flimsy once, just done the job. For example, using another device i found some bolts that were in excess of 225lbft - they were ~28 years old, had been sat out in the rain for a few years, lived on a car before that that suffered the "sea breeze effect" so in addition to their original tightening torque of 170Nm (~130lbft), the rust etc was making them much tighter!
This wee beastie shifted them!

Pretty certain it would have shifted your torque rod bolts, might seem an extravagance this early in your mechanical "baptism of fire" but you'll be surprised what you'll use it for! Don't use it to fully tighten wheel nuts though, especially on alloys as it can imapct on the lands where the nuts sit rendering the wheel scrap. Too many "fit-while-u-w8" tyre places do this and i've lost two sets of good alloys (rreplaceable as it turned out) due to this.
You can however use it to "spin" the nuts on (once started by hand to avoid cross-threading) but stop before it starts impacting then use your torque wrench.

Please note i am in no way affiliated with banggood.com nor the manufacturers of the product i've recommended, it's just a good product. Also my ideas on use are in no way instructional, just hints i've found useful.

thats a point worthy of note

Most of us start with the cheaper tools for the job, and "that will do for that" rather than The Ideal tool/best fit for the job
once we have been under a car a few times, skinned knuckles, rain dribbling down neck etc the thoughts turn to "ill get X, will make the job a lot easier" or someone loans us a tool that made the job easier - then we go and get.

i'm Not saying spend £££££ and go get Everything all at once, or top "brand names only" , more a case of if someone says "i use X makes Y job so much easier/simpler" have a good consider of X ,

most of us have probably at some point in the past used the old washing up bowl as a oil catch can, with/without the oil slick when pouring it into the empty can for disposal ,tried a few alternatives before upgrading to the oil catch can with the tray on the top and bungs to avoid needing to clean the driveway of oil,, (some of us can still make a mess with those and look for other solutions)

like you "hum" on the extraction oil method V sump plug till i tried it, yes the first few times i Still jacked the car up , axel stands and took the sump plug out to check, and got confidence in the extractor.

Wall drive sockets V point drives "oh heck yes worth it" when your dealing with nuts/bolts exposed to weather/road salt on cars
impact drivers "heck yes" - but Personally a "err no" for putting near wheel nuts for anything other than removal post "kwickymuckyup/halfrauds/otherbodge-on-drive" tyre fitters (or some main dealers).

torque wrenches "yes , yes and yes" and in ranges that apply to your car, and not "the cheaper ones"
oddly Halfords Advanced Torque Wrench range are Rather decent for the £ (and once you have stripped a few bolts you may join the "i like a torque wrench " club

[ilmiont]

Change of plan again. Now I'm hoping to tackle this myself later in the week.

New drain plug coming Wednesday, I've ordered this bolt extraction kit, and a pipe wrench is on the way too. The toolkit grows again.

Hopefully I'll be able to get it off. I'll spray it with penetrant the night before and then again in the morning.

My concern is whether it's been overtightened so much the sump threads have been stripped. I'll be pretty stuck if the new one starts spinning round and round as I've got a 400 mile trip at the weekend (if the pumps aren't empty).

[rxtian]

Good luck!

If you plan on keeping the car a while and doing your own servicing, you might want to get one of these: https://www.quickvalve.co.uk/

Had them on my V70 and now on the partners C30 and they work well.

[ilmiont]

Originally Posted by andy_d

thats a point worthy of note

Most of us start with the cheaper tools for the job, and "that will do for that" rather than The Ideal tool/best fit for the job
once we have been under a car a few times, skinned knuckles, rain dribbling down neck etc the thoughts turn to "ill get X, will make the job a lot easier" or someone loans us a tool that made the job easier - then we go and get.

i'm Not saying spend £££££ and go get Everything all at once, or top "brand names only" , more a case of if someone says "i use X makes Y job so much easier/simpler" have a good consider of X ,

most of us have probably at some point in the past used the old washing up bowl as a oil catch can, with/without the oil slick when pouring it into the empty can for disposal ,tried a few alternatives before upgrading to the oil catch can with the tray on the top and bungs to avoid needing to clean the driveway of oil,, (some of us can still make a mess with those and look for other solutions)

like you "hum" on the extraction oil method V sump plug till i tried it, yes the first few times i Still jacked the car up , axel stands and took the sump plug out to check, and got confidence in the extractor.

Wall drive sockets V point drives "oh heck yes worth it" when your dealing with nuts/bolts exposed to weather/road salt on cars
impact drivers "heck yes" - but Personally a "err no" for putting near wheel nuts for anything other than removal post "kwickymuckyup/halfrauds/otherbodge-on-drive" tyre fitters (or some main dealers).

torque wrenches "yes , yes and yes" and in ranges that apply to your car, and not "the cheaper ones"
oddly Halfords Advanced Torque Wrench range are Rather decent for the £ (and once you have stripped a few bolts you may join the "i like a torque wrench " club

I've already spent a fortune on tools, my mantra on everything is do it properly; I see no point in buying cheap tools - or cheap parts. So I've tried to buy quality tools and only ever Genuine Volvo parts (although that's not been the case for the car with previous owners).

My initial investment is principally Halfords Advanced 3 ton jack, advanced 3 ton axle stands, 175 pc advanced socket/wrench set, and advanced torque wrenches (both the 12-60 Nm and 40-300Nm so I'm covered for everything). Then lots of miscellaneous bits from Halfords and other brands.

If I'm going to do this work I'm doing it properly, following VIDA as the canonical reference and torquing to spec. The torque wrenches both click at the same time at 50nm so either they're both good or both broken in the same way

I've spent so much on all this lately that I can't really buy anything more at the moment though, as you can imagine it's been a triple figure spend at Halfords followed by the same magnitude at FRF. Code C3 was amazing on some items though, huge thanks to them for the service they provide us.

Halfords tools seem to get an OK reputation and at least there's the lifetime guarantee. One big deciding factor was the owners club discount card - the VOC annual membership fee paid for itself in that transaction!

I'd like to get a powered impact driver for loosening things but will need to save up again first.

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by andy_d

most of us have probably at some point in the past used the old washing up bowl as a oil catch can, with/without the oil slick when pouring it into the empty can for disposal ,tried a few alternatives before upgrading to the oil catch can with the tray on the top and bungs to avoid needing to clean the driveway of oil,, (some of us can still make a mess with those and look for other solutions)

I have the purpose made oil catch can for straightforward draining sump oil etc. But frequently use an old aluminium baby bath for messier jobs where it might splash a bit. And yes, it is the very bath my sister and I were bathed in when babies. Been in constant use for 70 years and still going strong. I bashed the rim in one corner to form a pouring spout and cannot think of a better tool for the job.

Reference Halfords Professional torque wrenches, I have the full range from 3/8 drive right upto 3/4 drive and more torque than I can put on the handle end - they are very good.

[Stu B]

Hi Ilmiont, not much to add from me other than keep calm and carry on! Your approach is correct, patience, planning and the correct tools will get you there.

I’ve been working on my own and family members cars for about 25 years (yikes!) and still have weekends of frustration as you describe in your first post. This weekend actually doing a supposedly simple brake job on my mums car…

Re: the oil extractor, like you and another poster in this thread I was very sceptical about them but having read lots of reviews and done hundreds of oil changes on all sorts of vehicles, I got one a Sealey a few years ago. Revolutionary! Honestly, you wouldn’t look back, and yes, I removed the sump plug on the first four or five goes on different vehicles to check it really does get all the oil, and it does. Makes oil changes so much quicker, cleaner and on a breezy day in particular your driveway will thank you for it due to lack of spillage!

If it’s of interest, you can see some of my DIY antics on my V70 thread here (various other cars of mine and family members pop up too when broken…)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=302878

And my previous 850 thread here, including a driveway clutch change…

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=283304


You might spot a Halfords advanced socket set similar to yours…

All the best!
Stu

[ITSv40]

As with Stu B above, I work on my cars and have done since I was 15 - 51 years and yes we all have frustrating moments.

A few years ago 'er indoors Mk4 Fiesta needed a cambelt change. No problem, I've got the tools and just bought the kit from Ford. Well it did not go well at all - stripped it down to the point of undoing the crank pulley bolt - tried everything including six hex impact socket and 3/4 drive extension bar with a four foot scaffold pole on the end. No way was that going to budge, reassembled and with my tail between my legs booked it into the local village garage. Got the call from the garage, we have tried everything including heat and we are stumped - oh bugger.

So having bought the belt kit and spent £150 at the local garage, I had to admit defeat. A 17 year old Fiesta with 170,000mls from new isn't worth a lot of money, so decided we would look for a replacement. A good friend of mine runs a grounds maintenance business, so I asked him if it was any good to him for running his men around - I told him the history of the cambelt fiasco and said I would drop it round to him in a couple of days - it was still mot'd and still quite tidy, but pleased to give it to him if it would do him a good turn.

A few months later I met up with him and asked how he was getting on with the Fiesta and had he changed the timing belt. His reply: Yes, we changed it no problem. Cut the bolt head off with a torch, changed the belt and welded the pulley back on the end of the crankshaft. How not to do it - but it still lasted a couple more years.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by andy_d

...

most of us have probably at some point in the past used the old washing up bowl as a oil catch can, with/without the oil slick when pouring it into the empty can for disposal ,tried a few alternatives before upgrading to the oil catch can with the tray on the top and bungs to avoid needing to clean the driveway of oil,, (some of us can still make a mess with those and look for other solutions)

...

I'm most definitely capable of making a mess no matter how well I think I've positioned the oil tray. We were given a large bag of cat litter a while ago so now I just put a layer down before I start ready to absorb the spills, if I don't spill anything it can be swept up and used again.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

I'm most definitely capable of making a mess no matter how well I think I've positioned the oil tray. We were given a large bag of cat litter a while ago so now I just put a layer down before I start ready to absorb the spills, if I don't spill anything it can be swept up and used again.

I often unfold a large packing box and place it on the ground with the oil drain pan on top. If it's wide enough once unfolded, i trap it under the ramps as well, it helps to stop metal ramps from skidding which is an unexpected bonus.

The corrugated cardboard soaks the oil very well so can often be re-used, especially if no spills have happened. Once it's had its day, fold it up and dump it in the recycle bin.