worn balljoints...

[AL NZ]

Our 2016 XC90 has failed its Warrant of Fitness (NZ equiv of MOT) on balljoint wear.
the dealer serviced it about 6 weeks ago, and now fails it on balljoints! They looked surprised when we asked why they don't check over the whole car for that sort of thing at the time of service. I am underwhelmed. It has only done 80,000km.
Seems to be no commonsense to look for impending problems - a few months ago, some intake pipe failed and left my wife stranded in the middle of nowhere. this was two weeks after the previous service - they had the gall to tell us the pipe is a common problem - I asked why they hadn't preventatively assessed/replaced it during the service two weeks earlier.
Anyone else had balljoint issues?

Checked out a GLE Merc today, given the issues arising at 4 years age and 80,000km with the Volvo.
I thought the Mercedes seats nicer. My wife hated the centre console/cupholder area, and the gears being on an indicator stalk.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by AL NZ

Our 2016 XC90 has failed its Warrant of Fitness (NZ equiv of MOT) on balljoint wear.
the dealer serviced it about 6 weeks ago, and now fails it on balljoints! They looked surprised when we asked why they don't check over the whole car for that sort of thing at the time of service. I am underwhelmed. It has only done 80,000km.
Seems to be no commonsense to look for impending problems - a few months ago, some intake pipe failed and left my wife stranded in the middle of nowhere. this was two weeks after the previous service - they had the gall to tell us the pipe is a common problem - I asked why they hadn't preventatively assessed/replaced it during the service two weeks earlier.
Anyone else had balljoint issues?

Checked out a GLE Merc today, given the issues arising at 4 years age and 80,000km with the Volvo.
I thought the Mercedes seats nicer. My wife hated the centre console/cupholder area, and the gears being on an indicator stalk.

Here in the UK, dealerships do a complimentary "health check" on a car that's brought into them for a service (I presume this is the same across the whole Volvo network worldwide?). The mechanic performs various checks like the condition of brake discs & pads, tyres etc & then you get a printed report showing you the outcome of those checks. Items highlighted on the report in green are fine, item(s) highlighted in amber indicates item(s) that need addressing in the future & item(s) highlighted in red means something requires immediate attention.

I'm surprised they didn't spot the worn ball joints, as a visual inspection of the suspension is usually done on the health check. With regards to the pipe that failed after you had the car serviced, that probably wouldn't come under something that's checked on the visual inspection of the car when its brought in for a routine service.

You have to bare in mind that they don't check every single component of the car on a routine service, in fact, no garage does because it'd take too much time. Your car would have been hooked up to a diagnostic machine at some point the day it was serviced & I'm pretty sure if a pipe was hanging off on that day, it would have triggered some sort of fault code on the system that would have been spotted (you should have a print-out of the diagnostics too). If there was no fault code, then it wouldn't have been checked (common issue or not) because its not part of the service/health check. It'd be great if "common failures" were actually checked by garages, but its a simple case of "if its not broken, it doesn't need fixing". Here's things that are covered under the health check, which also explains why the pipe mentioned could have been missed;

Brake pads and discs condition and wear

Tyre condition and wear

Suspension and steering condition and wear

Exhaust system condition / leaks

All fluid levels - Engine, Power Steering, Brake and Coolant (including coolant strength)

Check for water and oil leaks

Front and Rear washers and wipers

Lights

Bodywork for damage

Seat Belts conditions and operations

Air conditioning performance

The intake pipe that left your car stranded could have been purely coincidental, just something that happens. Its easy to jump to conclusions that you've just had the car serviced & nothing was spotted. As specified, if its not part of the routine service/health check noted above & no fault codes come up on diagnostics, then parts like this are left alone. I imagine if the issue with the intake pipe was as common as the garage made it out to be that that there would be some sort of recall by Volvo, to hopefully sort the repeated problems. Have you checked whether Volvo recalled XC90's for this intake pipe?

The XC90 is a far nicer jeep than the GLE & it'd be a mistake to change to one of them in my opinion. Volvo aren't "cheap" to maintain, but Mercedes certainly aren't... parts & labour rates are extortionate.

I'd suggest you check your health report that should have been provided by Volvo as part of your service & check whether the suspension items are listed in green (meaning the condition is fine). If they are, then the garage may well give you a discount towards the cost of replacing the ball joints for the inconvenience caused to you by the car failing its inspection by something that should have been picked up on by the garage, as part of the visual health check. Its worth a try...