V70 Steering Rack Replacement

[sierraman]

Originally Posted by Clan

when you fit a new rack on an older model you have to change the pipes too as the pipes are at a different angle on the new ( later ) rack, i wonder if he tried to bend the original ones to fit ?

The story i got is that there are 5 different racks available to fit a v70 classic (850 face lift) and he was unable to get a refurbished one for my car.

My old rack was taken off the car and sent away to be refurbished. He claims that the company who refurbished the rack had sawn off the pipe and not him. I think it's bs.

At the moment i am trying to find out what i need to buy. It appears to be a long black hose with metal connector + a metal pipe...i just hope than my volvo stealer in bham has the bits in stock.

You said pipes...should i be replacing more than one?

[scoffbelly]

I have read this post with interest.

Two weeks ago my rack started leaking badly and I knew I needed a new one. I saw the £120.00 ACS advert on ebay with 100% feedback so I called them and they supplied me with what I now know was an SMI rack.

I asked a local independent volvo specialist to quote to fit, he was a bit reluctant to take on as he didnt know the recon company. Anyway he agreed to fit for £120.00 plus fluid and VAT.

All was fine for two weeks, but then the new rack started making an awful grinding noise when turning hard right and then back again. I took it back to guy who fitted who told me that it sounded like the hydraulics inside had failed and it was grinding away inside. I called ACS and asked them for a warranty replacement, they said I had to pay the replacement and will refund when I send the old one back. I had no choice and the replacement arrived yesterday.

I asked the independent volvo specialist to fit and I would have to take a hit on a 2nd install fee, but then it got worse. The volvo guy said they had sent the wrong rack (a TRW instead of an SMI). I called ACS about this and they told me their either an SMI or TRW would fit. I asked ACS to explain this to the volvo guy and gave them his number which they did. It turns out the volvo guy had a row with ACS arguing by insisting the TRW wouldn't fit and he ended up putting the phone down on ACS as they had been rude to him and he told me he wished he'd never taken on the job, my car was taking up space on his ramp which was costing him money and he would add 2 hours extra labour onto the job.

I called ACS back and said I needed this sorted and please could they send me the original SMI rack. They said they would to help me out but still insisted that the TRW rack would fit.

I went and saw the Volvo guy who had calmed down and said that he would fit the TRW after all to get it off his ramp but would make a disclaimer saying he wasnt happy as the bolts dont line up and he has to do some mods. In the meantime I am still having the ACS replacement SMI rack delivered to him early next week and I said that I would take my C70 back to him and have the SMI fitted as I am concerned about him saying it doesnt fit properly which is going to cost me another £120.00 plus fluid & VAT.

So all in all I am out of pocket but can anyone shed any light regarding the SMI and TRW will/wont fit disagreement between ACS and the independent volvo guy. so who is right / out of order here ? Shall I leave the TRW rack on or replace yet again with the SMI as per the volvo guy's side ?

Glad I got that off my chest, the story continues...any ideas ?????

[Clan]

Originally Posted by scoffbelly

Glad I got that off my chest, the story continues...any ideas ?????

Yep , That's what you pay volvo dealers for , Thier Knowledge .. much like you pay any tradesman for , like a plumber or a satelite dish installer , They have been doing it for years and know their job and product inside out ..

[sierraman]

Hi scoffbelly

Sorry to hear that you are having similar problems to me with your steering rack. Unfortunately i don't know what the differences are between the TRW rack and SMI rack. Do any of the VOC members know?

In your case i would follow the advice of the volvo specialist and not fit the TRW rack. If the TRW rack needs to be modified to fit your car then alarm bells are ringing and it's a no brainer! The whole idea of getting a replacement / refurbished rack is to replace the existing faulty rack with an identical as new rack. If it needs modifying then it isn't the same part and it's for a different car.

To me it's annoying that ACS has sent you a part that would appear to be off a different version of your car...perhaps even a v70...who knows? The facts are it is not identical to the original and so it is clear who's advice you should be taking.

As for me. I should never have trusted a long time family of my partner who recommends his ex father in law "Steve" to do work on my car and then walk away when there are problems. Like you I also tried to get a steering rack from ACS as they had 2 listed in stock on Ebay and the cost of £135 +£15 Carriage seemed a good buy to me. I decided to telephone them first before hitting the "buy it now" button only to find that they didn't have any instock but they offered to collect and refurb my existing rack.

I took my v70 to the garage on Thursday 3rd September & passed this info onto the mechanic (mercia 4x4 in Pelsall, Walsall) Steve the Mechanic then ignored my request and sent my rack to a different company on Tues 8th Sept and the price had increased from £150 to £250. Steve said the rack refurb company had put the price up because it needed more doing to it....even though it had only just started leaking? My rack was sent off with the hose/pipework from the rack to the fluid bottle still attached to it. Steve the mechanic said that it could not be removed?

The rack was returned on the Thurs 10th sept and the rack was fitted to the car. Steve said he would call me if there were any problems and asked me to collect the car that evening. I went to collect the car that evening (no phone call..i had 3 phones next to me all day!) only to find that it couldn't be driven because the hose/pipework that had been sent off attached to the rack had been sawn off and part of it had been returned thrown in the "Shaftec" box with the rack.

Steve then gave me a Fax from Stratsone Volvo (aston, Bham) which had a diagram of the steering rack-surrounding parts and pointed out the damaged parts to me. The part appeared to be a long black rubber hose attached to what looked like a 12" or more piece of metal pipework. Steve confirmed that the damage part was as per diagram & asked if i could get hold of this part so that i could have my car back for the weekend (Steve was going away until Tues 15th Sept but his brother at the garage would fit the part for me as it was only a 10 min job) Steve said that he would knock the price of the part off the bill and re-claim it from the rack refurb company.

So VOC member "Clan" Do volvo dealers have accurate Knowledge and do they really know their job and products inside out ..after doing it for years and years?
NO they don't....well not all of them anyway!

On Fri 11th Sept i went to Stratstone Aston and ordered the part (after they had confirmed on their system and i was assured that it was as per diagram) I collected the part the next day only to find a hose with a 3" piece of L shape pipework and a nut on one end and nothing on the other (no additional pipework) As the Parts Dept was closed i would now have to wait till Monday.

Anyway the part was re-ordered on Monday and an identical part arrived the next day. So i had to e-mail photo's of what i had received to Stratstone (they have no camera) and they would then send them to Volvo technical for help. Guess What? Later that day I was informed that Volvo Technical were unable to accept e-mails from Stratstone and they would get back to me asap.

Steve the mechanic returns from hoilday the same day and informs me that his brothers 850 has the identical part. So i order the part , it arrives next day and it is different and still no news from Volvo Technical. What a saga...I then phone or e-mail every breakers yard and parts supplier that i can only to find that no one has the missing parts and i even put a wanted advert on here!

I then see an advert fot TMS Volvo of Coventry and i phone then as well. What a difference an Oliver in a parts department can make. Not only did he know the part and what it should look like but he also told me that some of the diagrams on the volvo system are in-accurate. He ordered the part for me and it arrived within 2 hours and it was exactly as he had said. Not only that....he had gone to the service dept and looked at the same model-age v70 car as mine,just to make sure...How's that for service!

Anyway i delivered the hose to steve yesterday and the car was ready to collect in the afternoon. Fully road tested and all it needs is tracking boasted steve (after he denied all knowledge of him stating that he would claim back the cost of the damaged hose from the rack company) After a heated exchange where he threatened to remove the part from my car i handed over another £185 after deducting £65 for one of the parts that i had to buy. Steve was not happy that all he got was £485 and complained that it was not fair that he should lose money. He then stated that my rack had a 2 year warranty but he would not give me a receipt or tell me where he got it from....or even show proof of cost. (I think that the price of the rack refurb went up to cover the cost of the damaged hose and he even made a profit on that as well) However to his credit he said that the company had been there for 25 years and i could bring it back to him if there were problems...Great Guy!

I immediately drove the car carefully to a local tyre centre to have it re-tracked and on the way i lost part of the power steering...not good! When i got to the Tyre centre the rack was leaking from the New hose where it connects to the rack. I had to go out and drive around the block 5 times as it took 5 attempts to re-track...It was the worst they had ever seen and miles out.

So back to Steve i go and he says leave it with me and i will have it ready tomorrow. He then states that if he can't sort it out he will get me to drive to the rack refurb company and get them to do it as he would not take the rack off and would never touch another rack again.....so much for the 25 years and i will look after you crap!

Finally i get a call from Steve today stating that the leak was gone and he had found the problem (he hadn't seated the hose into the rack correctly) The car had been road tested and was now perfect.

I collect the car only to find that i have intermittent power steering and it is an arm breaker around roundabouts etc. So back i go to steve and he agrees that i have no power steering....however i have been told that i have to drive the car over the weekend to see if it will loosen up and he will then decide what to do about it on Monday.....The good news is that i have no leaks....The bad news is that i will now need 2 new front tyres because they were damaged as the rack was so far out Yesterday...Michelin Pilot Primacy with about 5,000 miles on them!

Never again! I will probably end up taking it to TMS Volvo and having a new rack fitted as i feel the car is undriveable and i ache all over from having no power steering. On Monday Steve will probably refuse to sort it out for me and as i have no receipt what can i do? .....Trading Standards? .....VAT man?.....Police? ...Gordon Brown?

The mother in law is offering to loan me the money to get the car done properly as it was my partners long time friend "Roger" who recommended Steve to me. Roger Promised that i would have no problems and he would help me sort them if there were . Roger then does an "Oliver North" and many arguments have followed and the saga continues.

[sierraman]

I forgot to mention that i received an e-mail From Stratstone yesterday requesting pictures of the damaged hose. Apparently Volvo Technical would like to see them in order to help me.....and they can now except e-mails too...Fab!

So After already supplying my Registration Number, Vin Plate/Chassis and engine numbers along with a copy of my v5 doc to stratstones.....Volvo technical are unable to tell me (without a photo of the damaged hose) what the correct part is that connects from my steering rack to the reservior bottle. So what are Volvo playing it? Diagrams on their systems that are in-accurate and even with full details they can't tell me what part i should have...without photo's from me!

The truth of the matter is the first part that i received from Stratstones was actually correct but nothing like as pictured (The correct hose had a 3 or 4" L shape pipe with a nut on the end but i didn't find this out until contacting TMS VOLVO) Anyway Stratstone kindly ordered another one as it did appear that pipework was missing but the second one was the same. Stratstone were helpfull but not knowledgeable and improvements are needed as they appear short staffed and don't return phonecalls. However thanks does go to the guys in the parts department as they only have the volvo system to go on and i guess they can't know every model (and are too short staffed to return calls)

As for Steve the mechanic...what's his excuse? I had never previously seen the damaged part attached to the steering rack underneath my car...so i feel excused from any blame except that i took my car to the wrong garage. However Steve the mechanic had stated several times that the damaged hose was as pictured in the volvo diagram and did indeed have at least 12" of pipework attached to it. He even got me to order one for the 850 as he claimed it was identical as well.....nothing like it! I had to tell him that the part i had was the correct part and he hoped it would fit! Fits a treat and spot on he now says!

Finally i think that my steering rack has not been properly refurbished as it appears very stiff and allthough the rack looks newish some of the rubber parts look old.

So does anybody know why the power steering works ok in straight lines but 7 times out of 10 will disappear at roundabouts or turning left or right at junctions. If i stop at traffic lights the steering sometimes goes really stiff...is it speed related......air in the system....or just a crap rack/repair?

[scoffbelly]

Originally Posted by Clan

Yep , That's what you pay volvo dealers for , Thier Knowledge .. much like you pay any tradesman for , like a plumber or a satelite dish installer , They have been doing it for years and know their job and product inside out ..

Volvo dealer = £900 for a new rack, £300.00 to fit

so even with all my hassle, its still going to cost me half the price.

ok lets ignore all the forums, and recon and oem parts, and just wheel our volvos into the main dealers and fit brand new retail price volvo parts and trust them 100% everytime

WE ARE IN A CREDIT CRUNCH RECESSION FFS AND WE CANT ALL AFFORD TO DO THIS.

The whole point of these forums is to share ideas and experiences so we can try and avoid paying high prices to keep our cars on the road.

I would love to always take my Volvo into a main dealer, but I can't afford it, thats why I use these forums... for constructive comments, help and assistance, not a lecture on the merits of going to Volvo dealers.

[scoffbelly]

Thanks Steve,

Lets see where we both are in a week's time. Even though its costing me more. I agree with you, I will be happier to get back to an SMI rack. Hopefullly someone on the forum will know the answer to the TRW / SMI rack query ? perhaps its just what's on the assembly line bin at the time, ie pot luck if the Swedes fitted a TRW or SMI at the plant ?

Driving my C70 back last night, the TRW rack seems ok, but the volvo guy had not aligned my steering wheel straight so its turning slightly to the right in a straight line grrrrr. I'm not going to drive it much anyway until the replacement SMI comes in from ACS and I take it back and point this out to him so when he refits and charges me another £150.00, he can at least straighten up the steering wheel for me.

[Clan]

Before you edited your post you asked why i am on here ...I am on here to try and help people avoid the pitfalls which you have unfortunatly discovered . I have seen this kind of things many many times with volvos over the last 38 years . a volvo is supposed to be a premuim brand and is a complex car with lots of parts depending on chassis number , year , and makes . There are hundreds of manufacturers bulletins explaining how to get around these problems the dealer is in the best position to do the job right for you . .How motor factors deal with these complicted supercessions etc . i don't know .
You cant run a premium car on the cheap all the time , like BMW , Ferrari , Mercedes etc sometimes you have to fork out money .. Cars , what ever brand are very expensive to repair these days .. Even Citroen which may be described as a budget brand have parts which cost MUCH more than volvo parts ..

These problems are widespread with repairers who dont specialise . Often the wrong parts turn up or they dont fit or even they are not available at all outside the makers parts supplies . long gone are the days when any local garage could repair any make or model properly .. they need to thoroughly know their brand these days .
Did you know there is a plate on your car which will define which rack it has , 4 is a TRW and 5 is a SMI thats what i mean about dealers knowing what they are doing , ( apart from the dealer you chose unfortunatly again ! ) it would have saved a lot of hassle if your guy had just asked them which rack you have , the dealer would have mentioned any extra hoses you required , likewise the supplier should have been aware of this .

I do hope that in the next few days you will be able to enjoy your volvo again .. Good Luck ..

[scoffbelly]

Thank you, a much more constructive post. Why could you not have posted the info regarding the plate number in your first response then I wouldn't have had to pay for a main dealer to tell me, though I guess that is your commercial preference.

I know the pitfalls thank you and I take a risk, but overall I know I save money doing this. Ive had my beloved C70 since new in 2001 and covered 190,000 miles. I guess you are now going to tell me its about time I traded her in for a new C70 ?

I stopped taking her to Volvo main dealers after the warranty ran out apart from the sorry ETM experience, which I now see an independent source has developed a contactless solution, unlike Volvo.

I edited my post because I then looked at your profile and discovered that overall you have indeed made a healthy contribution to this forum.

Isn't that what these forums are for ? Instead of your diatribe lecture sales pitch for Volvo suggesting the impossible predicament the independent motor factors find themselves in. Are you suggesting then, that they shut down to join the dole queues thus forcing the masses to queue up at the main dealer monopoly / cartel as our only choice ?


FYI, I am using a volvo specialist to do the work www.justvolvocentre.co.uk I have yet to fully make my mind up about him, but overall I think he's a sound guy.

The problem I have is with ACS insisting that my C70 will take either a TRW or SRI rack. I agree with you, if they had asked me what's on my ID plate I could have avoided this issue.

[sierraman]

Hi.

I'm not sure if "scoffbelly" is having a dig at me or not with the thanks steve comment and lets all go to volvo dealers. Perhaps i have given the wrong impression? However if it only applies to comments made by "Clan" and Steve my mechanic who has let me down....then i agree.

I have currently spent over £600 to get my rack reconditioned and i still have problems.....not forgetting the fact that i will now need 2 new front tyres!

Steve will want another £200 (if) he will agree to take off my rack and returning it to where he got it reconditioned. Steve is then likely to make a balls of putting the rack back on and even the hose. Personally i never want to see this mechanic or the person who recommended him again.....but i may have to. I will then have to drive the car to the tyre centre and pay out again to have it re-tracked.

"Scoffbelly" you were lucky that your steering wheel was only slightly off centre. I got my car back with the steering wheel centred at virtually full left lock. The tyre centre said it was the worst that they had ever seen...miles out! So have you paid £150 for the part and 3x £150 for 3 rack fittings? What is happening with ACS? Are they charging you more and how is it being dealt with?

Just to make it clear from my side. I am not telling anyone to go to Volvo dealers for their repairs. I have not been to a volvo dealer for servicing or repairs in the 4 years of my v70 ownership. I have only been in contact recently with the dealers as i couldn't source the missing part elsewhere. My experience with the dealers is frightening and i merely gave an example of my experiences with two of them.

As for me....I was made redundant last year so i don't need anyone telling me about the CREDIT CRUNCH RECESSION FFS AND WE CANT ALL AFFORD TO DO THIS line...i already know! And i don't need any comments saying that i shouldn't have a car if i am unemployed either. I need to have a car for my mental wellbeing and for the care of my mother.

So where do i go from here? I have previously tried to get my car repaired at a volvo specialist in staffordshire. It was like pulling teeth! On the telephone he didn't seem at all keen to take on the work and even getting him to pencil in a day to look at it, appeared too much trouble. Hey it's a recession and he should have been biting my hand off.....i'm not begging a garage to take my business. My car is a nightmare to drive and i have been done on the existing repair....so where do i go from here?

I have had a quote of £972.67 from TMS Volvo this morning. The rack is a genuine volvo exchange unit with 12 mths warranty (parts & labour) and the price includes 4 wheel alignment/tracking. I was supprised at the cost and especially the fact that it wasn't brand new as nobody does this anymore?....they are all factory recons? I then asked how long it would take and was quoted 3 hours and i would get the car back the same day!

I also phoned Stratstone Volvo in Aston but everyone was busy in their service department. I have given the switchboard my details and 90 mins later still no return call. The annoying thing is that the parts dept and the service dept share the same counter but they will ignore each others customers and don't answer the others phone. On a recent visit to the parts side of the counter i was left standing there for 15 minutes (after ringing the bell) whilst the man at the service side of the counter answered incoming calls and pretended not to see me when he had finished.

On my last visit to Stratstone i asked for the cost of a new replacement rack for my car....I was quoted £485 + vat = £557.75 and there was no mention of exchange units???

I live in Birmingham and the family run garage that i used to go to was bought out and replaced with a supermarket. So people where can i go to get my car sorted that won't rip me off and will know what they are doing? Please do not mention kwik fit type garages as i have had problems with these in the past!

To be continued!