What I did today thread...

[Simmy]

£850 = madness.

[ASt85]

Originally Posted by Simmy

£850 = madness.

Blimey.....ay, there's the rub..... rear pads are too thin, exhaust mount gone - OK - at my local trusted garage that's £50 to £60 for the rear pads with the rear shoes/drums checked & cleaned as a matter of course and certainly no more that £15 to weld on a stainless steel bolt in place of the rear bracket. which includes the labour and the dreaded VAT.......by my calculation that's around £775 for the inter-cooler replacement - who is the dealer?...I really want shares in that money machine company!!!!

[Ritch]

Intercooler is blown?

You must have had some pretty significant symptoms if that were the case?

What were the niggles?

[Blue Oval]

Off the top of my head the figures are-

-£305 for the major service (seems that just about everything apart from the cambelt is being done)
-£420 IIRC for the Intercooler
-£30 for a new exhaust mount
-£105 for the rear pads

All prices are for supply and fit.

To be honest, the only price that stood out to me as being beyond what I expected was the rear pads, but I couldn't be bothered to take the car back to go elsewhere to save £30 or whatever.

The intercooler seemed on a par(ish) with what others have paid based on my googling, I had no idea about an exhaust mount but figured that for £30 there couldn't be much in it to go elsewhere.

The service itself is definitely more than I ever paid on my Mondeo, but I expected Volvo servicing to be more pricey, I'm guessing that they undercut the local dealer, but are probably way more than my local small garage would have charged?

Unfortunately I really wanted to get it done at a proper specialists just this once as it's the first service since I bought her, a previous garage said that VIDA indicated problems with the injectors, I was having niggles anyway so wanted someone who really knew the car to look at it.

Symptoms were actually very subtle, so perhaps when I say "blown", I'm exaggerating, but it was leaking. It looked smashed to pieces visually, and I'd noticed more and more little drops of oil starting to leak from the front end (there's nothing else in front of the radiator that could have oil in it surely?)

I also had other things that I wanted checking like an alarm error message (it's broken apparently!), some lumpiness when cold (normal apparently, I'm just used to 6 cylinder petrols!), a suspension clonk (t'was the exhaust), and the VIDA injector error reported by previous garage (don't trust it unless there's actually some symptoms)

Essentially I think it was worth it to be sure the car is running right, because this place also provide RICA maps, and that's the next thing I wanted to talk to them about (or was, Axa won't insure it!) Service so far has been impeccable as well, I get it back tomorrow.

So was it all a massive rip off? How much could I honestly have saved at any other place with VIDA? Next time I may well supply my own parts though...

[Baxlin]

Done very little Volvo today (except drive around with the top down - lovely!), but had a busy day.

This morning helped my son in law to sort out a slightly bent rear axle on one of his go-karts, then drove a 40 mile round trip for my weekly drumming lesson, then spent a couple of hours cleaning my daughter's much neglected Pug 308.

Power wash, 2 bucket method wash, clay mitt (not enough time for proper clay barring), Poorboys White Diamond, followed by Autoglym SRP, and finally AG EGP.

Then went to choir practice this evening.

Retirement isn't boring!

[oragex]

Originally Posted by Blue Oval

-£105 for the rear pads

Makes me feel good when I find almost new OE pads for £5 at the breakers. But yes, a main dealer needs to be feed, we are not talking here canary, more like pterodactylus.

[Baxlin]

Originally Posted by oragex

Makes me feel good when I find almost new OE pads for £5 at the breakers. But yes, a main dealer needs to be feed, we are not talking here canary, more like pterodactylus.

I hope it wasn't at the breakers because the brakes had failed..........

[Dancake]

Originally Posted by Baxlin

I hope it wasn't at the breakers because the brakes had failed..........

What difference would that make? If the pads were dry and solid with plenty of meat left on them then you're onto a winner at £5.

[wise old monkey]

Originally Posted by Dancake

What difference would that make? If the pads were dry and solid with plenty of meat left on them then you're onto a winner at £5.

I get new ones from a volvo dealer on ebay for £30. I always keep a spare set in the cupboard

[Baxlin]

Originally Posted by Dancake

What difference would that make? If the pads were dry and solid with plenty of meat left on them then you're onto a winner at £5.

I was actually joking, but even so, I would think long and hard before buying used brake parts from a breakers, and with pads, while these were bought as OE, others, and even these, maybe, could be soft, hard, wrong spec, made from Chinese gingerbread, who knows, odds on the breaker won't.