Nightmare MOT/Service Day (sob)

[davB]

4 year old XC60 taken in today for service and MOT.
55,000 miles from when I bought it new.

MOT for £5 which is nice.

New front wiper blades for £39 - ok why not.

Smug because I've been saving in the Volvo scheme so shouldn't have to pay much more.

I reported the driver's door handle as sticky - it sometimes doesn't retract without me pushing it - and there's a known modification for £34. Yes ok.

And the loan car insurance for £12. It's a S90 D4 which is as long as a container ship and could fit a 40 foot container in the rear seats alone.

But then my lovely XC60 failed the MOT as one of the rear tyres has a nasty tear in the treads - that's £128.50 - well you'd better do that then.

And the other rear tyre has scuffing around one edge but not to worry.

And they are doing the recall thing but this is simply the cleaning of some sensors and some new software. Easy.

And just now had a call to say that whilst on the test drive the technician noticed a whining noise - my son noticed this a while back but I'm old to hear it (say what....)

They identified this as the cam belt tensioner.

Oh and the cam belt has cracks in it and it all needs to be replaced (£580).

And they don't have the kit in stock.

And they need the loan car back (the very nice S90).

And if I bring my car home it might explode.

Waiting for a call back to see what's going to happen next.

Apparantly they have never seen a cam belt age like this so quickly.

Just wandering around now having a bit of a sob (it's nothing - just something in my eye...)

BTW: I have nothing but absolute respect for my local dealer (Cecil and Larter in Bury St. Edmunds) and do not want to imply it is their fault or that they have treated me badly.

[davB]

Parts on express order for tomorrow and I can keep the S90 (not forever...)

[scbamber]

Ouch!

If you bought the car via Volvo Selekt within the last year, you are covered (sorry, just re-read and see you bought it new). If you didn't but have had the car serviced at the dealership then Volvo may agree to cover some/all of the cambelt cost....after all, you get on well with C&L and they may agree to go into bat with Volvo on your behalf.

Volvo would be hard pressed to say that a tensioner problem and a cracked cambelt at 55k are acceptable. 90K is the new cambelt change interval, reduced form ~140k. 55K is way under. Volvo often play ball when approached carefully.

[Toprivetguns]

Good find by the garage.

Id ask to keep the faulty parts for inspection. Perhaps the tensioner failed and was damaging the cambelt ? Either way this is why you must service your car. This issue was caught before it propagated into a major catastrophic failure.
Count yourself lucky.

[Bellaxc60]

Guys are you saying the cam belt requires replacing at 90000 miles instead of 150000? is there an age limit on belt change as well?

[Dash300]

Originally Posted by davB

4 year old XC60 taken in today for service and MOT.
55,000 miles from when I bought it new.

MOT for £5 which is nice.

New front wiper blades for £39 - ok why not.

Smug because I've been saving in the Volvo scheme so shouldn't have to pay much more.

I reported the driver's door handle as sticky - it sometimes doesn't retract without me pushing it - and there's a known modification for £34. Yes ok.

And the loan car insurance for £12. It's a S90 D4 which is as long as a container ship and could fit a 40 foot container in the rear seats alone.

But then my lovely XC60 failed the MOT as one of the rear tyres has a nasty tear in the treads - that's £128.50 - well you'd better do that then.

And the other rear tyre has scuffing around one edge but not to worry.

And they are doing the recall thing but this is simply the cleaning of some sensors and some new software. Easy.

And just now had a call to say that whilst on the test drive the technician noticed a whining noise - my son noticed this a while back but I'm old to hear it (say what....)

They identified this as the cam belt tensioner.

Oh and the cam belt has cracks in it and it all needs to be replaced (£580).

And they don't have the kit in stock.

And they need the loan car back (the very nice S90).

And if I bring my car home it might explode.

Waiting for a call back to see what's going to happen next.

Apparantly they have never seen a cam belt age like this so quickly.

Just wandering around now having a bit of a sob (it's nothing - just something in my eye...)

BTW: I have nothing but absolute respect for my local dealer (Cecil and Larter in Bury St. Edmunds) and do not want to imply it is their fault or that they have treated me badly.

Cam Belt, Aux belt and new tensioner pulley last year main dealer price for me was £442. If you don't negotiate they will fleece you. I always haggle as the car gets older and they always reduce their opening offer.
As far as the service cost is concerned the tipping point for me is that the very comprehensive Volvo European Breakdown service is included in the price. As I attend shows in the EU and the towed unit if attached at breakdown is included makes the service cost decent value.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Bellaxc60

Guys are you saying the cam belt requires replacing at 90000 miles instead of 150000? is there an age limit on belt change as well?

Yes, for the VEA engine (at least the diesel, not sure about the petrol versions) the cambelt interval was reduced last year from the original 144k miles to a much reduced 90k miles. Not sure why, but bloody irritating when I'm on 84k and racking up 1k every month!

[Bellaxc60]

I'm on 77000 at moment but rack up roughly 1000 a month as well, car will is 6 years old so it will be be approaching 7 years/90000 so might not bullet or change it for something else.

[davB]

Cam belt done, but there is still a noise 'deep with the engine'
Gulp....

[davB]

Engine noise thought to be dodgy balance shaft unit.
Going in tomorrow for 2 days to be replaced.
Both dealer and Volvo UK contributed to repair (and also my premature cam belt failure).
Nothing else can go wrong.......