S60 Steering: The love affair is reaching an end point...

[primitiveman]

Having spent a small fortune on this car over the past 3 years:
Leaky Injectors, Starter Motor, Vacuum Mounts, Gearbox torque mount, Front and Rear Brakes and Discs and Pads, Power steering reservoir (Twice!), parasitic draw - alarm module (Inserted resistor to fool it!), New Boost Solenoid, New turbo pipes, New Battery, New Tyres, Oil & Fuel Filters, Glow Plugs, Wishbone control arms and bushes, Engine Mounts + Inserts, steering limiter stops, Upgrade from 16-17" wheels & Tyres, Replacement Front and Rear Bumpers, Replacement Bonnet (Some twonk jumped on it), Replacement Windscreen, Numerous Oil changes and a complete Coolant flush, Skid Pan Replacement, New 'Clear lens' Main beams, shock absorbers all round... and this list goes on.. and on.. and on...

I think I've finally come to the end of my love affair with this car.

Don't get me wrong - I still like the car... but I no longer love it and the leaking Steering Rack is the cause.
I've been desperately trying to find a replacement for the past 2 months with zero luck - Volvo no longer stock this particular model (P8684271) and I'm now having to put in about a litre of PS fluid a week. When I park the car overnight, I have to remember to put down a basin to catch the fluid.

I'm finally coming to the realisation that this old soul has just about given its all... the engine sounds superb now and the ride smoother then it's ever been but at some point you've got to say to yourself... enough is enough and shoot the bastard dead!

[AndrewBrown]

I have come to the realiseation that Volvo are living a lie

Like a few car companies these days they have a reputation for reliablity gained over years of solid dependability which has now been lost over time

Volvo, Land Rover and VW to name a few

[oragex]

Not sure what upgrading the wheels, replacing bumpers and windscreen have to do with reliability... Those, plus the wear items, were expenses that happen on any car.

Leaking steering rack is not a faulty part on this model, unless the dust boots at the rack are cracked or the clamps are not well secured letting water rust the rack and damage the seals. Wrong p/s fluid also can damage the seals.

My experience is never throw countless money to fix the smallest issue on an old vehicle. Rather keep the money to fix the important parts.

There are wear parts in Volvo, but this happens on every single brand out there past a certain age. There are also people out there who think of a brands with a certain reliability reputation, let's say Toyota, that they will buy the car with 100K miles and only have to change the oil and tires for the next 80K miles. Maybe such car will exist one day, but this never happened as of now, all brands included.

[wise old monkey]

i have had my v70 T5 for almost 3 years now, its never let me down, even though i have almost rebuilt it.
if i have to go anywhere whether its long distance or short it has been a dream to drive and not worry about it failing on me

primitiveman............ if its the steering rack which you cannot replace, then go to the breakers and get one from another car with all the pipes, fit the complete lot, job done

[swil00]

Suffering from a larger than expected bill after my last service just shy of 100K. Still a great place to be on my daily commute though.

Mines is an 2002 S60 D5 which had an easy first 12 years hardly moving a wheel amounting to a massive 15K.

the past 3 years or so have see that rise to 100K now.

Can't really grumble at running costs other than a hefty bill early last year when the slave cylinder decided to give up on me :-(

Especially when you find cars such as this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-V70-...cAAOSwAGtZy5z0

Having had thousands spent on them in as little as 18 months.

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by wise old monkey

i have had my v70 T5 for almost 3 years now, its never let me down, even though i have almost rebuilt it.
if i have to go anywhere whether its long distance or short it has been a dream to drive and not worry about it failing on me

primitiveman............ if its the steering rack which you cannot replace, then go to the breakers and get one from another car with all the pipes, fit the complete lot, job done

What he said. Get one from breaker. You've put a lot of stuff into that vehicle. I would be very hesitant to let it go. Sounds like a nice ride.

[primitiveman]

I'm glad to say that the love affair is not over - I managed to get the old one reconditioned (£450 Incl. Removal and Replacement - it really was in poor shape).

In response to a couple of the comments:

I never stated that 'upgrading the wheels, replacing bumpers and windscreen' - had anything to do with reliability. These items were more to do with drive-ability and safety.

'go to the breakers and get one from another car' - this turned out much harder to do in reality, then in theory. My model, '03, turned out to be on the cusp of a changeover for Volvo - replacing the Rack with anything else apart from the one installed would have involved replacing the Steering Column and sundry other parts. The Rack that's in my car would, I have now discovered, go into the later XC70, XC90 models but not the S60s, as would the steering column. Even the Volvo tech who confirmed that they were the ones originally installed shook his head in bewilderment.

As stated, I have kept the car - despite having to replace both driver and passenger doors (N/S) after some ass-hat reversed into me - sourced them from eBay. This is NOT a job for one man - but it's doable, if you don't mind spending a few days in bed after, with back problems!

The ride, feedback, comfort levels, looks and overall quality of the car suit my tastes and I've sworn that they'll take it from my cold dead hands - or, perhaps more accurately, their cold dead hands.

SiRobb - Youtube - has been a fantastic resource in my ongoing fight to keep this car alive. I know he posts on several Volvo forums and his videos are absolutely the dogs-testicles when it comes to Volvo car maintenance.
Sadly, I think he's moved on from his S60 has I haven't seen a post on his Youtube channel for a while. Kudos to you - and thanks for all the great info and instruction. I did offer to buy ya a few beers on your channel but you never responded - offer remains.

For those who are interested, the part number for my Steering Rack is: P8684271

Have a nice day and keep on rolling....

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by primitiveman

'go to the breakers and get one from another car' - this turned out much harder to do in reality, then in theory. My model, '03, turned out to be on the cusp of a changeover for Volvo - replacing the Rack with anything else apart from the one installed would have involved replacing the Steering Column and sundry other parts. The Rack that's in my car would, I have now discovered, go into the later XC70, XC90 models but not the S60s, as would the steering column. Even the Volvo tech who confirmed that they were the ones originally installed shook his head in bewilderment.

wow, yep, that makes things more complicated for sure...crazy.

[T5R92011]

Originally Posted by primitiveman

I'm glad to say that the love affair is not over - I managed to get the old one reconditioned (£450 Incl. Removal and Replacement - it really was in poor shape).

In response to a couple of the comments:

I never stated that 'upgrading the wheels, replacing bumpers and windscreen' - had anything to do with reliability. These items were more to do with drive-ability and safety.

'go to the breakers and get one from another car' - this turned out much harder to do in reality, then in theory. My model, '03, turned out to be on the cusp of a changeover for Volvo - replacing the Rack with anything else apart from the one installed would have involved replacing the Steering Column and sundry other parts. The Rack that's in my car would, I have now discovered, go into the later XC70, XC90 models but not the S60s, as would the steering column. Even the Volvo tech who confirmed that they were the ones originally installed shook his head in bewilderment.

As stated, I have kept the car - despite having to replace both driver and passenger doors (N/S) after some ass-hat reversed into me - sourced them from eBay. This is NOT a job for one man - but it's doable, if you don't mind spending a few days in bed after, with back problems!

The ride, feedback, comfort levels, looks and overall quality of the car suit my tastes and I've sworn that they'll take it from my cold dead hands - or, perhaps more accurately, their cold dead hands.

SiRobb - Youtube - has been a fantastic resource in my ongoing fight to keep this car alive. I know he posts on several Volvo forums and his videos are absolutely the dogs-testicles when it comes to Volvo car maintenance.
Sadly, I think he's moved on from his S60 has I haven't seen a post on his Youtube channel for a while. Kudos to you - and thanks for all the great info and instruction. I did offer to buy ya a few beers on your channel but you never responded - offer remains.

For those who are interested, the part number for my Steering Rack is: P8684271

Have a nice day and keep on rolling....

Dunno if he's moved on from the S60 but he posts on this forum all the time... His username is cheshired or something like that.

[reggit]

Originally Posted by T5R92011

Dunno if he's moved on from the S60 but he posts on this forum all the time... His username is cheshired or something like that.

CheshireD5