Other S60 Problem: Are they trying pulling a fast one?

[jon0881]

Hi,

Ive recently bought an 04 plate s60 d5 s. Apart from a bearing alternator noise, the centre console being broke and a possible rear shock problem im made up with it (oh and one of the boot hydrolic things are broke at the ball socket). I noticed its had a towbar installed on to it but there is no sign of the detatchable bit in the car anywhere. On further inspection i seen that the electrics have been cut to the inside of the car so im not sure whats gone on. I tried to get the 'bar bit', which i think is a bosal standard fit and have been told that it would cost just as much for the head than a new bar. Obviously i thouht, he wants me to have a new bar from him rather than ordering me a spare. Any ideas? I only want to tow a small trailer to the tip and possibly for camping.

Also, ive read up on the ipod adapter, im in two minds to go for the full on adapter for my hu-603 or try to get a cheaper aux input for it. What uguys think?

Best wishes


Jon

[hobbyhorse]

Jon,
I could be wrong here but I`ve got a feeling the Volvo ipod adaptor doesnt work with the HU603 (works only with HU650?) I asked a main dealer last year ~ maybe another updated one has become available

[JIM C]

I would email the towbar manufacturer bosal directly and just ask. I would see no reason why they are unable to supply the part by itself.

[Jim760]

heh, id take the car back and tell them to stuff it!
too many issues for an04, its clearly been abused!

[jon0881]

to be fair, its got 109K miles on it and i only paid £5.5k for it. I dont think i got a bad deal on the car itself.

[baldt]

I used to fit Witter towbars. From what I can tell, I could have read your post wrong, it would seem that the towbar guy is right. For some reason it does indeed cost less to re-fit a complete towbar then simply adding the ball bit. As an example when I used to fit them the average towbar kit cost about £117. However the ball (hook-up) cost about £130 - odd I know!

Am I right from what you say that everything is still in place except the electrics, which have been cut, and the ball? If so that's good! Some people remove the entire thing which is a big no no. To fit a towbar you have to cut away part of the rear section of the car. You then replace it with what comes as part of the towbar kit. This means that the towbar is now integral to the chassis. If you remove everything (which you should never do regardless) then you have a big problem. The best and safest way is to simply remove the electrics and the ball

Hope that made sense

[jon0881]

that makes perfect sense apart from the ball bit costing more than the kit. I guess this is a silly manufacturer thing.

I suppose there is half a chance one might come up on ebay in the future

[baldt]

I know, it does seem noncence. I suppose it's like when a washing machine fails. Its often cheaper to just buy a whole new one. We live in a throw away society unfortunately



I was going to say about either eBay, or possibly ringing up Bosal fitters in your area and seeing if they have a spare one knocking around the workshop and going cheap!