1999 V70 T5‹needs engine transplant

George, were you mechanically inclined, I'd say pull the engine and rebuild it yourself.

Do not put the car in the hands of the dealer; what a rip-off, $9.7K plus $3K? Bend over...

If you want to keep the car, check around to find a used engine, e.g. craigslist, wrecking yard, and find some private party to R&R it. Total should come in less than $4K.

If that isn't feasible or attractive, dump the car on craigslist and get something else.

1--you brought the car in for an engine noise, told them the light is on and was told go away little boy?? They did not check the oil level?

THEY get to pay for the repair!

2-- a con rod bearing costs 12k??!!

Drop the pan and pop in new bearings after they plastigauge the crank. If the path is clear they might milk you for 3 hrs and bearings at any shop. Perhaps 5 if its a bear to get at.

3-- its an old car now, it does not need kid glove care anymore.

4-- good relationship??!! Does that mean they use K-Y and are gareful of the Santorum?

OK to be fair the rod bearings could fail due to over reving too, or lugging the engine. I still feel there is a matter of liability that attaches when you bring the car to a specialist expert and ask them to address the problem and then they blow you off.

Rod bearings are not a huge deal, and do not cost 13K

(Sorry for top posting for those who know the rules but that's been the standard to this point.)

Only a dealer could ask $13k for the more-than-needed work. An independent shop who knows Volvo will do the work for a fair price. The ONLY times I have gone to the dealer arewhen the (exorbitantly priced) gen-u-wine VOLVO parts are the major part of the cost.

Chuck Fiedler Noth>OK to be fair the rod bearings could fail due to over reving too, or lugging

Well checking the oil would have been a good idea, but it ought to have to be *really* low before anything bad happens. If the Check Engine light comes on that isn't an emergency, but if the red oil light comes on for more than a brief moment, that means STOP NOW. Going a bit over schedule on the oil change shouldn't be a big deal, so long as it isn't leaking or consuming oil.

Unlikely, deteriorating rod bearing won't cause the oil to go anywhere, my guess is it leaked out or was burned before that happened and lack of lubrication caused the bearing to fail. By the time the sound changed, the engine was probably ruined.

They should *always* check the oil any time a car is brought in for anything, especially anything engine related. It's so easy to do, and so important.

Ouch!! For that kinda money I would expect a *brand new* engine, not reman. Go find an independant auto machinist and have them rebuild the motor, or find a good used one and have that installed. Never go to a dealer unless the car is under warranty, to do so is just throwing away money.

Thanks for the responses. To be clear, the dealership is asking $9.7K for the remanuf engine replacement. They mentioned perhaps a break on the $12K figure if I go through with it. Say perhaps down a thousand or so. The other $3K was for brake pads, water pump leak, 90K service, various other things that sounded reasonable.

I like the idea of a second opinion, and an independent shop sounds like the way to go. Anyone know of something in the Maryland-DC area, or of a way to get a good lead through a website? If you wish, please email me directly at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com.

Cheers...

George

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Hello George:

This sounds rather odd as you had changed the oil at reasonable intervals.

That said, if you need a good used engine a friend of mine most likely has one (say with 40K or so on the ODO.) He's a nice guy I've know for years, was born in Scandinavia and has been working on Volvos only since 1955.

Like me, he is located in Central NY and now specialises in rebuilding late model Volvos that have been wrecked, and does all the work himself.

I have no idea what he would charge for the engine you need but will ask on Monday if you are interested.

Whatever he wants for it--if he has the engine you need--will require an additional (but reasonable) fee for having me build a crate and arrange shipping by truck. At his age he has no interest in selling items on E Bay or anywhere but locally with pickup by the buyer.

I noticed you are a Comcast subscriber, and recall they are generally East Coast only but could be wrong.

Shipping costs could be high on an item like an engine if you were on the West Coast of the US, but probably not more than $200 or so if you were closer. I'm only guessing here, but imagine I'd ask for anywhere from $50 to $75 for building the crate and arranging shipping. I don't do that sort of thing for a living, but know what materials cost and how long it would take me to do the job.

Now, you wrote :

"Car was worth about 9K Blue Book before this happened. Replacing engine with a "remanufactured" one will be $9.7K in addition to other odds and ends for $3K. On paper it makes nosense. Good used cars for same, although not as ³safe² as Volvo perhaps. Thoughts?"

Yes, I do indeed have a thought. My friend just sold a 2000 V70 T5 with 38K on the ODO for $13,000 USD to a client.

The vehicle had been in a front end collision and the PO did not want to have it repaired and bought a new Volvo, then sold this one to my friend. It looked just like it had rolled off an assembly line in Sweden when he finished with it--and frame etc are perfect and had been corrected to better than original specs.

Doing the math it seems clear that $12,700 for a new engine and other bits is rather insane.

Let me know if you are interested in the engine. I seem to recall he may have one in a car that had run under the back of an 18 wheeler, and that he bought that car for the front clip but could be wrong.

In any case, even if we do not have an engine now one will be available in the near future.

Regards,

Doc

I would say that the camshaft control problem is a symptom of the other problems. The camshaft timing is varied by a mechanism that uses high pressure oil - any problem that puts metal shavings in the oil is going to cause the camshaft control problem.

I second the recommendations to get a used engine, there are lots of these in good shape in recycling yards. These engines are pretty tricky to rebuild, hence the expense.