Unavailabilty of Small Replacement Parts from Volvo

I noticed that some of the controls on my Volvo radio were not lit from behind like the others and pulled out the radio to find several tiny light bulbs. Volvo tells me that replacement bulbs are not available, but that they would be happy to sell me a new radio. The case is cracked on my keyless remote. Volvo would sell me a new remote for $112, but does not sell replacement cases.

Seems to me there is a lot of room for improvement in Volvo customer service. Anyone have a similar experience to share? Better yet, let's tell Volvo how we feel!

Reply to
ccr
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The problerm is they don't give a damn how their customers feel. Go to a Volvo salvage yard to get those small parts and stay away from the dealer.

Reply to
Neoisthe1

For the remotes - they probably only make enough cases to house all the electronics, and no extra ones for resale, I don't think they intended for you to do your own repairs to the remotes... How did you crack it anyways, those things are usually made of some damn tough plastic that is quite resistant to dropping, smashing, twisting etc etc etc.

As far as those light bulbs, they probably figured they'd last the life of the radio - find a scrap radio and take the bulbs out of it - I have our

960's old radio still lying around (dead FM and Tape deck) just in case our "new" used radio's bulbs fail. If you have a newer car, warranty, if it's out remove the bulb, and locate the serial number, manufacturer and such on the bulb - try to order from them.... I highly doubt they are custom made bulbs solely for Volvo, there are probably millions of them around the world.
Reply to
Rob Guenther

When I was restoring my 145, the parts man at my local dealer spent many hours with me looking up old parts and even called other dealerships to look for backstock. I got the parts and he got a lifetime customer.

Reply to
don hodgdon

I have a rather large and heavy set of keys that was dropped with the remote attached. It would be a stretch to call replacing the case a "repair," because the two halves simply snap apart, and I would suspect and hope that Volvo believes its customers are smart enough to replace the battery without professional assistance.

The bulbs look like "grain of wheat" types to me. I believe I could find a suitable replacement, but they come with two tiny wire leads, which I suspect are soldered to a circuit board. I don't know how much disassembly is involved to gain access to the back side of the board. Light bulbs are so unpredictable, and LEDs so inexpensive, that it seems to me this radio could easily have been made with more reliable lighting.

Reply to
ccr

The radio in my 960 comes apart fairly easily, seems almost designed to be taken apart and serviced (there was a tape deck module, tuning circuit module, power module, buttons control module... meaning you could replace one section that wasn't working, for cheaper then fixing the whole radio.... in theory, in reality they wanted $700 for a refurbished one, and no one wanted to repair my old system). Actually I was astounded with the sheer level of engineering that went into making the radio, and its locking system that holds it into the dashboard - it was puzzeling that the radio actually failed when I saw how well it was built.... Not to mention how clean and neat the radio mounting area was - in a VW there is a mess of wires and tons of foam (not as bad in the newer cars, but still - no Volvo) and nothing is very accessible, in the Volvo the wires come out pretty long, it's clean, and the cabinet has nothing else in it except the radio (and maybe a relay or two mounted far back). Then again, the whole car is like this, from the engine bay (surgical precision comes to mind), to the sub floor storage areas in the trunk, so I shouldn't be so shocked I guess...

disassembly

Reply to
Rob Guenther

I had this problem with my SC805 V70 Radio. Assuming your radio is the same, or similar to this; Go to your dealer and buy some spare bulbs for the heated seat switches. They are the same, and work fine in the radio. Cost in the UK is >£1 each though. Hope this helps. If you can't get it sorted, Perhaps I can go to my dealer and get some, then send them to you. They will be RH drive bulbs though !! Remotes pop up on ebay regularly. Hope to help. Joe. Peterborough UK.

Reply to
Joe landy

Have you tried a good independent auto electronics repair place? I bet they can fix your radio for you.

Dealers have never been good about providing the sub-parts of assemblies.

John

Reply to
John Horner

It's not just the local dealership that was of no assistance. Regarding my need for a replacement case for my keyless remote, I got no satisfaction from Volvo's North American headquarters in New Jersey and none from the manufacturer in Sweden. I have seen the entire remote sell for much less than the list price on eBay, and this would seem to be my best option so far. But why take another complete remote off the market (which would require programming to synchronize with the vehicle) when all I need is a piece of molded plastic?

Reply to
ccr

Can you imagine what the cost of spares would be if Volvo were to not only stock spare parts, but ~also~ each individual tiny piece of the assembly, on the off chance that some person would come along ant want just a bit of the part?

Trust me, it's cheaper for everyone to do it their way. If they could make money selling key fob remote case halves, they would.

Reply to
not.crosstie

I don't know of any auto company which makes the cases available.

John

Reply to
John Horner

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