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TCN
12-28-2006, 08:30 AM
Happy Holidays everyone.

My wife's 2001 XC70 has been great, few to no repairs, and we take good care of it. I took it in for an oil change (no symptoms that I knew of, but I'm not driving it every day) and to check on a cracked engine mount, and received the following "to do" list from my indy mechanic:

Upper Engine Mount Repair $170

Replace Rear Sway Bar Links $200

Repair Turbo Drain Seals $178

Replace Front and Rear Control Arm Bushings $650

Alignment (after suspension work) $100


The engine mount sounds reasonable to me, and maybe the oil leak too, but the sway bar and control arm work sounds hefty . . . am I out of line in thinking this?

Thanks.

volvoshad
12-28-2006, 10:21 AM
These are all common issues of wear on a 5+ year old XC. You can easily replace the upper torque arm bushing and rear sway bars links yourself and save some money. These are bolt in replacements. These parts are not too pricey at the dealer, or can be found online for a substantial discount.

The turbo drain seals are hard to access, you might let the dealer do that one. The drip from mine is not enough to justify the work in my case.

Last summer, my dealer's service department reported that the front and rear bushings in the front control arms needed replacement. I believe they wanted $550. A close inspection revealed that they were not broken, but there was increased play present. This is a substantial job for the DIY'er, so I am putting it off until next spring when I won't miss the AWD if the car is in my garage for a week or so and I am driving my 2wd drive truck.

I am not sure from your post whether the dealer is also suggesting failed rear suspension bushings, also. There are of course rear suspension control arm bushings, these look at least as challenging as the front, but I haven't seen any others reporting a need for replacement on the P2 XCs. They are rubber bushings, so I am sure that the need will arise at some time on all of our cars.

My dealer charges $70 for an alignment, which is a good idea after any suspension work. Overall, your dealers charges seem a bit high. All of the work that you mention can be done be an avid home mechanic or independent garage.

Hope this lengthy post helps.

TCN
12-28-2006, 02:05 PM
Yes, thank you. Believe it or not, this is an independent shop's prices!

philosophicaldreamer
12-28-2006, 11:05 PM
Happy Holidays everyone.

My wife's 2001 XC70 has been great, few to no repairs, and we take good care of it. I took it in for an oil change (no symptoms that I knew of, but I'm not driving it every day) and to check on a cracked engine mount, and received the following "to do" list from my indy mechanic:

Upper Engine Mount Repair $170

Replace Rear Sway Bar Links $200

Repair Turbo Drain Seals $178

Replace Front and Rear Control Arm Bushings $650

Alignment (after suspension work) $100


The engine mount sounds reasonable to me, and maybe the oil leak too, but the sway bar and control arm work sounds hefty . . . am I out of line in thinking this?

Thanks.

My indy charged me $90 to replace upper engine mount.

Ta-ta,
janusz

PDXXC
12-29-2006, 07:56 AM
Upper mount is about $65. It takes about 15 minutes to install.

KazDog
12-29-2006, 09:50 AM
The front and rear control arm bushings were just replaced on my Xc at 60,000km (36,000 miles). I paid $750.00Cdn at a Volvo dealer. Did not realize the bushings were worn until they were replaced but now the Xc has a more "solid" feel while driving. Followed the advise of other members of this board and had the transmission flushed at the same time. Also had to replace all four Nokians when a nail punctured the sidewall of one tire. Second time I have had to replace four tires when one was destroyed. December was very expensive month.

ABBOUD
01-04-2007, 05:29 PM
Hi,

after changing The front and rear control arm bushings my car is totally diffrent, [thumbup]