Buy a Volvo diesel they say

"4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30" (4muddyfeet) 05/31/2014 at 10:40 • Filed to: None

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It won't go wrong they say...

I'm learning the hard way that you really shouldn't recommend a car for friends.

Last week a work colleague had her drive belt fray into oblivion on her 2002 Focus estate with 190,000 miles no less. A good innings considering she paid £1500 for it 4 years ago. But, tied to an upcoming MOT bill of nearly £1000, the belt had put the nail in the coffin.

As the car was now undriveable, and she uses it for work and kids, something new was needed within a day and I offered to find something within a £3k budget. So we took the morning off work (we're our own bosses) and started looking, and by 1 o'clock in the afternoon there were 2 cars sitting outside the house ready to test, an '04 Volvo V70 D5 Auto and an '06 Vauxhall Astra SRI estate.

Now the Astra was a piece of junk, priced at £2.8 with 90,000 on the clock, no go even with foot hard down, splashy front suspension and rear brakes that scraped and grinded. Complete pup. However the Volvo stole our hearts very quickly. 160,000 with a full dealership service history, ruthlessly maintained with timings belts done when required, and a clear MOT. At £2.7 it looked and drove like the better buy, and with a further £100 bartered off due to tax running out at the end on June, it became even more appealing.

After 2 days with the Volvo the battery went flat outside a job site. With none of the Landrovers being able to jump it, I called a friend with a Transit to pop down to give it a shot. It cranked, fired, and all was well until day 3 when it died again. I took the battery out completely and stuck it on slow charge that night, getting it up to 90% charge the next morning. I brought it down and connected it up, and the car started no problem, and after using the multimeter found that the battery was holding charge well, and also the alternator was charging it effectively. I could only think there was a light left on somewhere or a door switch not working properly. I felt obliged to find a fault as I'd recommended the car in the first place, and I was beginning to feel guilty.

On day 4 the power steering become intermittently heaver with a good squeal coming from the engine bay. Ah ha thinks I! We have the problem solved! But after checking the drive belt that evening there was no slap or wobble, no fray, and perhaps more tellingly no noise. I was stumped and just went home.

On the evening of day 6 the car died completely. I got a phone call saying that while pulling up a hill the car started squealing badly, something went 'ga-dunk', and the dashboard lit up in a warming shade of amber before they pulled over and got a taxi home. That night I was racked with guilt as my only thought was 'timing belt'. Fucking timing belt. It was only done 20,000 miles ago by Volvo. Could someone have faked the service stamp? Did they try and restart the car? If so the valves would be shot and the car a write-off. 'Got a spare 3 grand Sharon?' I didn't sleep very well that night.

At 8 o'clock the next morning I took the Defender to tow the stricken Volvo to a local garage. Before moving the car I popped the bonnet to have a gander, and was surprised and ultimately releived to find the timing belt all neat and tidy behind its casing, and the drive belt firmly fixed across all its pulleys. There was however something slightly out of place sitting on top of the under tray. A grooved, shiny metal ring was sitting there. What. The. Hell. I grabbed the sockets and my extendable magnet out of the Landy, and gingerly picked it through the engine bay. It was definitly a pulley, but I had no idea where from. I checked the drive belt and there it was, the alternator pulley had sheared clean off. You may think this is a strange thing not to notice, but the Bosch alternator used in the Volvo has a twin shaft due to being of the computer controlled free-spinning variety. The outer shaft had sheared off, freeing the pulley from its miserable existance and leaving the smooth inner shaft to take the belt. This explains everything. So feeling a lot better (not timing belt yay!), I took the day off again to go and pick up a new 140A alternator and drive belt. 3 hours later (I'm no pro!) the car was up and running fine and has been doing so for the last two weeks.

I hope that's it. I charged Sharon for parts only, missed almost 2 days of work, a good few evening hours, didn't even get a beer out of it (!) but I feel a whole lot better knowing that all of those problems have disappeared with 2 new parts. I'm soft as shit.

TL;DR don't recommend vehicles if you think you have a duty of care to your friends because of your recommendation.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 05/31/2014 at 10:51

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Wow, Sharon owe's you spectacularly tasty home cooked meal or a nice night out on the town. Because you went above and beyond for that car! I can understand why though, haha. I'd have felt guilty too. Ultimately though, it's one of those failures you absolutely cannot see coming. With a car in that price range with that many miles it should be expected. Luckily it was a relatively harmless failure as far as the rest of the drive train is concerned.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 05/31/2014 at 10:54

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Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's a really clean car, literally with no expense spared. Loads of receipts and all MOT work got done by Volvo even if just an advisory. Hoping the engine has got some good life left in it...!

Takuro Spirit > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 05/31/2014 at 10:57

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Here I was expecting..... more. Alternator failure isn't bad, could be a lot worse.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Takuro Spirit 05/31/2014 at 10:59

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SCINTILLATING HEADLINE.

lacklustre content.

Anyhoo it was more about the time spend due to impressed guilt rather than the fault itself

Takuro Spirit > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 05/31/2014 at 12:30

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The guilt is why I stopped repairing friends and family's vehicles. Someone ELSE goes wrong, and it's immediately MY fault.