It took me about 5 evenings of work to change PCV and the front camshaft seals, but that's mainly because UPS could not deliver my camshaft locking tool during snowstorms. So while waiting I rebuilt alternator and injectors, carefully cleaned cooling system, washed intercooler, etc. When you have al...

A few random thoughts based on my limited, but in this case, fairly specific experience as a home mechanic. I have a 2001 V70 2.4T. Having done both the timing belt and the oil trap jobs this summer (but not the oil seals, kicking myself now for not doing them at the time), I would say that the timi...

Experience is crucial here. I've spent like 2 hours aligning VVT hubs, which you have to take off to get to the seals. Also my seals felt like they were welded to the head, spent too much time prying them out with a screwdriver, especially on exhaust side. So frustrating to see the seal FUBAR becaus...

Your mechanic should be close to retail for parts , making margin on the wholesale to retail

The labor hour at 100-125 is the shop profit.

I think that quote is way high. $400 retail for Volvo parts, 6 hours labour.

Get a list of parts they are going to replace, from both parties, it could be the first guy is more knowledgeable.

There's a plus terminal behind the air filter box that works well for this. It's got a small plastic flap over it with a plus sign on it.

I've used the hood connectors a few times and it's works like a charm. I connect the ground wire to the ground connectors on the inside of the fender.

Both starting my own car and helping start others.

One of the strut mount nuts is also a good ground

The only ones I have tried for others had bad light pattern and the bulb warning message was on 100% of the time due to the bulbs not being within a wattage range that the bulb failure detection was OK with. Maybe someone else with more recent experience will have better news. LED headlight bulbs ha...

For low beams no good. Get a set of quality halogens instead. Osram Night Breaker or Philips Extremevision. For high beams the newer high power led bulbs work pretty well and give no warnings. Xenon is still better when it comes to light output but not by too large a margin. It's a question of light...