What did you do to your P2 Volvo today?

[BlackBart]

The bonus out of this for me is that my new friend Jeff is a man of many talents including a Mig/Tig welder in his past.

A good friend to have and to hold indeed, for when you might need a good bead!

That ain’t no haiku.

[abscate]

That aint no haiku

Looking for a Japan-fold

Clean out the Mold.

[BlackBart]

There you go!

[MoVolvos]

P2 cabin filter change. T25 and T20 needed.

Front T20 is bad access , had to use a cranked T20 key half turn at a time.

.
What is FCP's warranty policy in terms of time or mileage on cabin filters?
.

[abscate]

Never had a problem replacing once a year

[bronco]

Today I got roped into putting a lower drivers side control arm on a 2002 V70 XC .

What a miserable job , the owner who is a friend of mind , was driving to work last Friday and the outer end of the control arm just snapped off. Dug into the street and the sidewall of his tire flattening both.
Last Saturday we took the broken arm out in under 2 hours with very little trouble.
He ordered one from FCP for I think about 125 dollars . It showed up last night so the install happened today.
5 hour job , very annoying. We got rained on twice which didn't help but we had been lulled by the fact that the other arm had partially uninstalled itself

Lots of bolts in that knuckle zone are in the way of each other. things need to be removed that are not attached to the control arm but are in the way of bolts that need to come out.

Outer control arm basically disintegrated from the inside out leaving the bolt stuck in the knuckle. Rotor , dust shield wheel bearing and axle all in the way of just getting that bolt out . Then that arm that goes diagonally forward had to come off because it was in the way. about 90 minutes spent on that 1 bolt we should have done last week.

Going back together that arm was an issue because it was interfering with the strut . After the strut was on it was then very difficult to reattach.

Now the replacement arm was massive compared to the tinfoil that we removed but that led to the final problem. The lower rear wheel bearing bolt wouldn't go back in until the entire flange head had been ground off the bolt. We think extra meat on the arm in that area was the culprit but the other arm was not attached when I removed the bolt so its hard to say if it had clearance issues with the stock arm.


Very odd overall that my 98 has aluminum arms with a cast iron knuckle but in 2002 they went to an aluminum knuckle with steel arms.

It was boxed steel and probably was uncoated on the inside and road salt turned it into swiss cheese from the inside out. Horrible design in my view

[BlackBart]

My '04 P2 has cast alum control arms.

[bronco]

My '04 P2 has cast alum control arms.

i forgot to mention it was the drivers side rear lower arm

[scot850]

I have finally finished the project that never end, replacing a cheap and nasty set of wooden steps and a small platform from out sunroom. This was a nightmare job as nearly every job I did was poorly supported and the boss had specific requirements that made the job 10 x worse. This has delayed the major service on the 06 XC70 and the 03 Toyota 4Runner V8.

I had only got as far as doing a drain and fill on the power steering on the XC70 and stripping and rebuilding the brakes. My next job was to flush the brake fluid. However that was stopped after the rear bleed screws would not undo. One was rounding and the other felt like it could snap. Then I had a gong show trying to get rebuilt Nugeon front and rear calipers and brackets (supplier supplied the wrong ones for the fronts and insisted I was wrong...! ). I proved the idiots wrong and returned them as the front brakes turned out to be fine.

I had also ordered replacement flexi-hoses just in case the calipers had to be replaced as well as the spring retainers. By the time the parts turned up the house project had started.

Planned to start yesterday, but got diverted to go look at a really nice 2012 P3 XC70 T6. One lovely owner from new, and only 95k miles. No dings, dents, stone chips. Car only had one small chip above the front windshield. The price was very tempting, but not having seen a P3 since I had a loner maybe 10 years ago from Volvo, I was disappointed to find horrid uncomfortable seat bases for the front seats. Reminded me of a small cheap office chair with no thigh support. Back injury made it a hard no which was a shame.

So today, no more procrastinating! Car up on the hoist and oil and filter change. This car confuses me. The handbook and manual says the car has 5.8 liters of oil with a filter. If I fill that amount it only comes just above the minimum level? Again the handbook says the difference between min and max is 1.2 liters?? Last time it took 6.9 liters to get the oil to the max mark? Thoughts??

I have added 6.2 liters and it is still low. I will wait until the car until it is back on the ground, but last time I checked the level with the car facing both directions and it made no difference when on the ground.

Naturally you get the usual surprises with old cars. Found the center bolt hole for the engine undertray was cracked as were 2 points on the sides. I have cleaned the cracks and repaired with plastic glue (JB Weld black plastic). I'll refit tomorrow.

Tackled the rear brake bleed screws. Cleaned again with wire wheel on a drill and soaked with PB Blaster again. Still no luck. Made up a thin metal shield to protect the caliper sider covers and the brake hoses and cables and then hit the calipers with a MAP gun. A short burst of that, and thankfully they both came loose!!

Replaced the 2 rear bleed screws with new ones. So ran out of time today, so now tomorrow will bleed the brakes and then tackle the spark plug swaps. Still have timing belt and pulleys (Volvo parts, pump swapped last time), serpentine belt, coolant and thermostat swap, and then finally the angle gear and rear diff oil. I will be glad to get that behind me!

Neil.

[bronco]

I had a trick to get small screws out that works sometimes. An old timer showed me decades ago


It sometimes requires sacrificing a socket though. I'd put a 6 point deep socket on the bleeder with a 1/4 inch drive ratchet . Then I fire up the 220 stick welder and touch the socket. You aren't trying to weld anything just make the socket glow . Give it a second and let it transfer heat into the bleeder and see if it breaks loose , wear gloves .
Pull it off and then use a different socket to remove it so you don't burn yourself or start a brake fluid fire
Try not to actually weld anything together just use the arc as a heat source . The socket may survive if you are careful

An arc is a better way to quickly heat small fasteners than with a torch flame without heating what its screwed into but use it carefully around flammables