systematic red paint tags in engine compartment; any ideas?

mdv · Post by **mdv** » 17 Dec 2009, 16:31

A few thousand miles ago I bought a V70R AWD at about 96k, from a (generic) second-hand car dealer.

Looking under the hood today (starting to work on some projects suggested here) I noticed that there are little red paint marks on lots of the parts in the engine compartment, but by no means all the parts. They look like they have been tagged with a red paint-pen. They are on all sorts of things, from some of the nuts, to some of the wires (e.g. where the wire from the distributor meets the ignition coil), on or across some of the clamps where hoses attach, on the VIN plate attached in the engine compartment.

Is this a well known practice? Does it indicate anything about the car's history? Should I be concerned about them? Should I be reassured?
Everything looks great and clean in there - but just wondering what the red paint tags might mean. I thought somebody might know if that is a standard procedure for some purpose.

Thank you for any thoughts.

Mark

wjhandy850 · Post by **wjhandy850** » 17 Dec 2009, 17:05

Thats a sign that someone has removed those things to repair something. I would guess that the more of them there are the more extensive the job. I would also think this would indicate that the mechanic hasn't worked on these cars much before. Its a shade tree technique that is quite effective in making sure things go back together correctly.

Post by **misha** » 17 Dec 2009, 17:33

Not necessarilly....my car came from the factory with some red markings.Markings on some bolts(nuts),wires,connections.

I think that is normal.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 17 Dec 2009, 20:02

The red marks were from Q/C before the car left the factory. S.O.P. is to mark the component(s) as it (they) were checked for correctness.

The marks also give you an indication of the age of the parts. If they are still marked they may well be due for preventative replacement.

...Lee

mdv · Post by **mdv** » 17 Dec 2009, 22:34

Thank you for your replies.

My fear was that it was a sign of extensive work, although the pattern didn't make sense.

Thank you for your reassurance Lee - that is good to know that it is factory S.O.P. Don't know why I hadn't noticed it on my other Volvos.

As you say, particularly useful info at this age, as I assume anything with those marks is original, i.e. nearly 100k old. (And I now have replacement parts for several of those red tagged items - so good to know I am probably not being redundant in replacing something that had recently been replaced.)

Mark