2011 C30 T5 yearly update

[Tsquared]

My daughter came home for Christmas and I got to perform my yearly inspection of the car. Over the past year she has had scheduled service twice. The C30 now has 78K miles on it.

About 5 months ago she got the check engine light. The local Volvo garage could not read the code with their code reader and referred her to the dealer. The Memphis dealer said there was a leak in in vacuum system and did a smoke test - no leaks. They were unable to reset the light as it came back on the next day. Back to the dealer and they told her they could not find anything wrong except the Check engine light - ignore it and maybe it will go away. It became intermittent.

Her last regular service occurred the first of November and the check engine light was on - it has become intermittent since the initial evaluation. He garage could not read any of the codes - all Volvo specific. Everything looks OK but the rear pads have 3 mm left. I told her I would take care of the rear brakes in December.

She came home this past Friday. There is a 3 inch cut in one of the sidewalls of the rear passenger tire. The tires have enough tread for about 8 to 10K miles. I ordered a set of Michelin MX3 and they will be installed tomorrow. The check engine light has been on for two months. I took the C30 to Dyer & Dyer here in Atlanta and they pulled 3 codes (sorry I didn't get the codes - I will call and see if I can get them). One code was a leak in the vacuum system, another was an overpressure in the fuel system, and the last was also about the vacuum system. They ran the smoke test again - no leaks and the tech working on it conferred with me and is 95% sure the fuel pressure valve is the culprit behind all of the codes. The part was $311 and the labor was another $300 so I spent $633 on her car at the dealer today. They did also tell me I had 2 mm left on the rear pads and it got washed.

I also stopped and picked up a set of Hawk rear brake pads and a can of DOT4 fluid. I figured this would be a quick rear break job with pads only. The rear pads have the two indents in the piston and must be turned clockwise with a special tool to compress them. I dicked around for 4 hours trying to spin them down with a spanner that had the right spacing and the .223 sized nipple to fit the holes then I got the special tool at AutoZone (loaned out for free) and did it the right way. I spent a little over 6 hours doing the rear brakes. This was one of the biggest PIA brake jobs I have ever done on a car. I finally got it done and all is well.

One of the things that made the brake job so bad is the lug nuts were rusted on the studs. I broke two pull bars (one 3/8 and the other 1/2 drive) and two sockets (one 12 point 3/8 and a 6 point 1/2 drive) getting the lug nuts off. I ended going to Sears and getting some replacements but I also got a 18 mm 1/2" drive impact socket. I did wire brush the threads and gave them a coating of anti-seize when I put them back on.

The new tires will go on tomorrow and it should be in top shape for the next year. It is still a blast to drive and is averaging 30.2 mpg for the past year. The C30 has cost more to operate this past year due to the check engine issue and the 60k & 75K scheduled service jobs. Tires are just icing on the total expenses but this car has been paid off for a while and it is 6 years old. I expect 2016 to be a bit cheaper to operate as there are no major maintenance events until 120K.