The power steering job is a big gooey mess, no?benpineapple wrote:I agree with everyone else, focus on power steering lines, then the exhaust cleanup.
Well, hopefully not too gooey, if the system is internally clean. If you can make your own power steering lines and fittings, great, but buying the premade/prebent ones is VERY expensive. I had a power steering line leak on my 1990 240, and the particular lines were something like $250 from Volvo. Instead, I took it to a local transmission shop, they made their own, and I was out the door for around $120. $15 of that on the bill was for parts hahatheWIFES_S70 wrote:The power steering job is a big gooey mess, no?benpineapple wrote:I agree with everyone else, focus on power steering lines, then the exhaust cleanup.
I'll keep an eye on it and plan for it sometime in the coming season. (If of course, the car starts!)
Wow, that sounds like the kind of shop that should be in a Volvo database or something! I never thought about trying to fabricate your own power steering lines... hmmmmbenpineapple wrote:Well, hopefully not too gooey, if the system is internally clean. If you can make your own power steering lines and fittings, great, but buying the premade/prebent ones is VERY expensive. I had a power steering line leak on my 1990 240, and the particular lines were something like $250 from Volvo. Instead, I took it to a local transmission shop, they made their own, and I was out the door for around $120. $15 of that on the bill was for parts haha
abscate, thanks for the suggestion!abscate wrote:You really should be able to make these yourself for the cost of a swage tool (about 50 bucks) and 1/4 or 6mm tube.
Typical peak power steering pump pressure is 1200 psi spike at end travel, nominal working pressure 200-300 psi
Rating of compression fittings for 1/4 inch tube is about 3500 psi with 4:1 safety margin.
Cost of 10 feet 6mm stainless tube is probably about 50 USD, mild steel 1/3 of that.
The only place that sees high pressure is between the pump and steering rack by the way. Everything else doesn't even need to be swaged or compression fitted.
The PS pump pressure is even higher than the brake line pressure typically, I've made lots of brake lines for VW rather than pay the MFG prices for cheap crap.
theWIFES_S70 wrote:Thank you all for the replies. I was having a crises of "Volvo faith" last night. In my head, I keep saying, "replace everything, and then the car will last 500,000 miles!"
We're at approximately $1 per mile driven thus far! I will definitely heed caution from here on out. If I get her back on the road I'll take the S70 to a muffler shop and see what can be done and for how much. I'd like to get as new flex pipe, cat and muffler put in. (Just hope they don't knock loose that exhaust manifold!)oragex wrote:This way of thinking will cost you a lot of money. I did so on a previous car and now thinking, it was not worth that money, not to mention time.
At this age, I would carefully inspect most components, such as suspension, pulleys, exhaust, springs, fuel/brake/steering lines -as you did with the pictures. If anything seems deeply rusted I would replace it. If it only has surface rust, I won't touch it but try to cover it with some rust protector. I did so on the power steering lines which are prone to rust and sometimes will start leaking. But if it's only surface rust, some rust protection will help these last another 5 years. That bulk after the catalyser may be a previous welding. Scratch the rust and see if there are layers of rust coming off. It so, it's better to bring it to a muffler shop, it might save a surprise one day while traveling or having a busy schedule.
A thorough inspection is the best thing. Last week I heard my exhaust pipe growling and this week I had a look and the two bolts that were connecting the catalyser to the first muffler almost felt into my hand. This is the kind of thing that can be detected on a preventive inspection.
