What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

[LOB]

Was at the semiannual Norwegian safety inspection today... Allegedly I need to change the rear delta link bushings (the ones difficult to remove) and the front wishbones (actually only the ball joint but since I haven't upgraded to the aluminum wishbones I'll have to replace it all.) I haven't heard any noise or rattling from the rear or the front but who am I to know...
Looking forward to spend some hours in the garage!

[bmdubya1198]

It's great how other countries actually inspect cars for roadworthiness and make you replace worn parts... in most states in the US, they basically check that the horn works, at least some of the lights work, and the car moves under its own power. It's nice when you have a modified car that can't pass safety/emissions for lack of an airbag or emissions equipment, but for the people who neglect their cars, it's awful. And typically people that build cars like that keep the suspension and whatnot in good shape, so we're not a risk to other drivers!

I'm sure those inspections can be a little bit of a pain though sometimes.

[BlackBart]

LOB -

How long do you have to do these repairs? Is there a grace period and you go in for re-inspection? Does a sticker tell the Gendarme that you have (or have not) finished this repair?

As others have said, this would be a useful safety incentive in the US. I can see, however, where this would really affect a low income person with no reserves and who needs this car for work and kids. It's that rock or a hard place decision between potential danger vs losing that job.

[LOB]

bmdubya1198;
Yes the inspections indeed fill a purpose. Especially in the Nordic countries where we use salt and the cars get corroded. I Norway you can have your car checked at a licensed garage but I prefer to visit an independent testing garage that doesn't perform the repair and hence have no incentive to find up faults just to make money. In Sweden it's only independent testing firms but an annual test. However they are a bit to rigid. For example I have to remove the HID bulbs in the high beam headlight and the LED auxiliary light before every inspection since the HID are not original to the car and the LEDs doesn't have the correct sticker on it. The chance of me spotting an elk at a distance with the lawful configuration is slim...

[LOB]

BlackBart: The car has to be re-inspected within two months. After two months you have to turn in the license plates. The Norwegian police doesn't really care of the state of the car as long as it's not something extraordinary (like using summer tires during winter conditions). The semiannual inspection is supposed to take care of the safety aspect of cars. In Sweden the police is overloaded with a recent rise in crime and they don't priorities traffic or vehicles (I'm swedish living in Norway).

The unsocial aspect of a costly annual inspection isn't that apparent in Sweden since you can get by without a car in Swedish suburbs where the poor people are living (the opposite of the situation in the US). The unsocial aspect of driving in Sweden is more that people in the countryside needs to use a large portion of their income on expensive gas (1.8 USD per liter, 7 USD per gallon). In Norway everyone is pretty rich in petrodollars.... Ok not rich but the "poor" in Norway can always afford a functional car if they priorities.

[1998v70xcbill]

Going to add pressure guage to crankcase, to check pressure during wot (wide open thro). Blew shaft seal from cam shaft recently.
After that I'll check turbo pressure. Thinking I may neeed aux crankcase vent, (thinking with check valve).

[FLXC90]

Going to add pressure guage to crankcase, to check pressure during wot (wide open thro). Blew shaft seal from cam shaft recently.
After that I'll check turbo pressure. Thinking I may neeed aux crankcase vent, (thinking with check valve).

Was your seal dried to rock hard? If so it's not really a pressure problem. Pulled the cam seal on my 98 N/A after doing my PCV, and the intake cam seal literally fell out. The exhaust cam seal gave little resistance, and both were crusty. Fresh seals lasted through me, my son, and the dummy my son sold it to, who left it abandoned in a parking lot, where it was impounded and I expect, destroyed.

New seals are cheap, easy to install, no adhesive required, and last about 240,000 miles. (when I swapped mine)

[bmdubya1198]

Last night's project... now to wait for my cousin to get over here and finish cleaning his mess!

Cameo appearance from the manly Miata!

[abscate]

vRRRRoooooom!

[bmdubya1198]

That thing’s finally going to the crusher... it’s got 260ish k miles and it ran great, but the clutch hydraulics were pretty bad (couldn’t shift over like 3000 RPM and it didn’t grab well) and the body is pretty rusty... it was a NY car until the PO moved down here and sold it to my cousin not long after.
But he got a good 25k miles out of it! Not bad for a $600 car with absolute minimal repairs over that time!