Parts brands - OE Volvo, trusted aftermarket, and bad

[FireFox31]

Volvo brand parts quality is getting worse and now they're lying to us. I finally made the extravagant purchase of four expensive Volvo front caliper guide pins from FCP. I was shocked when I tested the quality of their stainless steel with a magnet. Watch my expose video to see totally non-magnetic pins made in Switzerland compared to notably magnetic pins "made in Germany" with Chinese stickers on them. I have to believe the magnetic pins were actually from China.

I started by testing some ~7 year old pins from NAPA which had been subject to neglect but still looked solid. I didn't show the failed ~3 year old pins from Cardone which were more magnetic than my screwdriver and were totally black with corrosion.

Bottom line: Volvo brand parts should be examined before being trusted. Aftermarket parts may now be better options. Even country of origin might not be trustworthy any more. Good luck out there.

And pardon my stupid YouTube hype text on the video name and description. I'm just curious to see if that garbage increases engagement. It's a sad world if it does.

[scot850]

Unfortunately I agree with you. I've been saying this for several years that the OE Blue Box parts quality has gone downhill. Your example is a good case. I would be less upset if they were not gouging us for the parts too. My friends V50 has a bad CVVT solenoid. Price in Canada? $550!!! How they hell is this part that price?? Similarly, MAP sensor for a C30 T5. $450?? CDN. Bosch part, and ONLY $90 from Amazon. Volvo really are gouging more than ever.

No wonder several people I know who have bought new Volvos are getting out of them before the warranty expires. Their reason? Price of repairs and parts.

I appreciate that Volvo are not the only ones, but my old Toyota I can still find parts for ti overseas at a fraction of the price we pay here in Canada even after shipping.

Neil.

[Vova585]

IMHO lots of people started recently to buy volvo only due to the fact that BMW, AUDI, MB started to make absolute nightmare in temrs of reliability and cost of ownership (lets be honest, people that can afford those cars usually not worrying about extra 10-15K initial price tag difference between those cars and Volvo). But after several visits to dealer....Most of them run to Lexus dealer and never look back, some are buying Volvo(probably got tired to wait a new Lexus delivery or just need car now).

[rspi]

Recently installed a radiator in my '95 Turbo. Didn't have time to place an order so I got one from our local O'Reilly's. It came in a Murry's box and fitting it was a pain. To start the edge trim on the core was to thick/high making it tough to get the top intercooler pipe on. Then the oil cooler hoses are spread to far apart making it hard to get them snapped on without them leaning on the coolant hoses, inlet and outlet. I still have a great source for radiators so I now have a good spare.

[abscate]

FCP had clearance on OEM Volvo P80 radiators - these are made by VALEO and have the metal snout reinforcement.

Maybe it is the blue label but they just seem....better ....than the Nissens. Im running Nissens on two of the P80s and they have been great.

$250 is the OEM Volvo price at FCP - get them while they are ......cool.

[454cid]

FCP had clearance on OEM Volvo P80 radiators - these are made by VALEO and have the metal snout reinforcement.

Maybe it is the blue label but they just seem....better ....than the Nissens. Im running Nissens on two of the P80s and they have been great.

$250 is the OEM Volvo price at FCP - get them while they are ......cool.

I'm not seeing anything Valeo. When I look up my 96, FCP lists Mahle/Baer as "OEM".

Does the radiator change with the later P80s? Also I'm not familiar with the snout you reference.

[volvolugnut]

I believe the 'snout' referred to is the hose barbs that better plastic radiators have fitted with an internal metal ring to reduce crushing when the hose clamp is over tightened.
Poor sentence structure, but I will not change it now.
volvolugnut

[abscate]

IMHO lots of people started recently to buy volvo only due to the fact that BMW, AUDI, MB started to make absolute nightmare in temrs of reliability and cost of ownership (lets be honest, people that can afford those cars usually not worrying about extra 10-15K initial price tag difference between those cars and Volvo). But after several visits to dealer....Most of them run to Lexus dealer and never look back, some are buying Volvo(probably got tired to wait a new Lexus delivery or just need car now).

You can start a fight pretty quickly by asking Lexii owners,” How do you like your Toyota?” The art is the slight emphasis on the “Toy”

I’ll put some pics up of the OE radiators.

Volvo hoses seem to be coming from Poland lately, Rein are mostly Turkey built

[scot850]

I watched a video yesterday on YouTube by 'The Car Wizard' on the issues he found with a 2015 Volvo XC60 T5. The car had been well cared for and had 104k miles on it. He was saying that the same issues now affect all European manufactured cars with the prevalence of plastic components and pipework. His experience is that after 100k miles with exposure to heat, oil or coolant, the parts fail. Not only that but the price of replacement can quickly total a car with the stupid high prices of parts.

In this case it was the pcv valve that had failed and was causing high idles and a sound like a clarinet being played under the hood. A secondary valve flap was also bad so you have to replace the whole part.

I like the OE radiators with the stiffened liner tube for the hose outlets. However, that nearly cooked my engine as the tube came loose and worked it's way out of the connection into the hose and snapped at the top hose connection in rush hour traffic. So worth checking if you are doing a coolant flush or drain for any reason.

Neil.

[Vova585]

I stopped watching "car wizard" some time ago. His wife "giving a tour or interior" killed it for me. Plus his videos are more "entertaining " than "useful " for step by step repair. PHAD, SMA, SD, advanced level auto diagnostic are way better channels.
In terms of Toyota or Lexus..they are not without problems( anyone in brand should watch Car care nut channel), but sure lasting way longer than anything out of Europe. I am upset with how manufacturers make parts 1 use only(for example you need to get access to ac compressor and you need to remove some hoses to get there, lots of them will have 1 time use clips and you need to buy entire hose with new clips(seen it on GM, Ford, ...))