15th Jul 2005, 07:52
Hi again. July 15th. Just got the car back from the garage, yet again. Two days ago, in the evening - the bearring noise I was so used to all of a sudden stopped, power went down, and when accelerating a new, ugly noise was audible, along with strong vibrations. I got home still.
Next day, driven to the garage at snail's pace - lucky it isn't far. The following parts were replaced:
- Water pump
- driving belt (once again...)
- main wheel that "drives" that belt - don't know what that thing is called in english
-a pulley - or what it's called - that gives the belt a different direction. That was the one with the noisy bearring.
The reason for the jamming was the water pump! It had gone hard, and now just blocked. Apparently it had sort of rusted through, there are several small holes obviously from corrosion, and it went into the pump's bearrings which slowly disintegrated.
Now my Volvo runs VERY smooth, no problems with the idling anymore, and has somewhat more power (with air conditioner ON it runs now like previously with air conditioner OFF) and doesn't leak water anymore!
Another two month's salary spent (Repair amounted to a little over 16.000 Baht - 325 Euros - a small fortune in Thailand). Let's see how long till the next thing breaks down.
Thanh.
26th Jul 2005, 05:34
Hello again :)
Thank you very much for that information. The garage obviously doesn't see the need to inform me about that. Of course they are happy to sell a new water pump every then and when.
However they DID fill the system with that stuff last time! And so far there are no further problems with the car, it still runs excellent and I noticed a considerable drop in fuel consumption as well. It's almost like they put a new engine in there... which they maybe did, in a Thai garage you'll never know.
I even changed the rear shock absorbers last week, finally... at 3.000 Baht for two of them (made in South Africa, "Gabriel" brand, model "Gas Ryder") the ride instantly became much better. Now I need to change the front shocks as well... I think sooner or later this car will be new-all-round. I even fixed that electric water pump motor for the window wiper! They tried to sell me a new one for 2.000 Baht... insane. I took it apart, cleaned it (rust!) and put it back together - works just like a new one. Next things to tackle... electric door switch passenger side, glove compartment lid (broken opener button), front shocks, new tyres. In that order, as the money becomes available.
Regards...
Thanh.
28th Jul 2009, 16:11
I have Volvo 460 1600cc with no info center. I have bought a new console which has an info center. Can I make the info center work, or there is another model of the engine that works with this info center?
8th Jul 2005, 13:31
Simply> your mechanic did a lousy job.