Hello all-


My dad's '99 S70 (base) is about to click over to 101k miles and he would like to get the timing belt, rollers and tensioner replaced. However, he is still deciding whether to bring the car to an authorized Volvo mechanic or to the local Midas shop. He's thinking Midas because he's known the head technician there for years.

If it were me personally, I would just buy the parts from Volvo and have Midas do the work. Your thoughts?

If I had an American car, I would probably take it to Midas if I could trust the head mechanic. The Volvo mechanics at a dealer probably aren't much better, but at least they have worked on a lot of Volvos and gotten practice. An indie Volvo is usually better than the dealer, more experienced, and has a reputation to defend.

Buying the parts for the Midas shop is a good idea, if the shop first agrees. But I bet they use a lot of air guns to torque things down.

Klaus
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Common sense trumps a PhD

Klaus,


Thanks for the tips. Glad to take your advice when it's needed most.

Dad takes his car to Midas, but I won't let them anywhere near my mint 86k-mile '96 850. That one goes to a Swedish car shop not too far from the family home. Now using air guns to torque things down, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Only 2 types of people use air guns to tighten bolts, NASCAR pit crews who tighten lug nuts and lazy mechanics that don't give a hoot about customer cars. Guess which group overhauls their guns the most to ensure proper torque settings.

It is the second kind that I have problems with, they are probably too lazy to change the torque setting on the gun anyway. Guns usually overtighten nuts by a few pounds and using a ratchet is much safer for the threads.

Klaus
--
Common sense trumps a PhD