I hope that this will not sound “preachy”.

The Brickboard has been around since 1997. Thousands of questions have been asked and answered … many of them numerous times. That makes sense, as the same problems are likely to appear in the same model for each owner.

An enormous body of Volvo wisdom has been accumulated and is available to you in the archives. Before posting your question, you owe it to yourself to conduct a search of the archives using the search feature at the top of the page next to the red station wagon icon. If you include a few key words, you will be rewarded with the combined knowledge of many Volvo owners over many years. It is likely that you will receive such a large number of “hits” that you will not know where to begin. Just add a few more key words, and you will drill down to your specific problem and solution. Also, you will likely receive a more detailed answer in the archives.

Of course, it is easier to skip the homework and to just drop your question on the Forum and wait for an answer. And, chances are that you will get one fairly quickly. However, there are many “askers” and there are few “answerers”. The few answerers will rarely say it to you, but I suspect that they wish that you would do the search, find the answer, and leave space for the new and unique problems.

An example: Not a week goes by without someone asking about an intermittent ABS/TRACS warning light. And they get the same answer every time: “ABS module is failing or has failed; contact Victor Rocha”. However, if you enter ABS/TRACS warning light in the search feature, you will immediately find that same reply and Victor’s contact information along with a link to his web page.

I think that the “answerers” are more likely to read and reply to your query, if your first sentence is: “I have searched the archives and cannot find anything about my problem.”

End of Sermon.