It's been a while since I last posted. Our MY '00 T6 began making a clunking sound from the REAR, less than a month after leasing it from Putnam Volvo, SF Bay area, 4/00. They tried everything to correct the problem, from tightening the suspension, to an "O-ring" fix to the rear, to replacing both right and left sway bar link rods (this fix was ordered by VNA Western Regional Rep., after he personally confirmed the "clunk"). None of these "fixes" worked.

I notified VNA of my displeasure, and of my "lemon" thoughts (4 repair attempts had been made). I was asked to allow them one more opportunity to correct the problem. I agreed, since we do like the car overall, and have had Volvos for over 20 years. Plus we're also leasing a MY'00 S40.

The car was brought in 12/26/00. Though the dealer doesn't normally grant loaners, they did accommodate us by giving a free loaner for the 2 weeks they had the car.

David, the service tech at Putnam told me that, until now, locating the source of the "clunk" was difficult, because there were no visible signs. The culprit appears to be a defective spring and /or spring seat, as there is now a visible rub/scrape mark on the right rear spring. It took a while for the defect to wear in. To leave almost nothing to chance, however, the Regional Rep. instructed them to replace both R/L rear shocks, springs, spring seats, as well as the control arm.

Prior to us getting the car back on 1/10/01, I spoke to the Regional rep., and he asked if I wished any accomodation. I told him they could: 1. cover all scheduled maintenance/service for the balance of the lease term (36 mos @ 20K miles/yr), and 2. Reinstall the folding rear headrest feature that was discontinued in '00 models. He agreed!

So far, so good. No clunk.........yet.

I must say that VNA Western Regional Division, and especially Putnam Volvo have put forth their best effort to correct this most frustrating and annoying problem. I hope they succeeded. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you all for your imput.

'00 T6, Silver/graphite(leather), 4CD, 17"Arrakis, 9500 miles

I'm happy to hear they fixed it for you. We too see an occasional "problem car" like yours and sometimes those can be difficult and time consuming to diagnose, but eventually someone comes up with the solution.

This sounds like excellent service from both the dealer and VCNA. The accomodation offered by VCNA suggests that their attitudes toward customer service may be improving dramatically.