I am disappointed to learn from my dealership service dept. that I will be neding a new control arm and a front engine mount on a car with only 73K miles.
Is this great engineering or what? Comments?

That would hardly surprise me on any older car as car parts on ALL cars eventually wear out.

Now......IF you REALLY want to own a car that's almost NEW IMO, much costlier, still usually under warranty and has been known for a buttload of front suspension problems, buy a '99-'00 S80.

Do you mean to say that parts have actually worn out on a 7 year old car! That's absurd! You should immediately sell that POS and get a Hyundai with a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty!

BTW, a control arm/ball joint assembly sells for under $150, a "front" engine mount goes for under $100, and a Haynes Manual sells for around $15...get your hands greasy and save yourself a bundle. There is a lot of knowledge that you can get through the BrickBoard to help you with that "jalopy" of yours!
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RussB in Ct. - '96 855T- '91 940T - '93 850GLT (R.I.P. 6-16-02)

Let me Know if you need help, I can give you step by step on this project, just did it myself. The parts are fairly cheap, I replaced all the mounts on my car along with the control arm, stabilizer links. Give me your number & I will call you and tell you what tools are needed and how to proceed, I have the haynes maula as well as the Volvo factory service manual. I also ended uyp with spare parts I did not use because I bougfht both control arms & and links but only needed for 1 side. Let me know what side you need. There are lots of sites that sell the parts cheap. Less than $80 for the control arm , mounts are around $50-60.

Good Luck

Renroye, where did you find the parts so cheap? IPD is more than what you said and i need these parts as well. Can you let me know where to look? Thanks

renroye,
Thank you very much for your offer. I sincerely appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I do not have the energy, time and skill-set to take on a project like this. I will just take it as the cost of ownership and learn from it.
It is extra annoying, considering I drive an Accord with more mileage of the same age, and have yet to encounter repairs of this magnitude. Could this be the result of too much power and things going on in a FWD versus under stressed engines and and associated structure? (Volvo's parts-bin hot rodding attempt)
Thanks again.
Regards,
Jon

Wow! What a really cool reply to an "irate" posting. It's this type of reply that makes this such a really great site. People who are willing to give their time and knowledge free and even offer to call you up and talk you through the proceedure. Thanks folks for all that is given in the true spirit of friendship.

Some folks just take it for granted we are experts in all areas, hence the need for specialists. It take a a little time to be nice to someone, and too much energy to be nasty. Just my thought.

Sometimes a bit of off-color humor is the best medicine. If you get it, cool. If you don't, oh well...a volvo is just a car, love 'em or "hate" 'em. (insert smiley face here!)
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RussB in Ct. - '96 855T- '91 940T - '93 850GLT (R.I.P. 6-16-02)

russb,
I did get your reply the way you intended. My reply was to renroye who calmly and re-assureingly went through the process required to do the job and offered to call him up to re-assure and guide him further, rather than dispair at the fact that he would have to face a heafty bill from the dealer. After all, that's one of the main reasons why this forum is so vibrant. People looking for guidance with jobs that they do themselves, rather that paying through the nose to have it done by their dealer. One gets the satisfaction of doing it oneself, and the satisfaction of saveing a load of cash as well.