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I own a 1998 V70 T-5 (manual) that I picked up at the factory in Sweden. Loved it. Took it only to authorized Volvo dealers, no matter where we lived (US, Italy, Germany). Did every maintenance required. Fixed everything I was told to.
15 June: On vacation. Mass Air Flow sensor goes. Car dies immediately. Towed to shop and fixed, picked up 3 days later.
Next day (still on vacation), traveling to VA on I-95, notice the thermostat is hot. Keep an eye on it. Pull over to let car cool off. Drive w/o A/C. Call Volvo dealer in VB, VA. Limp car into VB. They replace the thermostat kit and IAT sensor.
Running great, have 120K tune-up accomplished on 9 July in VA before returning to AL. All is fine.
12 August: Car dies again, towed to shop. Mass Air Flow sensor bad again, replaced under warranty.
17 August: See oil leaking under car. Take to dealer. Head is broken. Decide to fix it. Costs $3700+ but figure it's cheaper than a new car. Pick up 30 Sept (they're not fast around here...).
4, 8 & 20 October: Took in because I heard a strange noise. Kind of sounded like pop corn popping. Dealer never heard it. They flushed the system again since there was still gunk in it.
21 Oct: Drove 5 hours to TN (on vacation again). Zero problems.
22 Oct: Drove on to Evansville, IN. Almost made it to my destination. Coolant light flickered on twice, then stayed on. I grabbed my book and it told me to pull over, top off coolant and get car to authorized dealer. I pulled into a Midas shop. Opened hood and coolant was spurting all over and flowing from the bottom. Towed to Volvo dealer.
Diagnosis: head broken....3 weeks and 1 day after I just paid $3700 to have it replaced. They also think the engine is ruined and know that a turbo coolant hose burst (4 inch rubber hose).
Local dealer unwilling to bring car here at their expense to fix it. Say the turbo hose bursting caused catastrophic damage to the car and broke the head. So, basically, "too bad".
We don't trust the car any longer, and will buy a new one, but what should we do regarding this one?
1. Walk away? We feel local dealer now has $3700 that we paid to fix the car and now we have a worthless (literally!), broken car.
2. Fight local dealer?
3. Donate it?
4. Find someone to buy it?
Can a turbo hose burst really cause catastrophic damage like that? From the time the coolant light flickered on I was off the road in about 3 minutes. I had been in traffic, so was not even using the turbo at that point. No other lights illuminated at that time. I watched the temp gauge like a hawk that whole trip and it never moved. Car was driving like a dream.
I've noticed that when the head was replaced they also replaced the thermostat kit, but NOT the IAT sensor. Should the sensor have been replaced as well?
Any ideas as to whether the original Mass Air Flow sensor could have triggered this whole chain of events or am I just unlucky?
Are turbo hoses checked at tune-ups or when a head is replaced? I've been told that a car can run with a burst turbo hose, that it just won't have turbo. Is this correct?
Any ideas? Thanks!!
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