Ok i took my car with the oil leaks to Midas. They told me the engine has like 4 leaks, camshaft, valve cover, everything. What on Earth should I do? Is there a way I can survive with frequent oil changes? engine replacement? new car? i am desperate. if any Volvo expert is in central NY and could help me I would appreciate it a LOT. not having a car would ruin my life. sorry abt the whining.

Where in CNY are you located?

I know of a really good Volvo guy near Utica.

I am near Syracuse and wrench on cars on the side as well.

email me at uc4me2@yahoo.com if you want to discuss this off of the board

Heres my Midas horror story

NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO MIDAS...For real

I took it to midas for a muffler repair job...simple enough...
after driving the car 2 hours..my whole rear muffler fell off....hitting another car...

So now i'm stuck 2 hours from home with my muffler pipe hanging loose (a bit of wire from Savon saved the day)...

Anyways..i thought this was bad enough


Then another friend of mine takes his car (mercedes new model) to midas for an oil change....next day after getting his car back it overheats...

Mechanic find oil in his radiator (first thought blown head)...but no....someobdy had purposely? put oil in the radiator resorvoir..not to mention forgetting to change the oil(oil level was low and oil was black).

Incredible people..
This was the midas in San Diego California...on Poway road

Hello David:

This probably isn't a big deal. The only oil seal that is really expensive to replace is the rear main seal, which is expensive in terms of labor because the transmission has to be removed to allow access to the seal.

Others here have said some pretty sensible things. The first order of business is a flame trap service (<$10 in parts, expensive dealer retail, and no more than 20 minutes in labor. After that, buy a can of engine shampoo/degreaser at any auto parts store and take your car to a self-serve spray-n-wash car wash. Once in the bay, spray down the engine compartment and then wash the engine off.

After this, you will be able to see clearly where the engine is leaking from. Many leaks will stop once the internal pressure caused by a clogged flame trap is relieved. You may still be in for a $15 valve cover gasket, and about 1/2 hour of labor if you pay someone else to do it for you...

Find yourself a good independent Volvo mechanic, or at least someone who works on European imports. Good luck!
--
Herb Goltz, London, Ontario, Canada '92 245 w/102K mi

Okay, you may think that I'm a REAL cynic! But someone bringing a car into Midas, to the guys who work there, evidently could appear to be someone who they can scam ....

[Pardon me if I'm wrong, but are you the one who reported, in another message previously, that your girlfriend brought your car in for an oil change, and the shop informed her of all her major leaks? If so, maybe when they saw a woman ... need I say more? Anyway, getting back to what I was saying.]

...so if you have a little leak, and they sprinkle some additional oil here and there, it can become a really big (and/or multiple) leak! And big bucks to fix those 'expensive' leaking seals (i.e., wash off the engine).

Bottom line -- I don't trust Midas, and neither should you! I'm glad that you're bringing it to another shop. And I wish you the best!
Good luck.

Hi,
I am david's gf, and probably you are right, they didn't take me too seriously, somehow I got the feeling that they think they can say anything because I'm not gonna understand, anyway... I love our Volvo and learn a lot about it and hate being looked down upon, because I have long hair. You know, I don't expect THEM to be proficient in MY profession.

I searched and found your original post, and it says that your girlfriend first took it to a Jiffy-Lube, not to this Midas shop -- so Midas didn't hose down your engine with oil, and the Jiffy-Lube didn't because they refused to work on your car.
So I take it all back -- though I remain cynical of using them.
I just thought it was strange that you had all of those separate oil leaks occuring suddenly and simultaneously. Even a clogged flame trap would blow only one of these seals, not all of them. Hmmm -- I guess it's just bad luck.

Anyway, as I said before, I wish you luck, and I'm glad to hear that you're taking it to a decent shop. Neither Jiffy-Lube nor Midas are places where you should turn over your Volvo. I have heard too many horror stories about costly Jiffy-Lube mistakes -- and I've got a beaut of a Midas brake job blunder (although it wound up benefiting me -- some other time, however).

Best regards,

okay man...you cant just offer up information about a bad service job by some nation chain store and not share. Stop holding out on us and spill your guts. I want to hear this story. I love this kind of stuff.

Ryan
--
VOLVO LOVER WITH AN 80 AND AN 82

Here's one,I took my '84 SAAB 900 to Jiffy Lube before I started working on cars, about 10 years ago.All I needed was an oil change,easy enough,but no!!
After the oil change I went across the street to the mall,when I came out there was a huge puddle of oil under my car.I walked across the street back to jippy rude and I told them my car was across the st. with oil everywhere.The dude told me I would need to get it towed back over.I said "unt ahh,someone who knows what the fu** they're doing is coming with me".I opened the hood and showed the manager the oil filter.The idiot who changed my oil screwed the filter on with the wiring in the way leaving a nice gap!
The manager remounted the filter and topped off the oil in the mall parking lot.He then tried to give me a gift certificate for a free oil,lube and filter.
I told him I was never coming back and I wanted my $20 back.He obliged and appoligized up and down.
I almost didn't go to the mall,I almost hopped on the highway back home(40mins)I would probably seized the engine.
--
philvo '86 245 215k,'90 240 196k,'87 SAAB 900 SPG 213k

Okay,

NEVER, EVER BRING YOUR CAR TO MIDAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was that clear enough? I can think of very few worse places that you can bring your car. The valve cover seal is probably leaking which could give the impression that other seals are dripping as well. It's a 15-dollar part and anyone with the slightest mechanical ability and a socket set can change one.

First tell us what year and style of 240 you have, and if you can find the engine code (engine bay, driver's side shock tower, white label, a la B230F, B21F, B23F, etc) and then we can help you further in getting this looked after with very minimal impact to your wallet and your heart rate.

Happy Bricking!!!


--
Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Half a million km between them!!!

Thanks Richard!

so: its a 86 Wagon engine is I guess B230F but its at another mechanic will check tomorrow. Now, its not leaking a LOT of oil - but there is oil on the radiator, on the engine belts, and pretty much everywhere at the bottom of the car. Tonite it left two small (5-10cm) spots during the night.

David

Okay,

BEFORE you change any seals, change your flame trap. It's a little black plastic dooly between the 2nd and 3rd intake runners that looks like a pop bottle cap with some tubes coming out of it. They clog up over the years and seals will blow out becuase of it.

Change the valve cover gasket. Oil on the rad tells me your front main seal and/or cam seal are blown. Replace the timing belt while you're at it as well.

Bringing the car to a reputable mechanic is also a very good step.

Happy Bricking!!!

--
Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Half a million km between them!!!

Without actually seeing the car, it does not seem like there is anything out of the ordinary that couldn't be fixed in a day. The valve cover gasket is cheap enough and easy enough to fix. The cam seal is a bit more difficult but not impossible. You should probably think about doing a timing belt replacement and do the front engine seals at the same time.

--
don hodgdon '89 744ti, '81 242t, '71 D-35