well, after spending all day trying to figure out my horrible emmisions problem (checked O2, fps, mass air, etc etc etc) decided on a whim to pull the plugs to see how they looked. well, i suspect that i found the problem. tons of oil in the frontmost cylinder.

i think that is just about where i get off. blown gasket? blown ring? pretty sure i am over my head on this one.

so...anyone know a good mechanic around the venice/westside area of LA?

thanks!

There is a small shop on Rosecranz just east of the 405 fwy in El Segundo. Its called reliable or remedy Volvo. The owner is Carl and in spite of the small digs he is VERY knowledgeable, honest and resonably priced. He also restores XKE's.
He's good.

Hi there,

Don't know anyone near Venice, but if you feel like taking a jaunt down to Orange County on the 405, try The Volvo Doctor in Fountain Valley.

They were great people, know the cars inside and out. I truested them with my S70 T5 more than I did Volvo of Orange COunty! ANd they're right off the 405 so it's not that bad.

http://www.thedrvolvo.com/

There's another place in Costa Mesa on the 55 Freeway, right down from Volvo Of Orange County, actually. It's called "Volvos Only" I believe. hear they are good as well, but I don't know from first hand experience. They're easy to spot from the Freeway since they have a huge sign.

I know it's not Venice, but the Volvo Doctor, in my opinion, is worth the trip behind the Orange Curtain.

Yours,
Fred

Thanks for the post, but i found a great set of guys over here in Venice. Swedish Auto Center on Lincoln BLVD. These guys are great, had my car ticking in no time.

Sean

Glad to hear it. I no longer live in SoCal, but I was lucky to find a good independant Mercedes/Volvo mechanic in Rockford, Illinois, not too far a drive from where I live in Wisconsin. It's kinda difficult around here -- there's one Volvo dealer who also sells Lincoln and Mercury, and they only have one Volvo mechanic who generally has a 2-3 week backlog. So if you need something done immediately, you're kinda SOL. I often wondered how Ford and GM could claim the sales figures for their cars, when out in California, if you see a Taurus or Imapala, it has a rental car sticker on it. It's from these people out here-- they only seem to buy American junk. They harass me about buying foreign cars all the time, and I just smile and say "call me when your Pontiac has 450,000 miles on it..."

It's odd, I thought I'd never ever, never ever... but I kinda miss LA sometimes.

Just out of curiousity, what was the problem with yours?

Yours,
Fred

it ended up being an o2 sensor. volvo lesson number one for me. always use the better parts for a volvo. i bought an o2 sensor from the local Kragan auto parts store. the parts guy told me that there were 2 compatable with the car. a 170 dollar one and a 50 dollar one. of course i chose the 50 dollar one. he said the only difference was the more expensive one came with the full wiring and connectors. the one i bought needed hardwiring. not the only difference i found out later...

anyway, long story short, i put the crappy o2 in. but the car ran the same, so i started trying to find another cause for my problem. fuel injection, mass air, etc. eventually i gave up and took it in. oh well, she runs great now, after the mechanic put a good o2 in. i am bummed though that i had to take it in, being that i diagnosed it right the first time.

the only good thing is that the garage i took it to is really great, so i know if i have any other problems they will be able to help me out.

Yeah, the cheap O2 sensor thing is true of almost any car. I did the same on the Honda I used to have -- just replaced it with a generic O2 Sensor and cut and spliced the wiring to get it to work. Problem is that the O2 sensor is a very low voltage part, so if there is any undue resistance in the splice you made, it won't function right. The best bet is to just get the more expensive one with the wiring harness and only do the job once.

At least you didn't find that it was soemthing more severe. :)

YOurs,
Fred