Gah! #&% Volvo Engineers!

Some times I hate them. Really.

Round one, the air conditioner on the wifeypoos 02? V70. Needs a little freon. Right there on the front of the car is the port, clearly visible, sticking up through a special hole. The car is so chock full of things I can't follow the lines, but maybe it really is this easy. Not. That's the high pressure side. And the thing sticks, making a thorough mess. Go web searching, find that the low pressure fill port is buried under the power steering reservour, which has to be lifted out for access. Could you have made it any less friendly?

Round two, the brake light. More specifically, the speaker and speaker cover that must be removed in order to get to that bulb. First is figuring out the mystery of how Volvo attached the speaker cover. I've been around them long enough to know, it's never the way you think. Genty pry at the various corners until something finally pops. Ah, you pull the bottom out (not the side with the indent that you would think), then you slip it down. Why of course! How obvious. Congratulate myself for not breaking any of the tabs, which I frequently do break when working on Volvos.

On to the speaker itself. Red pull thingie that says "pull" OK. Now what? It's not like the speaker came out. Look at the black curled thingie. It looks just like a push-to-release tab, so surely it isn't. Play with it a little to verify it isn't. It's not. It just looks like one, and it's right where one should be. Nope, it's no coming out. FIddle a little longer. Carefully reach through the sheet metal (only losing a little blood in the process) and fiddle with the thingie in back that is locking the speaker in place. Push and out pops the speaker. Admire the design. The red pull tab does need to be pulled, though god only knows why it's there in the first place. Admire the obvious release tab that isn't, it's there just to be broken off I think (and I didn't!).

Volvo engineers. They work real hard to be so obscure!

Did I mention the bulb socket itself? Designed to fall down in the hole of the pillar. Accessed by reaching down a bit into it, and hoping you hold onto it successfully when installing or removing (installing is trickier, there are 2 wrong ways to install it, and only 1 right way).

Whenever I remove a bulb holder from a V70, I always take a sharpie and mark an "up" arrow on it.

Have you replaced the upper park light bulb yet?

I've never worked on a Volvo, but I have to say, at least 50% of my time working on cars in general is used up trying to figure out how to undo electrical connectors without destroying them. Usually done at the absolute limit of my reach, where you can either see or touch (but never both), and with 0.1mm of movement to the little tab so it is impossible even to tell of you should be pushing it or pulling it. If there is interior trim involved, that number goes up to 75%.

When my ex- bought her '95 850 wagon I thought, "I've ripped new MINI's apart and put them back together - how hard could a Volvo be?"

MINI's are berking logical compared to the 850 (which is very close to a V70). I swear working on that car is why I have so little enthusaism for wrenching right now and why my TDI has spent 6 months torn apart on my lift.

Weird, I thought my 850 was very easy to work on with the exception of the crappy FCP silicone turbo boots that I regretted buying. Otherwise everything came apart and went together pretty easily.

In reply to dculberson:

Ditto, no harder to wrench on than most other stuff in my experience. My only real gripe is having to pull the intake manifold to do the PCV or starter replacement. Though that was easier on the previous engine without the VVIS, that giant intake manifold makes everything a little more inconvenient.

I came to Volvos from GM FWD, the 3 spark plugs on the back side of the 3100, and intake manifold leaks, made me love the Volvo even more.

Don't get me started on cheap aftermarket spring seats, or rear delta links though... Grrrr!!!

• Lee

Apparently, I needed to go to Ikea and load up on Swedish meatballs to get my head into the right mindset...

Sounds like Volvo engineers were talking to Audi engineers.

jstein77 wrote: Sounds like Volvo engineers were talking to Audi engineers.

and something was lost in the translation!

weird that it is so hard to replace a lamp on such a highly regarded and reliable car as a Volvo. On my generally regarded to soon be a smoldering hole of money in my wallet Disco.. all I need to do is remove four screws from the outside of the housing and it pops right off of the body so I can easily get to all the lamps. I do not even need to mark which way is up

I will admit to being a bit sarcastic there

The low side port idea must have been stolen from Audi. The ex-GF's A8L required that you put the car in "service position" (remove the front bumper) to charge the A/C. Then it required a specific adapter that was only used on a couple of models for a couple of years.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: My only real gripe is having to pull the intake manifold to do the PCV or starter replacement. - Lee

So you must hate all the V6 engines that require manifold removal to change spark plugs, I presume. I'm a big fan of the Toyota and Nissan Knock sensor placement...

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

Actually as a former service advisor I really appreciated that 105K mile service on Muranos, Maximas, and Quests that involved exactly that. Now if I were doing them myself, you bet I'd be cussing it.