When I picked up the car from the shop after the work had been done, the noise was progressively better but not entirely eliminated. Over the course of the following week and now two months time its gotten worse to the point where I’m back to where I started or even with it making harsher and louder thumps. I’d have enough.
So I booked an appointment with the nearest Volvo dealer to have the mothership look and fix things for good. At this point I was thinking motor mounts and based on my ongoing description of what was recently done on the car and what wasn’t the Volvo service person agreed that description sounded quite possible.
Dopped the car off this afternoon and took a new S60 loaner home. Got call back this afternoon and they say the new CV Joint that was put on the car (it was aftermarket which was fine b/c I chose that knowing after the transfer case rabbit hole, I wasn’t throwing parts at problem they were not sure would fix it) was the wrong size and dimension:
[Other]: RECOMMEND RIGHT FRONT AXLE REPLACEMENT: VERIFIED CUSTOMER CONCERN ON A TEST DRIVE, FOUND RIGHT FRONT AXLE TO BE CREATING THE NOISE UPON FURTHER INSPECTION. INCORRECT LENGTH/DESIGN OF AFTERMARKETAXLE CAUSING CLEARANCE ISSUES
I mean seriously???? Whether its aftermarket or OEM it should still fit fine and if it didn’t you’d know it and advise me immediately. What kind of level of incompetence is this? The Volvo tech indicated the noise likely dissipated (but not eliminated) after picking the car up from the original shop because the car was off compression from being on a lift. Over the next few days as the car was put on compression and the suspension resettled, the rubbing continued and got progressively worse to where it is today.
Basically I’m no better off today than I was when I began this escapade. The dealer told they’d be happy to sell me a new OEM CJ joint to solve the problem for $1,400 but it would make more sense to go back to the original shop and resolve the problem.
So where do you think I stand on this financially in terms of cost recovery for this kind of incompetence?
- The Volvo diagnosis cost me $185.
- The aftermarket CJ joint that’s that wrong size for the car was $545.
- The wild goose case opening up of the transfer case that was never necessary was $1200. Now, they did replace a turbo inlet gasket while this was out of the car and I was told you’d need to do much of this work to replace that gasket. But I don’t think the gasket was a major major issue. It was more like “well we’re in here, is there anything worth addressing before we put the transfer case back together?”
At the very least I think the original shop owes me the following:
- Reimbursement for the $185 Volvo charged me to diagnose their screwup
- Completely new CJ joint that’s the proper size for the car, OR reimbursement for the wrong CV joint that’s currently on the car ($545) and I will have it repaired elsewhere (Volvo)
- I think refunding HALF the cost of transfer case removal and inspection at the very least ($600 of the $1,200). I told them in my initial “screening of the problem” that I thought it may be CJ related, motor mounts, rotors etc) so going down this rabbit hole was way out in left field. It was more of a blind stab in the dark to try to resolve the thumps and noises. Since the turbo gasket was replaced and I did at least get some confirmation that the transfer case was in good working order with no repairs needed (which I’ve read they can go bad after 100K miles and I have 105K miles), there is some peace of mind knowing my transfer case should give me several more years of good performance. That probably has some honest value.
On the one hand the original shop should fix the problem. On the other hand Im now hesitant to allow to them to fix it because what assurance do I have that they properly can or will? They’ve sort of run out of road with me. This is a shop I have used many times over the past 20 years for my Porsches, BMWs, and now Volvo and generally had good results and are generally well-respected. But as the business has gotten bigger and expanded to more locations maybe they have gotten ahead of their skis. This was the first time I had taken a car to a closer “satellite” shop than the main shop further away I always went to.
Sometimes when folks say “I prefer taking it to the dealer”, it’s not the “stealership” everyone presumes. Time is money. Competence is also time and money. Peace of mind is time and money. This has cost me all three.
Digest and provide your best guidance, insight, and recommendation please.