I'd pitch the rotors too. If you are having fade issues then removing metal is the last thing you will want to do. Regardless of that, rotor blanks are as important as pad material, you can get some remarkably "slick" cheap rotors.
I'd pitch the rotors too. If you are having fade issues then removing metal is the last thing you will want to do. Regardless of that, rotor blanks are as important as pad material, you can get some remarkably "slick" cheap rotors.
I couldn't order new pads until I confirmed which brand of caliper the car came with, as there were two choices. They are Girling.
But in the mean time, I decided to change the brake fluid, which I suspect just might be 21 years old. This is not a job that I enjoy.
I bought two cans of ATE Type 200 DOT 4 fluid, swapped some new hoses onto the Motive Power Bleeder (I've heard some horror stories about old hoses bursting under pressure) and pulled as much of the old fluid out of the master cylinder as I could. No point to pushing more old fluid through the system before we get to the good stuff.
The old fluid was pretty black.
On the left is the fluid that came out of the master cylinder, and the bottle on the right hs the fluid that passed through the first rear caliper. You can see the old stuff at the bottom and the cleaner new stuff mixing in toward the top. There was also a lot of air in the system.
One of the front bleeders was seriously plugged, and I should have swapped in new ones, but I didn't have any. Maybe next time. I removed the bad one, drilled it out, cleaned it up and reinstalled it.
I'm glad to have this part of the job done.
In reply to Woody :
I'm so stoked that all of the deferred maintenance will be completed by the time I buy this from you!
Javelin said:Looks like knock off eBay brakes to me. They tend to have bizarre (toxic) pad compounds that get hot. +1 on going back to actual OE stock stuff and good pads with a thorough DOT4 flush.
Stock Volvo pads somehow tend to be both dusty and noisy. I'll use something a little more aggressive than the originals, but I haven't decided what yet.
Brake feel is substantially better with fluid from the current century.
^Must have been a Y2K problem.
What is that "Ambu" labeled tool you used for the brake bleeding? Looks handy.
engiekev said:What is that "Ambu" labeled tool you used for the brake bleeding? Looks handy.
It's an Ambu suction unit, designed for sucking the vomit out of the throat of a dying patient in order to clear the airway.
Works great for this kind of thing too.
It also has graduations on the side of the bottle, so you know exactly how much brake fluid or vomit to put back in.
Slippery said:Patiently waiting for Tornador update. Those things intrigue me.
Tornador Update:
No luck.
But I don't believe that the Tornador is at fault here. My friend and I agree that we're most likely dealing with something more potent than a Coolatta here, possibly bleach. We don't think it's actually a stain, but rather a loss of color.
No biggie, though. As you may recall, I had purchased a replacement rear seat a while back. I cleaned that one up and it's now in the car.
If anything, it removed all the scunge so that you could tell the dye was ruined, so in a way, that's a win for the tool.
The replacement rear seat must be from a 1999 or 2000 V70R. The pattern and materials are the same, but this has the optional built in child booster seats, which are different from the 1998 version. The optional ‘98 rear seat only had a single booster built into the center armrest. They’re cool, but I don’t really need them.
Woody said:
That pic should be the Connecticut state seal. I’ve got at least three Christmas cards with some combination of wagon and dog on it.
In reply to Wally :
Ha.
I am reminded of the Maritime Republic of Eastport (Annapolis, MD) and their seal that includes Golden Retrievers (which is so fitting for the area.)
John Welsh said:In reply to Wally :
Ha.
I am reminded of the Maritime Republic of Eastport (Annapolis, MD) and their seal that includes Golden Retrievers (which is so fitting for the area.)
My guess is that those are Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, not Goldens.
In reply to Duke :
Yeah, that makes sense.
Side note: Chesapeake Retrievers are really cool. Their fur is unique in that it's oily so it can shed water. This makes them, well, retrieve better. They are like modded Goldens! The dog club we trained our dog with had a member with one that was a big time show winner.
Also, I want a V70R. I am jealous of Woody's dog.
Carry on.
The Michelin tires were evenly worn and had lots of tread left, but they were looking pretty dried out and old. At 110k miles, I wouldn't be surprised if they were only the second set that the car has ever had on it.
We ordered a new set of Yokohamas from Tire Rack and dropped the car off to have them mounted in the morning. I didn't want to take the chance of having a blowout or flat with the dog in the car.
Since the car is still at the shop having the tires mounted, let’s discuss this:
There’s a pretty good oil leak. Not enough to be noticeable on the dipstick day to day, but enough to mark the driveway after every trip.
We really dislike that sort of thing.
Now, we knew about the oil leak before we bought the car, in spite of the fact that the previous owner told me on the phone that everything worked and that there were no leaks (See above: “Lying”). In spite of the fact that the car sits pretty low to the ground, I spotted the messy underside immediately, pointed it out to him, and we adjusted the price accordingly.
I had actually expected it to be a rear main seal leak, which of course would be a $5 part that requires an engine removal to replace, but I honestly wasn’t too worried about that. It was the worst case scenario and I figured that if that was necessary, I’d yank the engine, change all the seals and do another timing belt change while it was easy.
So anyway, back to the tires. We needed to have them mounted somewhere, so we had them shipped to our favorite local shop. They have a guy there who I call Turbo Matt the Volvo Guy. I don’t know if he knows that I call him that, and I doubt if anyone else does, but I told them to figure out where all the oil was coming from while the car was up in the air getting tires. They put Matt on the task and he said that it was coming from the turbo oil return line. They said that it’s a bitch to get at, but I told them to have Matt take care of it. It sounds like something that I don’t feel like dealing with and it will will be substantially less expensive than what I was expecting.
Violet and I are happy about this.
Chessies also have webbed feet for swimming.
Nice build Woody.
Is that oil coming off the rear oil pan rail? Bit hard to tell on my phone. Turbo drain oring into the block is sure likely. Pull the axle, drop the angle drive, while cursing the invisible top bolt, then pull the drain. Buy two orings because they are easy to cut.
Grease the splines after cleaning the rust out on the angle drive.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Honestly, I haven't gotten a good look at it myself. I haven't had the car on the lift yet. I just stuck my phone under there and started taking photos. I hope to know more tomorrow.
This morning (42 degrees), I stood outside for 25 minutes wearing shorts and a T-shirt, waiting for my brother in law to pick me up at precisely 8:07/8:32 for a ride to the shop in order to retrieve the Volvo.
Upon arrival, I enjoyed the immediate comfort of Alcantara covered, heated Scandinavian sport seats.
Violet immediately notices that new Yokohama Avid Ascend GTs smell new.
We both notice that the ride is now substantially quieter and far more comfortable than it was on the Stone-Aged Michelins.
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