Took my V70T5 for MoT a couple of days ago. Having done quite a bit of work on it over the past few months I wasn't expecting any problems, but I was disappointed to have a number of advisories appear. The car passed, but advisories on:

Lower front right suspension ball joint (the one on the control arm) slight play.

Front right CV boot split

Left service brake fluctuating (but not badly)

Minor exhaust leak at rear

He also noted one of the oil cooler lines was leaking slightly at the union with the radiator, so I replaced the O ring on that and all is good now. It wasn't dripping, but was damp all the way down the side of the radiator and on to the lower coolant hose, and I know this was sparkly clean before as I've recently replaced the radiator. Those O rings don't make a brilliant seal....

I'm particularly disappointed with the CV boot, these were replaced with items from PFV in October last year, which is less than 2,000 miles ago, and it's badly split. I've ordered genuine Volvo boots now (£62 each!!) and one of those will go on along with a new (Meyle heavy duty) control arm to sort the lower bush. At least both problems are on the same side so dismantling it is similar for both jobs, which will save time.

Not too bothered about the service brake, might just be rust, so I might apply it gently a few times while rolling and hope that it cleans it up, I don't think it's anything serious.

Will look at the exhaust leak and see if I can block it up somehow, I think I know where it is.

So more work to do, but I'm determined to get it all ship-shape even if it means spending a lot of money on decent quality parts.

Cheers all! :teeth_smile:

It's a pass so that's a bonus even if it means a bit of spannering

I'm not a fan of PFV, cheap aftermarket parts that don't last.

Some of the parts they sell are junk, but some are from reputable aftermarket brands. You just have to enquire what brands listings are.

When I read the descriptions of some of their listings, they often say "Quality Swedish aftermarket part"... That means don't buy it. Those parts are made by Pro Parts Sweden, which is junk. I know this, as I've enquired about these parts for my car and all of them were Pro Parts.

Good that it has passed, but a little frustrating to have the advisories - particularly the boot. I have only ever fitted Volvo boots as due to the nature of the job there is no wish to do it again. The Volvo boots really are fit and forget.

Hi,

I might be misunderstanding your post but I would take the 'service brake' advisory more seriously - these are your disc brakes, not the handbrake.

Best regards,

Rich.

No it's not, it's the handbrake I'm pretty sure - that's what the tester said anyway! Thanks anyway - cheers.

That's better news if it's the handbrake. However, your tester has made quite a serious error in terminology, if that's the case, especially if that's what he's recorded on your MOT certificate. The service brake is categorically the main braking system. Worth double checking.

Front Wheel Bearings
 

Both front wheel bearings replaced at 246000 miles. I think they were originals as we have not had them replaced since we bough the car in 2000.Garage said left one came out easy, right one can out in two pieces. Runs a lot quieter now!

Next jobs are to sort the Clutch out. I think it is the fluid needing changing/bleeding
Repair /replace headlining
Upholster front seats and
Replace both front wings plus respray/paint restore

Just some minor jobs really!.

So, took the car off the road for the last few days to address the MoT advisories in my post above.

New CV boot fitted (Volvo OEM this time) - went well, apart from difficulty releasing the circlip to get the CV joint off. I have expanding circlip pliers, but they are designed for circlips that have little holes in them, not an upturned tang like on the CV joint, which meant that they kept slipping off before I could get the circlip fully open. In frustration I too one of the circlip plier heads and ground off the prongs and welded on a tiny flat piece of steel, ground down to just fit the aperture in the CV joint. This worked a treat, and the CV joint came off first time. Also replaced the control arm (old one had slight play in the ball joint) using a PFV supplied "heavy duty" item, which is a Meyle arm, really good quality and should last now. Whacked it all back together again and set up the tracking using my Gunson Trakrite - a very easy to use and accurate device so long as it's used correctly, I now have spot on tracking and a steering wheel 100% central when driving in a straight line, so happy with that.

Also I'd recently discovered that I last changed the cam belt 13 years ago - it's only done 40k odd miles in that time, but on an age basis well overdue. So while I was in the offside wheel arch I did that too - I'd done it before so I knew the routine, the "how to" on this forum was VERY helpful. The timing marks I'd painted on last time were still clearly visible so this helped. I Used an OEM Volvo kit (supplied by PFV) which includes the tensioner roller and the idler roller too. Also changed the Aux belt while I was in there, after-market supplied but a Meyle item so should be good. I also changed the aux tensioner roller (metal) and the idler roller (plastic) as I don't think I did these last time and they were looking tired. These are Professional Parts Sweden items, so I'm less confident in them, but I'll keep an ear open for any strange noises and hopefully they'll be OK. All went well and smoothly with this job, although if you've done this job you'll know that access down the side of the engine to get at various fasteners is very tight, and I have the skinned knuckles to show for it. This is a job that would be much easier if you have small flexible hands and fingers.... It's important to have a good selection of tools too, sometimes the obvious spanner won't fit in the space available, and different combinations of sockets and extensions are required.
Always a heart-in-mouth moment when you first start it up after a cam belt change, but all was good.

Finally, the MoT tester noted a leak on the exhaust. A few months ago I'd noticed a growl from it, and found the pipe exiting the main silencer box towards the rear had cracked almost all the way round. So I had already been under there and welded it back together as best I could, but because of access I couldn't weld it right at the top, and this is where the leak was coming from. I still couldn't get the welding torch in there, and I know that removing this exhaust system is a huge pain, so as this joint was otherwise strong and sound, I fashioned a curved piece of aluminium sheet to go around the top of the joint and strapped it in place with a large jubilee clip with lots of sealing paste to seal the hole up. It's a bit of a bodge I know, but it appears to have worked. While I was under there I found a couple more holes too, downstream of the rear box so not too important, but I also sealed them up with aluminium sheet and clamps as well, so it's reasonably sound now. However, this exercise has shown me that the exhaust's days are numbered, and so I think that if I get another major failure on the system I'll be posting back on here asking for recommendations on a replacement stainless system to replace the whole cat-back system. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though.

So, a successful test drive and all's good again.

I also have a headlamp flasher fault (in another thread) but the kind SteveSarre of this forum has posted me the likely parts I need and this shouldn't take long to fix when they arrive, at least they're quick and easy parts to change.

Now, time to let my stiff muscles and skinned knuckles recover!

Cheers all :teeth_smile: