[sierraman]

Hi scoffbelly

Sorry to hear that you are having similar problems to me with your steering rack. Unfortunately i don't know what the differences are between the TRW rack and SMI rack. Do any of the VOC members know?

In your case i would follow the advice of the volvo specialist and not fit the TRW rack. If the TRW rack needs to be modified to fit your car then alarm bells are ringing and it's a no brainer! The whole idea of getting a replacement / refurbished rack is to replace the existing faulty rack with an identical as new rack. If it needs modifying then it isn't the same part and it's for a different car.

To me it's annoying that ACS has sent you a part that would appear to be off a different version of your car...perhaps even a v70...who knows? The facts are it is not identical to the original and so it is clear who's advice you should be taking.

As for me. I should never have trusted a long time family of my partner who recommends his ex father in law "Steve" to do work on my car and then walk away when there are problems. Like you I also tried to get a steering rack from ACS as they had 2 listed in stock on Ebay and the cost of £135 +£15 Carriage seemed a good buy to me. I decided to telephone them first before hitting the "buy it now" button only to find that they didn't have any instock but they offered to collect and refurb my existing rack.

I took my v70 to the garage on Thursday 3rd September & passed this info onto the mechanic (mercia 4x4 in Pelsall, Walsall) Steve the Mechanic then ignored my request and sent my rack to a different company on Tues 8th Sept and the price had increased from £150 to £250. Steve said the rack refurb company had put the price up because it needed more doing to it....even though it had only just started leaking? My rack was sent off with the hose/pipework from the rack to the fluid bottle still attached to it. Steve the mechanic said that it could not be removed?

The rack was returned on the Thurs 10th sept and the rack was fitted to the car. Steve said he would call me if there were any problems and asked me to collect the car that evening. I went to collect the car that evening (no phone call..i had 3 phones next to me all day!) only to find that it couldn't be driven because the hose/pipework that had been sent off attached to the rack had been sawn off and part of it had been returned thrown in the "Shaftec" box with the rack.

Steve then gave me a Fax from Stratsone Volvo (aston, Bham) which had a diagram of the steering rack-surrounding parts and pointed out the damaged parts to me. The part appeared to be a long black rubber hose attached to what looked like a 12" or more piece of metal pipework. Steve confirmed that the damage part was as per diagram & asked if i could get hold of this part so that i could have my car back for the weekend (Steve was going away until Tues 15th Sept but his brother at the garage would fit the part for me as it was only a 10 min job) Steve said that he would knock the price of the part off the bill and re-claim it from the rack refurb company.

So VOC member "Clan" Do volvo dealers have accurate Knowledge and do they really know their job and products inside out ..after doing it for years and years?
NO they don't....well not all of them anyway!

On Fri 11th Sept i went to Stratstone Aston and ordered the part (after they had confirmed on their system and i was assured that it was as per diagram) I collected the part the next day only to find a hose with a 3" piece of L shape pipework and a nut on one end and nothing on the other (no additional pipework) As the Parts Dept was closed i would now have to wait till Monday.

Anyway the part was re-ordered on Monday and an identical part arrived the next day. So i had to e-mail photo's of what i had received to Stratstone (they have no camera) and they would then send them to Volvo technical for help. Guess What? Later that day I was informed that Volvo Technical were unable to accept e-mails from Stratstone and they would get back to me asap.

Steve the mechanic returns from hoilday the same day and informs me that his brothers 850 has the identical part. So i order the part , it arrives next day and it is different and still no news from Volvo Technical. What a saga...I then phone or e-mail every breakers yard and parts supplier that i can only to find that no one has the missing parts and i even put a wanted advert on here!

I then see an advert fot TMS Volvo of Coventry and i phone then as well. What a difference an Oliver in a parts department can make. Not only did he know the part and what it should look like but he also told me that some of the diagrams on the volvo system are in-accurate. He ordered the part for me and it arrived within 2 hours and it was exactly as he had said. Not only that....he had gone to the service dept and looked at the same model-age v70 car as mine,just to make sure...How's that for service!

Anyway i delivered the hose to steve yesterday and the car was ready to collect in the afternoon. Fully road tested and all it needs is tracking boasted steve (after he denied all knowledge of him stating that he would claim back the cost of the damaged hose from the rack company) After a heated exchange where he threatened to remove the part from my car i handed over another £185 after deducting £65 for one of the parts that i had to buy. Steve was not happy that all he got was £485 and complained that it was not fair that he should lose money. He then stated that my rack had a 2 year warranty but he would not give me a receipt or tell me where he got it from....or even show proof of cost. (I think that the price of the rack refurb went up to cover the cost of the damaged hose and he even made a profit on that as well) However to his credit he said that the company had been there for 25 years and i could bring it back to him if there were problems...Great Guy!

I immediately drove the car carefully to a local tyre centre to have it re-tracked and on the way i lost part of the power steering...not good! When i got to the Tyre centre the rack was leaking from the New hose where it connects to the rack. I had to go out and drive around the block 5 times as it took 5 attempts to re-track...It was the worst they had ever seen and miles out.

So back to Steve i go and he says leave it with me and i will have it ready tomorrow. He then states that if he can't sort it out he will get me to drive to the rack refurb company and get them to do it as he would not take the rack off and would never touch another rack again.....so much for the 25 years and i will look after you crap!

Finally i get a call from Steve today stating that the leak was gone and he had found the problem (he hadn't seated the hose into the rack correctly) The car had been road tested and was now perfect.

I collect the car only to find that i have intermittent power steering and it is an arm breaker around roundabouts etc. So back i go to steve and he agrees that i have no power steering....however i have been told that i have to drive the car over the weekend to see if it will loosen up and he will then decide what to do about it on Monday.....The good news is that i have no leaks....The bad news is that i will now need 2 new front tyres because they were damaged as the rack was so far out Yesterday...Michelin Pilot Primacy with about 5,000 miles on them!

Never again! I will probably end up taking it to TMS Volvo and having a new rack fitted as i feel the car is undriveable and i ache all over from having no power steering. On Monday Steve will probably refuse to sort it out for me and as i have no receipt what can i do? .....Trading Standards? .....VAT man?.....Police? ...Gordon Brown?

The mother in law is offering to loan me the money to get the car done properly as it was my partners long time friend "Roger" who recommended Steve to me. Roger Promised that i would have no problems and he would help me sort them if there were . Roger then does an "Oliver North" and many arguments have followed and the saga continues.