Service Issues: spares and repairs or return to dealer?

[baggyTrousers]

hi

vhc on '05 v70, 104 days after driving away from a second hand dealership, clocking up 2000 miles approx (which is lower than average after such a time if im not mistakes). no defects disclosed besides the power driver side window and faulty DIM cluster.

urgent repairs after a recent service are:

the alarm siren, brake and parking position sensor, number plate lamps, front fog lamps, driver side headlight- all inoperable, broke and /or needing fixed/replaced.

The drop link is loose, the driver door module, passenger door module, locking and mirror mechanisms are malfunctioning somehow; the central electrical module doesn't communicate with other components (20/30 i believe) and right outer side Drive Shaft Gaitor completely bust.

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The dealer from whom i purchased the car stated upon visiting for a test drive that the car was roadworthy- but findings from the vhc conclude otherwise. The technicians state a mechanical inspection has clearly been overlooked; possibly not done in years. such findings after checking the interiors and exteriors, brakes / hubs, lights / electricals and underside mentioned aren't intuitive to the layman, which applies to myself in this case- i know nothing of the mechanics of cars and couldn't register the importance of investigating such subtleties considering no service history existed. I couldn't confidently question the legitimacy of advertising such a car that was/is clearly in poor condition. I've swallowed the bitter pill of driving away knowing no service history existed but absolve myself of any real regret thinking me nor anyone deserves being swindled- which seems to me the case here.

my wishes are to provide an opportunity for the dealer to pay for the repairs (highly unlikely considering costs are greater than purchase value), or process a full refund. Failing this- sell for repairs. Although ive spent money and time on minor tweaks myself (the DIM was bust, so i sent away to replace; bought and fit the passenger side rear tail lamp) I've looked here and asking myself 'is it worth it?'; can i put up for spare ands hope to reclaim what i spent originally on procuring it? (£1,750 minus deposit) or should i pursue the dealer purely on point of principle for selling a heap to an unsuspecting customer? Ideally its the latter, although, disliking unresolved injustices, i am lazy and respect my time enough to think there are less costly routes to resolution here.

any advice much appreciated. i wanted this post out asap after receiving the vhc and before i plan my next move.

apologies for any noob-ish behaviour, omissions of info, betraying any ignorance and/or not following forum roles.

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Range
70 SERIES (MK2)
Engine size cc
2401

DIESEL

GOLD
Transmission
AUTOMATIC

Year of manufacture
2005
Date of first registration in the UK
14/03/2005

[Simmy]

to be fair i think your expectations are high for a car of that age i believe that most of the faults are fairly easy to fix if you are good with the spanners first get the car scanned with vida and delete any codes that show work through each problem one at a time and you will end up with a good car it will be cheaper than looking for another car which might also have faults .my similar car has 246k so they can do the miles stick with it and keep us posted with your decision

[baggyTrousers]

Originally Posted by Simmy

to be fair i think your expectations are high for a car of that age i believe that most of the faults are fairly easy to fix if you are good with the spanners first get the car scanned with vida and delete any codes that show work through each problem one at a time and you will end up with a good car it will be cheaper than looking for another car which might also have faults .my similar car has 246k so they can do the miles stick with it and keep us posted with your decision

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I couldnt fault myself for trying to tackle repairs that necessitate use of a spanner. However the electrical side: the snapped fog lights, central electrical module not communicating with 20 components- the driver and passenger side locking, and power window functions not working, the car alarm siren- Are there learning materials available where I can brush up on mechanical/electrical knowledge before tackling? Or am I confined to the forum threads, relying on hope that I get prompt advice well explained when I may be waiting hours, days, weeks for vague, unclear replies, or worse never hearing from anyone. I'm left paying tax and insurance on a car I can't use in its current state, so time is money for me.

I want to learn and stick it out, but weary of making problems bigger by lack of experience- particularly in not knowing how to respond to unexpected problems.

deleting codes (why is that important/different from the diagnosis of reputable volvo mechanics? They've defined the faults and repairs needed- id like to learn and tackle buy again, learning is key)

[Moose Test]

Sorry OP but I'm going to be cruel to you in order to be kind. You've made a bad decision and that's squarely on you. You acknowledge that you "know nothing of the mechanics of cars" and so you purchased an elderly one with obvious issues at the time of inspection and with no service history.

We all make bad decisions. The "learning" is not to compound them, or repeat them. I strongly suggest that you take the car to a local independent specialist (someone on the forum will help with that, I'm sure, if you give your location) and let them resolve it. As has already been said, it's likely that there's a relatively simple and well-known issue/set of issues that they've seen before. Then you'll be back using your car asap and with the minimum of expenditure.

THEN you can start your leaning process for the vehicle, using this forum's resources and others, so that future problems you are prepared for when you have that knowledge and it's not a panic situation. Working blind and under time pressure rarely ends well.

[Lancee]

IMHO you are highly unlikely to have any recourse with the seller now.

Not worth having sleepless nights over, perhaps you made a poor decision/purchase, BUT you will not know for sure until you clear the codes and see what comes back. Then there are some very helpful people on here who can help steer you in the right direction regarding repair/solution.

I repeat, you have little to no chance of sorting it out (repairing) until you clear and (properly) read any returning codes. If you don't do this you will waste time/money and rapidly lose your sanity.

Yes you may have bought a lemon, but your car is inherently well designed and robust, My manual gearbox version is on 240,000 miles and still going strong, don't write yours off yet, it would possibly be unfair to the car. A plethora of apparent faults can sometimes be down to one faulty component/area.

[Pidgeonpost]

Plenty of sound advice from previous posts. A good independent Volvo specialist is highly likely to be able to narrow down the faults for you and maybe make your situation less daunting. Some of the logged faults may be historic, and once deleted you may never see them again.
Good luck.

[Simmy]

the reason for deleting code is a fault has been logged and your car dose not know if the fault is current or not. recently had a car in which had 37 logged codes and warning messages these kind of multiple codes can be triggered by something as simple as low voltage or disconnecting a battery without letting the modules go to sleep before disconnection as for the alarm message its the most common message followed by faulty aqs sensor neither of these code affect the usability of the car. as suggested a visit to a volvo independent would be your best course of action or ask on here if anyone local can help.

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by Moose Test

Sorry OP but I'm going to be cruel to you in order to be kind. You've made a bad decision and that's squarely on you. You acknowledge that you "know nothing of the mechanics of cars" and so you purchased an elderly one with obvious issues at the time of inspection and with no service history.

We all make bad decisions. The "learning" is not to compound them, or repeat them. I strongly suggest that you take the car to a local independent specialist (someone on the forum will help with that, I'm sure, if you give your location) and let them resolve it. As has already been said, it's likely that there's a relatively simple and well-known issue/set of issues that they've seen before. Then you'll be back using your car asap and with the minimum of expenditure.

THEN you can start your leaning process for the vehicle, using this forum's resources and others, so that future problems you are prepared for when you have that knowledge and it's not a panic situation. Working blind and under time pressure rarely ends well.

Exactly this^^^^^^

Get the car repaired so it is safe to drive and roadworthy by a trusted and knowledgeable garage. Then you can learn about the tools and how to use them at your leisure. There will be plenty of help on the forum and youtube etc.

[Stu B]

I agree with the previous replies, presumably you inspected the car before purchase and would have spotted all those lights not working especially given it’s a Volvo that generally have head, tail and number plate lights on permanently?

I wouldn’t bother following up with the dealer, it sounds like it needs a handful of bulbs, possibly a few second hand light fittings, an anti roll bar drop link and a CV boot replacing, and as others have mentioned a fault code reset with VIDA.

It’s a phase 2 V70, they are prone to needing bulbs quite regularly, wearing out drop links, and the alarm siren internal battery giving up and leaking causing the warning message. None of these are serious and all expected on a car if that age. Simple DIY fixes if you read up on here and the chances are you have an otherwise solid car.

Regarding the CEM, windows, mirrors - there’s a good chance a fault code reset will remove all or most of those faults from my experience.

A family member brought me a V50 with an ABS fault and a few bulbs out to service two years ago which when scanned also had a multitude of curious faults logged related to the CEM talking to every other component in the car. I fixed the ABS sensor, put some bulbs in and reset it, and it’s been in daily use since without fault reoccurrence.

That seemed to have about 50 faults but in fact they were historical from low battery voltage etc.

Good luck, keep us updated

[The Thong]

Have a word with this chap for you DIM cluster.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=143579

A dicky DIM cluster can cause a few issues.

TT