Dear Forum,

Thanks a lot to all those who responded to my previous 2 trails of e-mails with their helpful advice! I wish the story could be over, and now I am puzzled if it actually is or isn't now. My mechanic (an independent garage) has replaced the old tank (with a crack found in its filler neck) with a new one at my expense. Now that I am trying to find any recourse against Volvo and have spoken with the dealer a couple of times, their official position is denying the case. In response to my suggestion to bring in the tank to have them look at it and investigate whether it was a manufacturer's defect or not, they refuse to even consider this based on the fact that the repair was done not by them. In fact, when I spoke with them first time (back them the car was already in my mechanic's garage, with the tank taken off the car along with all necessary parts to get access to it) they advised me to bring the car to them. Back then it was not yet known that the problem (smell, leaks) was due to the crack. Since the car was already apart, I found it more economical to let my mechanic investigate it further and finish the repair - which they did. The dealer is familiar with this garage's reputation (it's excellent as they admit), but even with that they refuse to cooperate in any way, saying they don't even want to look at the old tank, since I didn't follow their advice. My way of reasoning was: 1) feeling more comfortable with my mechanic finishing the repair; 2) it's being done faster since the car is my family's daily driver and was needed back fast, whereas the dealer could not promise it would be done ASAP.

So my question to your collective wisdom is: is it hopeless now to pursue it with Volvo any further, am I stuck with this expense and there's no recourse as they say? FYI, I've already posted a complaint on www.nhtsa.org hoping they will look into this issue and perhaps induce at least some action from Volvo. The car is fine now, but I don't feel comfortable having paid for something that I shouldn't have too (3 year old car, 52K miles, fresh out of warrant, and - cracked fuel tank? never in any accident, serviced properly). If all fails, I can live with this expense but I want to make sure I've tried all possible means.

I'll appreciate any advice on this, thank you,

Anton.