Dear Gojo,

May this find You well. Perhaps a fellow Brickboarder knows of a competent independent Volvo shop in your area.

I would not go to a general car mainetnance business (e.g., JiffyLube, Midas, etc.) for any work on a Volvo. While these places may charge less, that is because those there often know little about Volvos and/or use substandard parts.

Even at Volvo dealers, few understand the mid-1990s cars. The reason: highly-computerized, self-diagnosing newer models. A technician adept at fixing newer cars may simply not know how to find what's amiss on an older model.

As with any rule, there's an exception. If You find a Volvo dealer technician, who has 20 or more years working on Volvs, s/he'll know how to fix a mid-1990s car.

Your repair bill for the Air Mass Meter and an Oxygen sensor is inflated about 50%. An oxygen sensor is about $170 (retail). An Air Mass Meter should be about $350. The Oxygen sensor might take 30 minutes to install. An Air Mass Meter should take about 5 minutes (literally). Even if they charged a full hour ($120/hour, guesstimate), the total should not exceed $640.

Before having any front suspension work done, I'd recommend you post any symptoms - pulling to one side, noises/vibration, etc. Some Brickboard contributors are Volvo master technicians, who know 1990s models thoroughly. If you know what's wrong, you can save the technician time and yourself money.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook