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You know those days - weeks, months - when your car just seems to want to fall to pieces, and you ask yourself, "Why is it I drive a 20 year old car again?" I'm having one of those moments.
A couple months ago, I decided to do a little work to make the car more road-trip worthy. I replaced the alternator brushes (which were marginal); replaced the slowly leaking water pump; fabricated some new shifter bushings (because the aftermarket silicone bushings were gone); replaced my worn and clunking sway bar endlinks; and decided to replace my low-pressure A/C hose, which I believed was responsible for my A/C completely discharging last year.
The alternator brushes, water pump, endlinks installed without a problem. The A/C hose for my '93 240, as it turns out, was discontinued by Volvo, and is not available anywhere. So I set out to have the hose fabricated. To make a VERY long story short, I took it to the local Parker hose store, who sent it to some other hose maker in Baltimore, who then took three weeks to get the hose back to me, at a mere $120 (more than the dealer list price, had it been in stock).
While I was waiting on my A/C hose, my upper heater hose sprung a mysterious leak. After finding that my options were aftermarket garbage or Volvo OE, I went to the dealer, bent over, and paid 20% over list price for the hose.
The day after getting my heater hose fixed, I was driving to lunch and my power steering belt flew off the pulley. The aftermarket rubber accessory bushings I installed a few years ago had apparently already crapped out, so I ordered and installed new polyurethane accessory bushings.
While I was replacing accessory bushings at the bottom of the A/C compressor, I found a ragged gash in the rubber high-pressure hose leading from the compressor to the condenser. So I ordered a new hose from Tasca (which was listed as available) delaying my vacuuming and recharging of the newly installed low-side hose and accumulator. After a week, I called Tasca to inquire about the delay and was informed that the hose was placed on backorder, with no sign of an expected availability. So I cancelled the order and ordered from eEuroParts.
Today, shortly after ordering my new A/C hose (and another accumulator, which is probably saturated by now, or will be after I open the system), coming back from lunch I noticed my temp gauge was high. Pop the hood and, yes, my radiator is now leaking. It's only 19 years old, I mean, what the heck, Volvo?
A quick check in the neighborhood turned up only $100 aftermarket junk radiators, so I ordered from Tasca again, this time calling to confirm that they could get the parts. The phone monkey told me I could order online, to which I replied, "no, I'd like to know if the parts are available."
This is just one of those days when I ask myself, "why?" and wonder if it wouldn't be nicer to have a car from this millennium.
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