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We went to pick up the car tonight thinking everything was fixed and back to normal. Then the guy tells me that the brake pedal is still not as high as it would normally be on the 240 series. They charged me $250 to install a new master cylinder and bleed the brakes twice which they charged two hours labor plus fluid. That was way more expensive than I had expected for a relatively simple job. Well the guy brought the car around and we left. The brakes work but the pedal is still almost touching the floor before the brakes kick in. I don't think the brakes would work in an emergency panic stop situation. The pedal was never that low before and doesn't feel very solid at all until it almost hits the floor.
The shop "thinks" the booster "might" be bad but they don't know for sure!!
This is a Volvo only repair shop and I would think they should know how to properly diagnose and fix the problem with the brakes instead of just throwing parts at it until they hit the right one. I can do it that way myself without the high labor costs they are charging me.
Needless to say, I'm very disapointed in the results, but I don't want to take it back there to be reamed for more parts and labor and still not get the brakes back to where they should be performing. I thought I made the right decision sending the car to the Volvo specialist shop, but I'm now questioning that decision had I known they were not going to fix the brakes correctly.
The car is barely driveable and you have to leave lots of extra room to stop. They should have never let that car out of the repair bay until the pedal is normal. So I'm now out another $250-$300 including the tow bill and I still don't have a good solid brake pedal!! The pedal is hard with the engine off but almost touches the floor with the engine running.
So I'm back to square one... does it sound like the booster could be bad?
My wife has to drive the car, but I don't want her driving it with poor braking capacity for more than a few days at most. I think I can handle installing a new booster since I don't have to open the hydraulic lines again.
At least I know that I wasn't going crazy since the "Volvo Experts" at the repair shop didn't fix it either. Where is the best place to buy a new booster if that's what the problem could be? I'm tempted to just buy all new brake lines, booster, and distribution block and be done with it. The brake failure light still does not light so that tells me there is still not enough pressure in the system to cause unequal pressure between the two circuits to trip the light.
Your thoughts (other than shoot the car) and opinions would be appreciated as always....
Thanks....!
P.S... My butt is starting to hurt from being reamed!!!
DeWayne
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