Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[Strouty]

Going to try and get the XC70 back to driving condition, I am trying to only do part of what I would normally do just because if this doesn’t fix my issue, I would prefer not to waste the parts on a bad engine. There will end up being some duplicate labor if the engine is fixed, but I can live with that, my labor is a lot less than the parts I could possibly waste.

Then I am going to the Salvage Garage to grab a few things, then one of the tower sites to pick up the antennas, coax, and radio equipment that was removed Monday.

And to those that care, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[bimmer1980]

I think that tactic is a good plan for the Volvo. As minimal as possible to see if it works and then go from there. Planned downtime (maintenance) is usually a better plan... (if possible).

Does any of your family cook some type of Thanksgiving dinner?

We're only doing a small meal, and then hopefully I can get some garage time....

Regardless, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Strouty]

My family is so effed, I don't usually have anything to do with them, my GF's family is a bunch of drinkers that are extreme opposite of most of my viewpoints, so that isn't any fun either. I bought enough Chinese food last night that I can have some pork fried rice an egg roll and some beef teriyaki, might even have some jellied cranberry to go with it...

XC70 is almost all back together, even using the torque wrench. So far no issues, but there are a couple rings that you set in the engine block, then have to squeeze the pan over them and hope you didn't mess them up. If you do, you won't get any oil pressure and then you get to start over, fingers crossed. I used some new assembly stuff, it has a great name.




And since I didn’t hit post, the update is that it runs, with oil pressure, but I have to test it, will know soon if what I did worked. Of course now it says brake failure with both the ABS light and brake light on the dash. Pedal still feels fine, going to see what the code is, then reset them. Always something!

 

[Strouty]

After all that a wasp landed on my neck and stung me, feels awesome.

Got the codes all reset and ran the car for about 20 minutes up and down the driveway and down to the Quonset hut and back. So far no issues, seems like I may have won, going to do some other things and let the car sit until tonight, I will take it for a more comprehensive test later today, right now I have great weather and I want to try and get something outside done.

 

[bimmer1980]

Good deal on getting the Volvo together and driving!!!! Take that for the win!

 

[Strouty]

I am over at the Salvage Garage now, it is almost 50 and sunny outside, wish I had more than three hours of daylight! I agree, taking the win even though it cost me some of the good weather, it needed to be done.

I have to gather up some things, then head further south to one of the tower sites, then back to the Hill to unload. The plan is to go grab my dealer plate so I can drive the XC70 for a good test. We will see how things go after some highway driving.

 

[Strouty]

I loaded the tires I needed, got some swivel eye bolt thingys to make life easier with the next box I have to drag onto the Muv-All, then I decided to try and free up the brakes on the BFF, a few taps and it was free, to roll while I was under it...

At least I had good reflexes and it didn't move far, but, even when I was a kid, I never wanted to grow up to be a wheel chock.

The BFF is pretty much unusable until the two tilt rams are rebuilt, it wouldn't be too bad with more than one person, but if you lift up the forks and tilt it all the way back, the mast will tilt forward about as fast as you can tilt back. I did lift the entire stack of creosote beams, that was pretty cool, I wanted to take a picture, but it would tilt forward before I could get my camera ready. I am headed to the next stop son, going to have a nice Thanksgiving lunch now.

 

[Just_Steve]

Just last year, 2022….

Guess you can look at it that way. I was 13 when I seen that im the movie theater.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Guess you can look at it that way. I was 13 when I seen that im the movie theater.

I remember reading Make Room! Make Room! in the mid 60's. I think I was in my mid 20s when I saw the movie. Even with Charlton Heston, and all the chemical support of the disco era, it wasn't quite as good as the story.

 

[Strouty]

Well, I knew I should have gone to the tower site while the crew was there, not only did they take the coax, but there was one more cable that could have come down if the crew chief had mentioned it to me, kind of pissed overall. I am going to make sure he and his boss knows it. Probably took $300 worth of scrap from me and I was very clear about leaving it.



The BFF looks to be about the same size as Bev, except much heavier, about three times heavier.

 

[Strouty]

Out in my test drive, hadn’t anticipated the brakes being an issue, but I have one rear and one front, opposite corners, that are locked up enough that there is glowing metal. Of course I am far enough away that it is not going to be easy to get back. Gotta love it. I suspect it will take a while for things to cool down. I was trying to make it to the Salvage Garage, I could take Bev home from there, just have to see what is closer.

 

[Strouty]

I am just leap frogging from place to place, seems to have gotten a little better, there was no glowing at this stop.

 

[Strouty]

Glow baby, glow!

 

[68400BIRD]

Looks like rotors, pads, and calipers are in your future. I wonder if the hardware is locked up or if it’s the calipers/flex lines?

 

[Strouty]

Volvos are notorious for brake issues after sitting, I just didn’t expect them to lock up, usually they rust and make a lot of vibration until they wear down a bit.

I have all new pads and rotors, going to have to do flex lines and calipers for sure. I think I got to run it enough that I am convinced my repair has made it worth moving forward with the rest of the stuff. I will have to see what I can get locally, otherwise I might have to wait a bit for stuff to be delivered.

 

[Strouty]

Ordered all the calipers, slide pins, bolts, and hoses, should be able to pick them up later today. I am probably going to wait until later this afternoon to go get the XC70, no need to burn anymore good daylight than I need to. Tomorrow is supposed to be much colder than today, so I would like to have the car inside and ready to go tonight.

I need to unload things from yesterday, then I need to swap the tires on the F-350 over to the studded snow tires, then I have to deliver that back to Dad and get the Maroon burb. From there I have a multitude of options, but I am not sure what I want to do yet, I think it needs to be some outside work though, this weather can't last.

 

[Strouty]

Was trying to do something “simple”, has turned into a nightmare. Probably going to waste the rest of the day just trying to get this simple project done. Awesome.

 

[68400BIRD]

Walk away from it for a while if you can. Usually works best for me or a wrench might go flying. Lol

 

[sawduststeve]

Re, the Volvo
If it’s diagonally opposite brakes could it possibly be something up with the dual line system further up the brake lines.

Steve

Ps, ignore if Volvos don’t work like that
I’ve never had one.

 

[Strouty]

I will show some pictures of the brakes when I start tearing things apart, they are just rusted up, we would have replaced them last year, but that was when the GF drove it out of oil, so it has been sitting for about 11 months.

As for walking away, I really couldn’t, I got one part done, thinking about being a glutton and going in for more. Technically I am one third of the way there and a good portion was figuring out how to get there. It will be worse when it is colder, so I will just attack things and see where I get. Still have to pick up my parts for the XC and then go get the car at the SG, looks like it is going to be a late night, again. As for what I am doing, it isn’t something I want to post about or take pictures of, just envision a problem created 20 years ago by my Dad, may or may not involve 55 gallon drums.

 

[rvieceli]

Strouty that sounds like the start of several Zombie or giant insect movies. Please be careful.

Ron

 

[rmack898]

Sounds like you might need a hazmat suit.

 

[Strouty]

Smelt like it too.

Maybe it will make me super strong and I won't need any forklifts anymore...

 

[Strouty]

Got all the brake parts, picked up the XC70 and then it was all messed up, the car went into some limp mode and would start in 3rd gear, then the rear diff made some banging noises, no tachometer, no speedometer, dash was lit up like a Christmas tree. Internal fault codes, external fault codes, lots of codes.

I am pretty sure that there is either a bad module (think it is the brake module) or the mice ate the wiring harness just enough to cause problems. Basically there are errors in the high speed can bus, going to have to do some investigating, wasn't into doing a restoration, kind of committed now. I just hope this doesn't turn into another intermittent nightmare project. I suspect things will be more obvious after being able to actually drive it without the fear of catching the brakes on fire. At least I do have a parts car and they are the same year as well.

I am going to swap the brakes today, then pull in both white burbs to see what direction I am going next, wish me luck.

 

[68400BIRD]

Best of luck. Fingers crossed that it is something easy. With how hot those rotors were I would be checking the abs wiring assuming it has that as an option. Did I mention good luck.

 

[Strouty]

All the original codes came before running it, research shows it is probably the rear differential control unit, have a test procedure, but I am going to take this one step at a time, brakes first, then test drive. If I keep the scan tool with me I can reset things if it happens, then it seems to take a bit before it happens again. If it is what I think, I will have about $1,500 more into it, plus my time. In the end I will have probably $6k into the car, but it will be in a lot better shape than most $6k cars, good thing is that it would probably still bring a good chunk of change if I decided to sell it, having only 103k miles on a 2006 car with a cult following is a good thing.

 

[Strouty]

Now I am confused if I am in 86's thread, had a brake line that wouldn't come undone, had to run a new line and I am NOT touching the other side, the rubber hose is getting reused. That line goes up over the driveshaft and around a bunch of corners and will not be as easy to replace. Hopefully the rubber line is OK, if not, well, I will have to do it, but I will see about ordering a line from Volvo. I couldn't find my bending pliers, so I did the general layout by hand, I hit all the clips that hold the line, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

As for "coated" brake lines, that is the dumbest gimmick EVER created, they look great, but the coating gets removed when the line is flared, so right at the fitting they tend to get seized up and usually you don't have enough length or room to flare the end again. NiCop is the best all around, bends easy, flares easy, and stays good essentially forever (or until your fitting rots off). The brakes were pretty bad, I have to start putting things back together now, shouldn't be too bad from here, just hope that the rubber line I am not replacing isn't a problem.

 

[LutzTD]

wow, I have never seen a disk glow except on race cars! I hope a fire extinguisher is part of your "go bag" until this is all shaken out. I would think now you are looking at unit bearings and tires too?

 

[Strouty]

The bearings are fine, they weren’t glowing as good as the photo shows, I think my camera took some liberties with that picture. The tires need to be replaced, but due to tread, one has a slow leak too. All the brakes are now changed, I drive the car home, it throws a fit every so often. So far turning it off and restarting it resets things and it goes fine again, warning lights are definitely on, next step is to start testing to figure out what module is causing the can bus to drop out.

 

[bowtiguy]

Where did the cooling vanes in the rotors go?????

 

[Strouty]

Back to where they came from.

 

[Strouty]

The Volvo isn’t drivable, keeps going into limp mode or stalling, transmission slams, and you have to take off in third gear. I don’t have time to chase the problem right now, at least it has all new brakes.

Frustrating for sure, going to have to make a vehicle that works and fast. The Blurb could be fixed by changing the transmission, but then I still have my mystery no heat/defrost issue, so that isn’t the best choice. I am actually thinking of figuring out what piston is missing in the white diesel burb and just putting a used one in it. The Alaska 1/2 ton needs a transmission and at a minimum a brake line, most likely it will need more. The Maroon burb needs frame repair, transmission, and glow plugs on the hard side. So many choices and all of them seem bad…

 

[bimmer1980]

Uff.... not sure what to say or not say....
Unless someone is dying, I would shove all projects aside and focus on the vehicle situation. And that would be the only focus until there is a steady, consistent daily driver.

This is a tough situation. It requires difficult decisions, but pick a direction and focus.....

Dumb question, but if all the blurbs are dead in the water and the Volvo isn't driving, how are you getting around?

Does the girlfriend cart you around? I'm guessing your dad is not driving you around? Are you borrowing a vehicle from someone?

Not trying to be difficult or pour salt in....

 

[Strouty]

The maroon burb still functions enough to get me home, last night I tried the Volvo, but this morning when it got into limp mode it was hard on the trans going up all the hills. My house is less than 5 miles from the Hill, so for right now I can continue to use the maroon burb, but I suspect it is going to give up the ghost sooner rather than later. If the snow stays away, I can drive the only dependable vehicle, Bev, but once it gets slick, it is essentially done.

Wasted a few hours doing some internet searching for the Volvo and then a couple random tests, nothing seems to be bad, at least not with the easy troubleshooting. I can tell the all wheel drive is not working and a good portion of what I found points to that system shorting itself out, then causing issues with the Can Bus, so I think that is the next bit of troubleshooting. I need to mess with the burbs a bit so I can at least see what makes the most sense moving forward. I am leaning towards the 1/2 ton Alaska burb, it needs a transmission, BUT, it is on the upper end, so in theory I could use it for a while as is, at least after I figure out what is wrong with the brakes. Basically you can go 50 MPH, after that you start to get into the RPMs a bit too much.

 

[Strouty]

Today is a great day, Chuck was up and out, going to take a break and hang with him for a bit. I think I need it.

 

[walrus]

I understand not buying a new vehicle but in Maine where they spray **** on the road before a storm that will dissolve a car, having vehicles 20 or 30 years old becomes an issue. I buy new service trucks because they give me the most reliability. I used to fix up older trucks but something always happened and I’d be working on the truck stead of working on customers issues and billing my time out. I order my trucks with nothing, whatever comes with it, nothing else. I’ve had good luck with that since 1997. Always GMC and always the same dealer. 2500 or 3500hd, 2 wheel drive. I’ve never bought a truck off the lot as all they have is grocery getters.

 

[Strouty]

If I was actually using a truck to make money it would be a different story. Besides I need to keep funds ready for forklifts...

I have options, just need to figure out one that will work. I even looked into renting a truck for a month, I can do that for less than $2k, might be the best situation while I regroup and rebuild my fleet. I know if I go and drop $5k on another vehicle, it is going to need $5k worth of my blood. In all honesty even at $20k it will probably still need to have some work done. I need something that can at least pull my dump trailers, so a car or small SUV is out. I found a few decent looking candidates, but again I will be buying a project, even if it is currently fully functional and I know that.

 

[walrus]

If I was actually using a truck to make money it would be a different story. Besides I need to keep funds ready for forklifts...

I have options, just need to figure out one that will work. I even looked into renting a truck for a month, I can do that for less than $2k, might be the best situation while I regroup and rebuild my fleet. I know if I go and drop $5k on another vehicle, it is going to need $5k worth of my blood. In all honesty even at $20k it will probably still need to have some work done. I need something that can at least pull my dump trailers, so a car or small SUV is out. I found a few decent looking candidates, but again I will be buying a project, even if it is currently fully functional and I know that.

Project vehicles are fine, you don't drive them until completely done. In your case you have far too many projects going on at the same time . Its impossible to get them all done. I realize its the Strouty way A vehicle that doesn't keep breaking down would allow you to get other stuff done, maybe buy more fork trucks

 

[Strouty]

Maybe that is a bad thing?

I really screwed up, I had banked on the Volvo being fine after fixing the oil issues, wish I hadn't banked on it. Now I have about another grand into another project that is going to cause me brain pain and get in the way of progress.

Tomorrow is all messed up, have some appointments and then office work, I want to try and see what I need to fix the brakes on the 1/2 ton Alaska burb before I leave tonight, that way I can spend more money on another project that won't ever get finished...

In reality, I should probably just fix the one from Florida, it is rust free, but the body was supposed to be used for my work truck project. Of course that one needs lots of work as well, I know the Alaska burb runs, drives, four wheel drive works, has posi rear, heat and defrost works great, it is just ugly as sin, but that makes it so I won't want to do a restoration.

 

[bimmer1980]

Alaska burb--- is it only brakes that it needs? Ugly is fine as long as it works. The primary key is functional so that you can free up your mental space, shop space and time to actually work on something worth while.

Not all vehicles are meant to last forever. Some just need to go to the crusher and move on.

That reminds me that I have a mower that needs to be scrapped out. Spent too much time on it back in the day, but for some reason it is still around. I have moved on to a much better mower, but that one is still taking up outdoor space....