Volvo - from which model on only Volvo-shop repairable?

[franz47]

With my 850 TDI 1996 van I had all jobs done up to now in a small one-man-show
mechanic shop. The guy had been working among others for many years in a
Volvo-shop (they still weep that he left) then opened his own little business
many years ago where he repairs all brands. He does not do body work,
electronics but up to now everything necessary could be done there at reasonable
prices. Last week I had my oil changed, simple work, so I chatted with him
during work. He has now finally bought an OBD-tester and told stories about what
was simple one person´s work in earlier times can be complicated expensive work
for several people nowadays. E.g. he mentioned that changing brake fluid in new
Mercedes-Benz cars costs about 450 Euros, need three people to be done. There
are cars where you cannot exchange light bulbs yourself any more - in the shop
it takes an hour to remove front panels etc to have lamps changed.

My plan is to drive my 850 Volvo until it drops. Thereafter I definitely do not
want to have a car with which I have to spend 120 Euros/hour in a dedicated
Volvo-shop for every repair. How is the situation with newer Volvos? From which
year on they cannot be fixed any more elsewhere than in Volvo shops?

Regards
Franz47

 

[James Sweet]

With my 850 TDI 1996 van I had all jobs done up to now in a small
one-man-show mechanic shop. The guy had been working among others for
many years in a Volvo-shop (they still weep that he left) then opened
his own little business many years ago where he repairs all brands. He
does not do body work, electronics but up to now everything necessary
could be done there at reasonable prices. Last week I had my oil
changed, simple work, so I chatted with him during work. He has now
finally bought an OBD-tester and told stories about what was simple one
person´s work in earlier times can be complicated expensive work for
several people nowadays. E.g. he mentioned that changing brake fluid in
new Mercedes-Benz cars costs about 450 Euros, need three people to be
done. There are cars where you cannot exchange light bulbs yourself any
more - in the shop it takes an hour to remove front panels etc to have
lamps changed.

My plan is to drive my 850 Volvo until it drops. Thereafter I definitely
do not want to have a car with which I have to spend 120 Euros/hour in a
dedicated Volvo-shop for every repair. How is the situation with newer
Volvos? From which year on they cannot be fixed any more elsewhere than
in Volvo shops?

Regards
Franz47

There's not any one particular year where you have to have a shop work
on them. Newer cars tend to be more complex, they have more features,
that doesn't mean you can't work on them yourself. The people who work
in dealer service shops are humans like everyone else.

 

[Roger Mills]

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,

There's not any one particular year where you have to have a shop work
on them. Newer cars tend to be more complex, they have more features,
that doesn't mean you can't work on them yourself. The people who work
in dealer service shops are humans like everyone else.

Clearly, anyone can perform purely mechanical operations like replacing
engine oil and filters, replacing tyres or brake discs (rotors) and pads,
etc.

I suspect that what the OP was really asking was whether there are any
operations which can *only* be carried out by using Volvo-proprietary
diagnostic kit which only Volvo dealers will possess. This may include
reading and re-setting error codes, configuring optional features controlled
by the on-board computer(s) etc.

For example, my previous car was a 2000MY V70 2.5D. Although it had an
OBD-II socket, it was not ISO-compatible (or whatever some of the later ones
are) and no third-party code reader could understand what it was saying.

Maybe ISO-compatibility [as required for all cars sold in USA after a
certain date (~1997?) has fixed this, and enables non-proprietary kit to
talk to the on-board computers - I don't know?

[AIUI, my car was made *after* the ISO required date - but didn't have to
comply because diesel models weren't sold in USA at that time.]
--
Cheers,
Roger
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[franz47]

franz47 wrote:

There's not any one particular year where you have to have a shop work on
them. Newer cars tend to be more complex, they have more features, that
doesn't mean you can't work on them yourself. The people who work in dealer
service shops are humans like everyone else.

I believe that. But I got the impression that with nowadays´ cars you need an
OBD-connection with proprietory software and computer to get access to brake
parts e.g. for changing brake fluid, brake pads, venting the brake system etc,
something which I could do 40 years ago in the middle of nowhere without a
computer (they were not invented yet then) on trips through remote places.
Hopefully those stories are not correct.
Regards
Franz47

 

[franz47]

For example, my previous car was a 2000MY V70 2.5D. Although it had an OBD-II
socket, it was not ISO-compatible (or whatever some of the later ones are) and
no third-party code reader could understand what it was saying.

Sme here. As an example my 1996 850 TDIs electronic climate control unit could
not be read by the normal OBD-equipment of the oeamtc, the biggest and well
equipped automobile club in this country www.oeamtc.at

I expected that to get worse the newer the car is. But if there is compulsory
ISO-compatibility - fine!

Regards,
Franz47