...go on a long journey... You didn't have my Volvo..We were going to New Mexico from Colorado Springs. Half way to Pueblo it died. Absolutely no reason could be found, plenty of gas, good spark. Eventually it started again and we took it back to the dealer. He couldn't find anything wrong.

This happened several times.

When we finally made it to Santa Fe the transmission gave up and had to be rebuilt.


Then there was the heater blower. I had replaced ane a few years before on an old Hillman Minx. Undid four nuts, lefted the old motor out and unplugged it. Plugged the new one in and did up the four nuts. It was a ten minute job.

Now on the Volvo, You had to...

Remove the Radio.
Remove the console
Remove the columns that held the console
Remove the glove compartment
Disconnect the hoses tucked in behind the glove compartment
Remove the instrument panel
Disconnect the hoses tucked in behind the instrument panel
Lay down on the floor and undo the bolts to the motor and remove the motor
Get a file and file out the motor housing while lying on your back on the floor because the new motor didn't fit.
Keep trying to fit the new motor until you had filed out enough of the housing.
Fit the motor and then reverse the whole process to put it all back together.
It was almost a whole weekend's work.

Then there was the water pump. Ok it bolted onto the front of the engine pretty much like any other water pump BUT the water connections came in from the top and there weren't any bolts in that direction to hold the pump against the O ring seals. SO you had to put a load of gasket seal around the O rings. partially tighten the bolts but leave one out so that you could get a podger in that hold and try to hold the pump against the O rings. and so on...

Then there was the brakes and the air filter and the power steering. It was just never ending bad engineering.