8/30/17

More progress of projects:

Last weekend I decided to flush the brake fluid on the V50. I knew it needed to be done so the plan for that Saturday was to flush the brakes and transmission.

I’ve always been happy with the results after doing a power assisted brake flush even if I didn’t know the end result also got rid of the moisture in the brake fluid.

But when I got it up in the air to do the left rear wheel I discovered a shock was badly leaking.

I already ordered a set of rear shocks as they were on sale, but was hoping to not have to need them as the shocks had felt really good. Truth be told, I didn’t even feel the failure while driving. Maybe it has just happened, but I had driven the car some distance just a couple days earlier and didn’t suspect a thing.

For the AWD p1 cars to get rear shocks they have to come directly from Volvo. I haven’t found another supplier as of yet. If it was FWD there are plenty of options…

Switched out the shocks and we’re set.

I flushed the transmission too, but I didn’t take any photos of that process.

I also have purchased a 2011 Volvo S40 R-Design parts car so that I can get the end of production trim pieces. This is the idea of what the parts car looks like.

I worked on the Jaguar a bit too, most significantly was our ability to repair the ABS module. The housing on the unit was cracked but there was damage to the circuit board. The only actual non-cosmetic damage was the pins for the wiring harness connector was damaged and they weren’t making good connection. We repaired those, sealed the unit, and it’s all set once again without ABS or Traction Control faults.

The previous week I had taken a closer look at the tire situation and found I was going to need almost a full set of tires. The tires on it now (Sumitomos) I’m not particularly a fan of, so shopping around I went. I found a full set of wheels with good tires from an XF for not much more the Sumi’s were going to cost me, so I ordered a set of these.

Unfortunately for me, I forgot an important detail: the rear tires on an XF may be the same width as the XK, but the offset is dramatically different. The left is stock, the right side is the XF wheel. Ooops.