Do you remember your old family wagon and Dad being under the hood with his car repair tools and trying to put in a new radiator or starter? With the new technology today, cars have become much harder to repair yourself, as vehicles have come a long way in the past 30 or 40 years. You will need a quality mechanic that works for Volvo with special factory Volvo tools and diagnostics for the difficult jobs. Although even a beginner can make some regular routine repairs with some small tips.
Tools required for the Trade
1. Without the proper car repair tools it will not be possible to work on your Volvo car. You should buy tools as you get better with them because they are very expensive. Some basics you will need in your toolbox for repairing your Volvo is a set of screwdrivers, pliers, a breakaway torque wrench, grease gun, ramp, and either a Chilton/Haynes repair manual for the model of your Volvo.
Fire Extinguisher.
2. Make sure that your attitude is one of self confidence. A lot of places in the country don't even have Volvo dealers and auto shops. It is much better if you are able to perform as many repairs as possible yourself. Have a fire extinguisher handy, and make sure your area is well ventilated, set your parking brake as well and block the tires if your car is running, and disconnect the negative battery cable, perform all of these precautions when you are working on an electrical system. Things you should not do.
Don't Overtorque.
3. The nuts and bolts in your car should not be under or over torqued. Usually when people are installing things themselves they tend to use too much torque, often when installing things like spark plugs. When you over tighten you can change the spark gap, and if you do not tighten enough you can cause overheating. Another thing you should remember not to do when you are doing it yourself is cross-threading. Thread your fasteners in correctly and make sure they are lubricated. If you encounter any resistance when trying this simply repeat the actions over again.
And of course, as when you are working on vehicle, make sure that you are not smoking or wearing any loose clothes. If you do not feel completely and totally confident in making the car repairs with your tools on your Volvo, then do not attempt to make them yourself. Unless you know entirely what you are doing, do not try and make repairs on your air-conditioning system, especially on the newer Volvo cars. This may seem silly to you but make sure not to leave your keys in the ignition of the car whenever you get out of it. Sets of keys are commonly locked in the newer versions of the Volvos as the door locks have the tendency to engage when the driver side door is closed.