Hi Suginami -

I'll take the car in and see what they say about Steve's comment. I'm not too excited about spending another $400 if they can't find a problem with gastket. I'd really, really like to know there is a problem with the gasket before it's replaced.

Well, no one likes to spend money unnecesarily, but on the bright side, even if it doesn't cure your problem, you could at least rule out the intake manifold gasket as a source of the problem...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

John,

Is the Indy not interested in doing it, or just not sure that its the problem. He is probably getting frustrated, he already told you the TC looks suspect??
And you mention that it happened (immediately?) after the tranny and torque converter was replaced, so I'm not sure why that would be an intake manifold gasket - could just be a coincidence. You may want to have the Indy re-install or find another torque converter. I'm not saying its the TC, but its possible that the TC or the install of the TC is incorrect and could be causing your problem. He should be able to find a junkyard TC - to see if it CHANGES the behavior. I'm still wondering why both needed replacement by 90Kmi -its NOT common to replace both at the same time.

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Brian Toscano

Hi John,
Just to add yet another wrinkle, has the issue of the engine wiring harness been discussed yet? This thread is so long I didn't go through it to see. On the Ritter/Easley list there has been a discussion about bad wiring harnesses causing funky idle problems as one of their main manifestations. I checked mine our recently and yes, the insulation is fried in spots so looks like that will be a job I will need to have done fairly soon.

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Steve
'93 400E

Yep, wiring harness has been replaced and made no difference.

Hey John do you find the problem???
Happy Holidays

Had the same issue on my 420. Replaced the plugs,wires,cap,rotor and a leaky fuel governor. It stopped. Did you have a new wire set installed?

what is your total cost of repair for the vibration thus far?

I've lost track of the details (read as "blocked out") and dollars amounts, but something like:

$500 Wiring Harness
$900 90k services (caps, rotors, plugs)
$200 Wire Set
$200 Crank Sensor
$200 Misc Bench Time
$300 Rebuilt Fuel Injectors/Seals
$xxx Vacuum test, fuel pressure test
$500 Motor, transmission and differential mounts

So, I'd guess around $3000+. In the end, the car won and I gave up. It was traded about a month ago on '02 Volvo S80 Executive with all the bells & whistles (including a major stereo system, DVD player and refrigerator - all factory). It was used w/ 13k miles and Volvo Certified which gave it another 5 years / 87,000 miles of factory warranty. The word "warranty" is my newest, bestest friend

On ride quality and creature comforts, it's head & shoulders above the E420. There's a couple of options I wish it had (rain sensing wipers, electric folding mirrors and the active air quality option), but it was used, so that's life... The 420 wins on turn-in / cornering and high-speed acceleration (60 to 80 mph passing) and probably top speed. Also, the rumble of the 420 is just plain cool! The S80 T6 has 268 HP / 280 Torque - so it moves just fine and accelerates quicker (0 to 60), but the 420 felt more powerful. The S80s depreciate like a lead brick and with Volvo's 5.75% APR my payment is less than the average repair cost per month on the 420 -- so a pretty easy decision.

Looking back - what a waste money of course. Not knowing what I know now, would I do it again - yes. The 420 was a wonderful car to drive - I just needed to relax alittle and I could have saved around $2k and the hassle of back-n-forth to the shop. Even with the work that had been done, more service was needed within the next 6 months --- at least another $2k with shocks and struts, rear brakes, and the power windows / sunroof would all working very, very slowly. The catalytic converter was going too. Fuel pumps were getting louder and louder. So, I had to cut my losses.

Ironically, the E420 idled much smoother than the S80, but the difference being, I know that's normal on S80 is and there aren't any problems to be fixed (technically, they need better motors mounts and/or counter balancing, the idle is fine, but compared to MBz and BMW, too much vibration is transferred to the cabin).

So, does anybody know the URL for the Volvo tech forum?

Sorry to said it to you, but the Volvo S80 have many problems with the front suspension.

The url for the Volvo tech forum has been posted before. Something like brickboard.com.
If you do a search, it may come up. Tkamiya started the thread, I think...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I cant believe you sold the benz

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Had a very similiar problem, went through very similiar efforts and it turned out to be a bad coil of all things.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)