More about Rosie

I think I had mentioned that Rosie got her name from the sound of her muffler system (barely passed inspection), hence, Rosie the Riveter. I kind of liked the sound but one of the potholes on Pine Street in Philly took care of that option by separating the pipe from the catalytic converter. So the whole muffler system was replaced finally. I blithely drove her all over the place for a while, and then the windows stopped working. I found the fuse panel and found that the aluminum strip was powder! Put in a new fuse. Fine. Stopped working again. Finally decided I had to do something when it got to the point that I would stop before the customs booth, insert new fuse, lower window. After customs, depending on weather, stop again, another new fuse, close the window.

Even I realized that was ridiculous, so took her to the clinic. I am extremely fortunate in that near the small village in Canada where I visit, there is the town of Sydney where my good buddy, Skip, has taken over his father's business. Used to be Thruway Muffler, but they do everything on all cars. And they are honest enough to tell you if they can't handle something. Skip checked things out and found that the air conditioner relay was bad and when he ordered a new one, Volvo sent him the wrong part. I retrieved the car in the interim while he sent for another relay, and the windows worked perfectly, as did everything else on the same circuit, so I told him to forget about the relay. Who needs air conditioning in Canada and/or Maine? Very seldom.

And then I drove over a huge weed bed near my house to get the car away from some workmen coming to finish my well, and shortly after that, I drove down the street and heard a sound like you used to get when you put a playing card on your bike wheel so it got slapped by the spokes? Whap, whap, whap. So back to Skip. Yep, very strong weeds wrapped around everything. He fixed that and told me very firmly that Rosie is not a 4-wheel drive!

So we're perfect again. For a while. And then one day, on my way back to the States, in the rain, the windshield wipers stop working. Pulled into a gas station. The mechanic comes out and suggests that I restart the car. I did. Wipers worked! But over time, they worked more and more infrequently. It got to the point that when I started her up, I would test the wipers. If they didn't work, I restarted, sometimes more than once, and that usually did the trick. But then it got to the point that I would try not to drive on rainy days. Which is silly. Back to Skip.

He checked it out and told me it was a fuse problem, which I doubted, but just drove off, without testing the wipers for activity. Well, they were off again. In the meantime, I had to reregister my car - very inexpensive in Maine for an old car - Rosie is so old I didn't even need to prove ownership, just insurance coverage. Took her for her inspection with some trepidation because of the wiper problem. Having no wipers also means having no horn, two of the prime inspection points. I was greatly relieved when the boys put her on the lift and she honked and wiped and did everything right, except no plate lights! I told the inspector that I hadn't even known there were plate lights. They sent for new bulbs, put them in, still no lights, but they passed me anyway. Now I know how to check the wiring for those and will do it someday.

Got replacement shocks for the tailgate which suddenly took to dropping on my head which I noticed after several drops. Only $35 on E-Bay. Put them in myself. But wipers still not right so - back to Skip again. This time, he did find a ground fault. That actually made sense because of the intermittent nature of the problem. He found a few other things which he also fixed. So I went to town to pick up my Rosie. Paid my bill, which was surprisingly low, and left. Started up the car - no wipers. I just had to laugh. Skip realizes I am not leaving the lot and comes out to see what's up. He was really chagrined and frustrated because they really thought it was fixed. Finally, after playing with it some more, they found that the ignition lock was iffy. I left Rosie so he could order the lock and replace it. But instead, they tried a really heavy duty lock lubricant and have not been able to reproduce the problem so I am picking her up today and we shall see.

It has been an adventure and I joined the volvoforum and have been reading about other people's trials and tribulations and confirmed that I am still very lucky with this car. I have had her now for almost three years and aside from toys and maintenance, I have spent probably $1200 on her and I think that she is well worth it. The cheapest cars/leases on the market would have cost me a lot more and would not have been as much fun. I hope to keep her at least until she is officially an antique!