And the day started out like any other....

[steve_earwig]

So, 320 quid plus agro I'd be fighting the temptation to find this service manager's car and stuff the old "unit" (isn't that how Dan Aykroyd refereed to his wedding tackle? ) through his windscreen

This breather splits open as soon as the diaphragm fails and has to be replaced with a new (uprated) one for £15.00.
Image

Presumably this is what was making the UFO noises and probably went before any seals got wrecked on the engine. So, with the uprated one, will the seals go next time? I reckon you should sell it quick and buy a Lada.

[Welly]

Presumably this is what was making the UFO noises and probably went before any seals got wrecked on the engine. So, with the uprated one, will the seals go next time?

Spot on mate, that exactly what I thought. The diaphragm fails and the first bit to suffer is the concertina hose just above it, we couldn't work out why it was concertinaed [spelling corrected p] because the whole lot moves 'as one' and doesn't need to be articulated like it was the beefed-up version takes a slightly different route to avoid a bit of chaffing risk but is made from reinforced rubber instead of plastic.

I can only take some comfort from the fact the new diaphragm is also uprated so shouldn't fail again

[gumby6371]

Doesn't the fact that replacement parts are 'uprated' indicate a known fault which should be repaired FOC by a main dealer??

[Welly]

Yes, in an ideal world, and as I mentioned before this very problem was dealt with under extended warranty in the US but over here..........

The car's 7 years old now so I'm pretty much on my own

[mattyg]

Tackled this job on my skint brother in laws st on the drive out of pity for the poor little sod. He bought a second hand unit against my advice took me 5 hours only to find out the new one was bolloxed as well. Took it straight off and ordered a new one|. Ford replaced this fault on there st focus for free if the car had service history with them so think its a bit crap volvo dont do the same. Funny thing is the new part ordered from ford came in a volvo bag with the volvo logo cast in to the part. Im now an expert on tjis job lol only took 3 hours second time around .