The Importance of Testing Electrical Grounds

A while back I had to replace a lower (lateral) control arm on my E31 850Ci.  Whilst it's not a very complex job, I feel you can never have enough pictures for reference, so let's take a look at it. The lower arm is sometimes called the lateral arm as it faces along the width of the car rather...

You, a patchy icy road, and your car. There's only one brake pedal for four wheels, how do you stop as safely as possible? Your car's ABS system prevents wheel lock-up by monitoring each wheel with a wheel speed sensor. When the wheel starts to skid, hydraulic pressure to the brake is...

The rear end of P80-gen Volvo V70 AWD, R, and 850 AWD models has posed significant hurdles to those looking for a lower, more street-oriented stance. On front-wheel-drive models, taking the rear down a bit is as simple as buying a set of lowering springs and installing them. A few bolts - done....

Often while working on our automotive suspension systems, it becomes necessary to remove coil springs from the equation. This is the case any time you need to work on components that are loaded by the coil, such as a Macpherson strut, or control arm. These coils hold up hundreds of pounds of...

Ever since I have owned my car, the rocker panels have been permanently dirty. No, it’s not because I’m too lazy to reach down and clean them when I wash my car, but for whatever reason, they have been painted dirty. I didn't notice earlier during car ownership as I figured the rocker panels were...

In the early years, our vehicle's electrical systems usually consisted of a battery, ignition coil, distributor, a generator, starter, a set of headlamps, high beams, a set of parking lights, rear lights, a horn and if you were lucky an interior lamp. The electrical diagram was shown on a single...

  My pre-facelift W124 sedan   The W124 model Mercedes automobiles went through a few exterior design revisions throughout their history, most notably to the front and rear. My 1990 model was perfect for me, because I wanted to facelift the rear (I won't venture to make up a term for this), but...

I pulled out onto the road and noticed steam rising from under the hood, and distinctly remembered looking at my gauge cluster only to see the engine temperature rising quickly past the midway point. Needless to say, I immediately pulled off the road and turned the engine off to let it cool down....

As winter approaches, you may not think your cooling system should be at the forefront of your maintenance plan. However, an improperly serviced cooling system can wreak absolute havoc on a Volvo when the weather gets chilly. Ben is here to show you how to replace a Volvo 850 thermostat in under...