Now, I am really upset.
The power steering rack in the 240 model Enigma Volvo decided to go pear-shaped, as the Brits are given to saying, after only thirty years and 370,000 miles of service. Where has reliability gone, I implore of you!
Sarcasm aside, without rebuilt units available to install in place of the tired and expended rack, I am back to slogging through local junkyards hoping to encounter another 240 Volvo with the same type of power steering setup. I am aware of the folly of my possibly misguided expectation that the rack installed on that junker I do find was never subject to the vagaries of miles and time like the Engima rack was.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Volvo used steering racks from three different manufacturers in the 2.8 million 240 model run and finding the correct one needed is quite an adventure and a statistical improbability.
Yet, here I go.
I didn’t realize there was an expiration date coming for such a robust and mechanically-simple device that had but one job to do: steer the front wheels.
All I had to in my life was as simple as steering the front wheels until things went pear-shaped, as the Brits are given to saying.
And I ask, where did the reliability go?