A bunch of questions about my new 240

I bought a 240 used. its a '93, white. its rather nice.

However, I dont have an owners manual with it. Here come the questions

1) How much do replacement manuals cost? I'm a student and dont have a job
at the moment
2) What grade gas should I use? I've been putting medium grade in (in the
United States)

Now, I dont know very much about this car. It was in a minor accident (hit
the guardrail on a slippery turn, so I have a big ol black fender over
there. It drives, and we're planning on getting it checked out, and aligned,
along with a new pair of tyres. Something's wrong with the alignment. Which
possibly affects my next question:

3) Sometimes, my lights flicker on and off, when I dont have my high-beams
on. Sometimes, when i turn off my high-beams, my normal lights dont go back
on.. Very frightening. Could this be just a loose wire or two, or something
bigger?

4) My right blinker blinks very fast, and does not click off. I have to do
it manually. What is required to fix this? Is it probobly an effect of the
crash?

5) My heating does not go OFF. Is this normal? The switch toggles down,
light goes on. But when I flick it up, nothing happens. How much does a new
switch cost?

6) How easy is it to get to the switches on the center console?

Thats all for now

sorry about these newbiesh questions.. its my first car, and I heart it.

-briankeys

 

User manual? Two words: ebay & cheap. (If not cheap, wait a bit
longer.) If you mean service/repair manual - "gothenburg bible" or
"haynes".

Dunno - I'm in Australia.

Most likely poor wiring at the headlight relay - or faulty relay
itself. Pull off and replace all connections first to make sure their
contacting correctly and are not loose. Then replace the headlight
relay if problem still there. (Should be a pretty standard type or
relay.)

I haven't actually seen one pulled apart, but there's a type of ring
beneath the steering wheel, with one-way teeth on it. As you turn in
the same direction as your indicator, the stalk "skips" over the teeth
and nothing happens. When you start to return to a straight line, the
teeth catch the blinker stalk and cancel it. Probably you have to
replace that "cancel ring". I think I remember reading the steering
wheel on late models is very easy to remove and replace (no steering
wheel puller required).

How long is a piece of string? Depends who's selling it. : )

If it's the same as mine, there are two screws (top & sides) and two
plastic locking clips with a slot (low and sides). These just rotate
and fall out. Then the centre cover pulls forward - don't pull it too
far, it could disconnect things you don't want disconnected. There
could be another two in front, just behind the gear shift - can't
remember now... Then you can see most switches and how to get them
out. But if you just want to pull the switches where your seat belt
warning light is, those pop out with a thin screwdriver at the top
and/or bottom - in most cases, (grr...)

Allan.

 

Congrats. Nice car. Interior? Stick? Sunroof? Wagon/Sedan?

Not really critical, IMO, unless you like the special feeling it gives you
to read it once or twice. I'd find a friend who has one and read theirs as
it is the same.

87. People should always use 87 as it has more power per volume than
the thinner, hotter burning stuff - unless the car specifically calls for it.
That 5% or so more power may not seem like a lot, but add in the 10-15% lost
in the winter from MBTE and additives, and suddenly it is a big enough deal.

Most likely a bend component. This happens after a crash like that.
Not major stuff, though. (ie - fixable)

Both point to electrical problems. Probably not put together right after
the accident by the previous owner or shop.

If you have the money, consider a re-wire with relays. 20-30% brighter light.
If you REALLY have money(like $300-$400), you can get the faded plastic
front lenses replaced with the european glass ones.

Normal behavior. IIRC, it turns on, then runs for several minutes and turns
off.

Easier than any other car I've had. There are a couple of screws and a
plastic piece or two(rotate with a coin to get out). Sides pop right off.

Oh - other goodies:

http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/

http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/Gaugekits.html

Get some accessory gauges from him(not listed on the page at the moment,
but they are probably still for sale). Replacing the big clock in the insturment
cluster next to the spedometer with a tach is a HUGE improvement.
Recommended gauges are Big tach, voltmeter, and oil pressure if your radio
is an aftermarket one mounted up top. Otherwise, you are looking at
as many as 5 gauges up top.(space for them at least)

IIRC, there's outside air temp, oil pressure, a small clock, a small tach,
oil temp, a voltmeter, and one other I forget.(other than ones like turbo boost).

All factory and all snap in with a minimum of re-wiring and fuss.

 

5) My heating does not go OFF. Is this normal? The switch toggles
down,

Hmm... Mine runs.. indefinately, and never turns off. Hmmm...


A Tachometer would be very interesting.. Altough my wagon is an automatic,
would a tach still function?

-bk

 

Wired for it from the factory on IIRC, 1989+ models.

 

What is wired from the factory? The ability for a tach, or the cyclic
heating?

 

You can get a complete new one from http://www.volvotechinfo.com/ for $35 or
look on ebay, ~$10

The owner's manual recommends 87, the engine is not tuned to take advantage
of the higher test gas.

Loose wire or buggered relay, hard to guess online.

Fast blink is usually a bulb out, these are not on the bulb out warning
circuits, not cancling is probably something broken in the wheel/signal
lever.

The switch is only for the AC, down/lit = AC on. The heat is controled by
the sliders down below. Heat not going off with the levers all the way to
the cool side is probably a bad heater valve, not too expensive aftermarket
and fairly easy to change.

Very, 2 torex screws at the top sides, and two 1/4 turn fasteners at the
lower sides and 2 torex screws at the bottom, pull the console back and
gently pry the switches out, don't do it however your switch is fine.

)

The only silly question is the one that isn't asked.
Dave Shannon
(Spring Valley CA)
1988 240 DL 18X,XXX
1984 245 DL 20X,XXX
1984 245T 19X,XXX
'01 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 10K
Gone but not forgotten
1985 240 Ti 20X,XXX
1986 740 GLE 235,XXX
http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/

 

Heh. Tach.

The heating - probably a relay that's bad.

 

Call local Volvo dealer. A year or so ago could order old manuals for
$17 through dealer.


Volvo used to recommend 87 AKI [the octane ratings on US
pumps(RON+MON)/2] w/ higher octane recommended for high heat and
mountains. By '92 Volvo recommended premiuim (91 AKI) for best all
around performance, but w/ 87 still as a minimum. I find 91
generally unavailable except for Sunoco, so run 93 in '92 and '93
240s. I run 89 octane in '89 245. It doesn't run too badly on 87, but
do get some pinging. Ran '87 on 87 for years.

'93 245
'92 240
'89 245
'87 245

 

Ebay is a good place to get replacement manuals cheap, as are junkyards.

If you don't climb lots of steep hills, and it doesn't 'ping' on regular
grade, use regular. If it does ping or you need all possible power,
use the mid-grade. (If it does 'ping', then the knock sensor has failed
or has a dirty connection.)

It could be a loose wire, or a bad headlight relay. It could well be
related to the fender-bender.

Clean the bulb contacts to make sure they're working properly. The
lack of self-cancelling probably isn't worth attempting a repair on.
Again, look for damage from the accident.

Do you mean the rear defroster switch? It has a timer, and may not
switch off manually before the time is up.

Pretty easy. You may even be able to pop the switch(es) out
without removing the cover, if you do it carefully.

I suggest you get a Haynes or ...Bentley? manual. The haynes, while
not extremely helpful in all respects, isn't too expensive, either.


--






http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html

 

Car Talk's response (although have never seen manuals specifying 89):

The Volvo is only a four-cylinder engine, yet both the manual and the
Volvo employees say it must run only on 89 octane gas. Are they nuts?
Or do they know something I don't know? -- Floyd

Tom: They know about compression ratios, Floyd.

Ray: You've probably noticed that the Volvo is more sluggish than the
Chevy was, right? But it's not HALF as sluggish, even though it has
only half as many cylinders.

Tom: And that's (partly) because the Volvo engine is squeezing more
power out of each cylinder in part due to a higher compression ratio.

Ray: The compression ratio is the difference between the volume of the
cylinder before and after the compression stroke. What does that mean
in plain English? It's a measure of how much the engine compresses the
fuel-and-air mixture just before the spark plug ignites it. And the
more compressed the mixture, the more power it produces when it
"explodes."

Tom: And our Mitchells database tells us that the Chevy's compression
ratio is 8.6 to 1, whereas the Volvo's is a much higher 9.8 to 1

Ray: So why the higher-octane gas? The more you compress the gas and
air, the more likely they are to pre-ignite; that is, ignite just from
the pressure and heat, before the spark plug even makes a spark.
That's called "knocking," "pinging" or "detonation," and all those
extra, early explosions are bad for the engine.

Tom: Higher-octane gasoline is simply gasoline with a higher ignition
point. That means it takes a higher temperature to ignite the 89
octane than it takes to ignite the 87. So using 89 eliminates the
pre-ignition in this engine.

Ray: Some high-compression engines require even higher-octane gas, 91
octane, to prevent detonation. And that's why not all cars have them.
High-compression engines are usually found on more-expensive cars,
where the buyer cares more about a few extra horsepower than about a
extra few bucks at the gas pump every week.

 

The number of cylinders is irrelevant, these cars have a knock sensor though
so 87 octane is fine, though I've found 89 runs a bit smoother, but there's
no reason to go higher than that on a stock engine.

 

thanks for all the answers, you all are helping me a lot

The other day, my muffler rusted off. haha My father is somewhat good
with cars, he fixes his, but doesnt know his way around a Volvo. He's all
for american built cars, and I'm the other way around.

Upon looking at the whole exhaust system, there are three main components?
Well, the pipe rusted off right before the last component. So, I picked up
two clamps today and patched it back together by wrapping some copper around
the break, and clamping down. This is just a temporary fix until I can get
some money together and replace the whole kit and kaboodle. How much am I
looking to spend if we do it ourself? Where would you reccomend getting the
parts?


I havent gotten a chance to check the contacts on the headlights yet, I'll
do this tomorrow.


Thanks to you all, I figured out the heat I've never seen a car with
heating like this! But then also, I noticed, that my heated seats are not
working, while the passenger side seats are indeed working. The first thing
that I thought of, was to switch switches near the parking break, and see if
that's the problem, as mine does not light up. How do you pop these buggers
out? They arent coming out like the switches in the center console did...


I'm really interested in getting a tach for the car. What am I looking at to
buy one salvage? Can I find compatible ones in auto parts stores? Does it
require any custom wiring, or any hack jobs of that sort? I'm also assuming
the lights for the dashboard diagnostics are using LED's, right? Depending
on how hard it is to get access to them, I'd like to replace them with
different color LED's, if they dont use bulbs, and the plastic isnt dye'd to
the color. I have all these LED's lying around, with no use


How audible is a "knock" or ping in the engine from the wrong gas? I've been
putting medium grade in since I got it, and recently am trying the low
grade, 87 since your posts here. I'm not sure if my car idled somewhat
erraticaly before the low octane gas, or if its a result of it. The car
still idles, but it's not a very pure idle. I'm not sure if its fuel related



And pardon posting under the name "k," I didnt ever plan on actually posting
to usenet

 

CarTalk guys were "joking" when talking about # of cylinders.

Yes, 240 does have a knock sensor, but effect is to alter timing which
decreases performance. I'll stick by Volvo's manual recommendation of
91 AKI for best all around performance on 90's 240s, since it tracks
my personal experience w/ 4 present 240s. '89 runs fine on 89 AKI and
87 runs fine on low grade (except in mountains). Your experience may
vary.

 

The switches by the parking brake (seat heat) are identical to the ones
in the center console. Generally seat heat problems are caused by a
break in the element in the seat bottom.

Low octane gas won't affect your idle. The knock sensor retards timing
to prevent knock, so the only way you really know if you're giving the
engine enough octane will show up in your fuel mileage.

 

Mike F wrote:

Of course, oxygenated gas magnifies the problems.

 

That's a good point. Higher octane fuel is often "more oxygenated"
because ethanol (grain alcohol) raises octane. Higher concentrations of
ethanol lowers the amount of energy per unit of volume, which lowers
fuel mileage. So you pay more and get less! Here in southern Ontario,
Sunoco contains up to 10% ethanol, the others don't, and I can notice a
difference in mileage between them. However the others contain much
higher levels of sulphur, which poisons catalytic convertors and oxygen
sensors, shortening their life.