740 GLE - How well should it accelerate?

[Jamie]

I just got my 1987 740 back from the mechanic after about 4 months. I
am able to finally drive it after putting new bearings on the
crankshaft, replacing the fuel injector seals and changing the front
and rear seals.

As I mentioned, the tranny was shifting roughly, so the mech adjusted
the kickdown cable and flush and serviced the tranny. After that
shifting got better and I can cruise to 80+ mph and have it shift up
and down nicely.

2 problems - the rear main seal still drips at about a drop/ 10 secs.
The other issue is I am not sure how this car drives, but it feels like
when I accelerate from a stop it is being held back, like it is working
to get up to speed.

When I get going up to say 30+ mph, then it feels like it is loosening
up and will get going nicely.

Any thoughts?

 

[hjsjms]

I just got my 1987 740 back from the mechanic after about 4 months. I
am able to finally drive it after putting new bearings on the
crankshaft, replacing the fuel injector seals and changing the front
and rear seals.

As I mentioned, the tranny was shifting roughly, so the mech adjusted
the kickdown cable and flush and serviced the tranny. After that
shifting got better and I can cruise to 80+ mph and have it shift up
and down nicely.

2 problems - the rear main seal still drips at about a drop/ 10 secs.
The other issue is I am not sure how this car drives, but it feels like
when I accelerate from a stop it is being held back, like it is working
to get up to speed.

When I get going up to say 30+ mph, then it feels like it is loosening
up and will get going nicely.

Four months??? Wow...

The rear main seal should have been replaced when they did the
bearings. If not they should fix it.

Does it drive any differently than before?
The non-turbo four cylinder engine hooked to an automatic transmission
was known for less than rapid acceleration. In otherwords it gave slow
but steady acceleration off the line and as the revs built a little
more power would come on. Hooked to a 5 speed it gave the sensation
of more acceleration.

 

[Jamie]

Yep, took a long time to diagnose and get parts.

All seals were replaced, but the rear main has a drip. The mechanic
said he'd fix it at no charge.

Right now I think the kickdown cable may need tweaking. I think what's
happening is it's shifting too soon and trying to get going in too high
a gear. When I shift manually, it runs strong and smooth. Automatically
it's like trying to get started in 2nd gear - the motor works for a
while until it gets going at a good pace.

Battery still isn't getting charged. I need to check the connections. I
know my ignition switch is bad, but not sure if that controls charging
the battery.

 

[Michael Pardee]

Yep, took a long time to diagnose and get parts.

All seals were replaced, but the rear main has a drip. The mechanic
said he'd fix it at no charge.

Right now I think the kickdown cable may need tweaking. I think what's
happening is it's shifting too soon and trying to get going in too high
a gear. When I shift manually, it runs strong and smooth. Automatically
it's like trying to get started in 2nd gear - the motor works for a
while until it gets going at a good pace.

Battery still isn't getting charged. I need to check the connections. I
know my ignition switch is bad, but not sure if that controls charging
the battery.

A sleeper that is specific to Volvos is that the alternator must be
grounded - there is a wire (like a 10 AWG) that runs from a stud on the back
of the alternator to the block below the intake manifold. The alternator is
mounted on rubber bushings and won't work at all without it. I can't think
of another car like that.

Mike

 

[Jamie]

Yup, that was it.

Last night I was looking on the Internet at pictures of alternators and
noticed they all had 3 wires connected and mine had only 2 - both red.

So, I learned that the small red wire was connected to the ground,
where it should be the dash warning lights. So I fixed that by moving
that wire to the correct contact.

Then the ground had nothing, so I took a wire from my old wiring
harness and made a ground from the alternator to a bolt in the nearby
chassis that wasn't being used.

The dash lights no longer come on, I show 13+ volts at the battery when
running and the battery is charging again.