Newbie with a '73 144 question

Hi there, I just picked up a bright orange 144 in seemingly great condition,
something about recapturing childhood memories or some such nonsense! Runs
strong with no hesitation. The only thing that seems wrong with it is that
when idling (at traffic lights, etc.) after extended driving (stint on the
freeway) the idle flucuates and the oil light flashes sporadically. I've
checked the oil level and it is fine. Any ideas on what might be the
problem?

 

You could check the oilpressure sensor cause it's not unusual this item wear
out had similar problems with a 240 some time ago and was fixed by replacing
it
good luck and enjoy your 144 great to see those old volvos on the roads
Nightmare

 

I'm with Nightmare - I had to replace the oil pressure sender on my 145
because it was leaking and the oil light was coming on at idle.

You could be flirting with vapor lock under those conditions. The fuel pump
on my engine was insulated from the block by some sort of spacer.

Mike

Mike

 

Thanks guys. I'm lookingf forward to getting reacy. If you're interested,
pics of the car can be seen at:
http://home.comcast.net/~b4_ford/

 

Top post: That last one was supposed to read "I'm looking forward to
getting greasy". My typing skills go down when I'm holding a baby!

 

Sweet looking car, looks brand new and its 30 years old!

My parents had 2 144's (a 1972 blue one, and one exactly the same colour and
probably the exact same year (1974) as that one in your picture, and we had
one of the original style of 240's (when they really looked like a 140) when
I was born - it was a 76' IIRC.... it was definately in not as good of shape
by 1985 when it was sold as yours is now - despite weekly washing and
regular maintenance (Canadian winters ate cars alive back in those days).

 

A question from a swede:
Are all 240's fuel injected in the US?
Somehow that crossed my mind.

/Erik Lidén

 

Thank you! The inside is really clean, other than the faded fabric on the
seats. The driver's side lumbar support is pretty much gone. I'm planning
on swapping out the interior from an '89 244. The dash is perfect, unlike
most of this era. I must have been really tired when I started this thread,
it's a '74 not a '73! I'm going to
update pictures as I make changes. Today I took a drive in the rain and
discovered that the windshield molding needs to be replaced. But at least
the trunk doesn't leak!

 

Our 240 had a leaky windsheild too... Maybe it was a problem with cars of
the era....

It was the first car we "lost" to a leaking windsheild (it also was leaking
oil)... tho this leaked on the passenger compartment, our next loss, a 1991
Golf leaked onto its own electrical system - both cars were sold (both
leaked oil), fixed by the next owners, and have had good service lives (well
we've only parted with the Golf a year, but we see it running strong in
town... the people who bought our 240 came back a decade later while
visiting their family, saw our 960 outside and decided to stop in..... the
240 had rust everywhere, but the engine was running strong with 500+ K Kms
on it, did 10 hard years in the Yukon and was still running.... good service
for any car i'd say).

 

Hi "hmm",

That's a great-looking 144 you have there....... We had a "matching pair"
of these '74 140 series, a fuel-injected wagon and a 2-door with twin SU
carbs, both bright orange (or was it called "burnt orange?), both with
manual gearbox.

One thing about your particular F.I. system, you can easily adjust the idle
speed and the mixture yourself. The latter is called "CO" adjustment, but I
managed to keep that wagon running nicely for many years without a CO meter.
( Fortunately I didn't have to subject it to "smog"inspection here.) BTY,
the mysterious factory tool "5015" for adjusting mixture (CO) turned out to
be a regular Hex-key (Allen wrench), bit I can't remember the size.

Good Luck! Enjoy the 144.
Andy I.



| Hi there, I just picked up a bright orange 144 in seemingly great
condition,
| something about recapturing childhood memories or some such nonsense!
Runs
| strong with no hesitation. The only thing that seems wrong with it is
that
| when idling (at traffic lights, etc.) after extended driving (stint on the
| freeway) the idle flucuates and the oil light flashes sporadically. I've
| checked the oil level and it is fine. Any ideas on what might be the
| problem?
|
|

 

That's one reason that I prefer 1974 & older cars, they are smog-exempt
where we live. This car seems to be rather simple, mechanically speaking.
I'm planning on doing the suspension upgrades myself. The guys at IPD are
beginning to know me by name!

 

Yes. Also, from about 1971 all US market 140s (and 1800s) were injected.

However, in Canada, carburetted 240s were optional as late as 1984.
I don't think it was legal to bring these models into the US,
although I'm sure at least a few have been privately imported.