Volvo 240

Low idle? Cheap hoses

Added on by Chris Quill.

Ever wonder why the Volvo hoses cost so much more? They are made as an extruded one piece and molded. The cheaper hoses are flat sheets that are joined to make a hose. This is the flame trap hose. I had previously had problems with it splitting and the car wouldn’t idle in traffic. I wrapped it in electrical tape on the side of the highway and ordered a Volvo hose when i got home. In the picture below you can clearly see the failed seam in the hose.

By the time the weekend came ‘round, it had split out the rest of the hose that wasn’t wrapped. The car would barely idle and was indicating very lean on the wideband at idle. The LH2.0 EFI system on these cars doesn’t pay attention to the O2 sensor at idle. The moral of the story is that you either pay extra for the quality hoses - or plan on replacing them more often. Sadly, Volvo is supporting these older vehicles less and less. At some point, my only choice will be the crappy aftermarket hoses like this. Thanks Geeley!

Split Flame Trap Hose

#cheaphoses, #Volvo, #buyquality, #maintenance, #repair, #oldVolvo

Fixed the firewall

Added on by Chris Quill.

The firewall tore out where the clutch cable passes through it. This is a known issue on high mileage cars, but managed to still surprise me.

Made a little video about the repair.


Uploaded by yv1a.com on 2019-04-10.

Maintenance and upgrade

Added on by Chris Quill.

Oil change and trans fluid change time.

 Swapped to power steering as well. I'll update with pics later. ZF rack with early pump on a power steering delete bracket. The lower pressure of the pump makes for a slightly heavier steering feel with more road feedback. When I built this car originally, I wear very anti power steering. Eight plus years later I can truthfully say I'm over manual steering.

 

Another one bites the dust

Added on by Chris Quill.

  Lost another headlight. 

 

upload.jpg

Replaced it with a new one from Baxter Auto parts in Tacoma. I picked up a set of xpel protective covers off of Amazon. They are for a jk Jeep. Should fit well and hopefully prevent this from happening again.

May 2018 update

Added on by Chris Quill.

I can't believe that its been almost a year and a half since I posted on here. Time flies and life gets in the way I suppose.

Still own too many Volvos. Still driving the red 242 around. In the past 18 months I've:

Hit a rock on the highway. Killed the tire too :(

Did the head gasket (again). This was because I broke a valve spring (huh??). Sounded like I spun a rod bearing, but it was the shim bouncing around under the valve cover. Replaced the springs new Elring HG. I put studs on there this time (Thanks Yoshifab!!).

Ever wonder what high compression B23 pistons look like? Flat as a pancake.

I even got run into in a parking lot. The insurance company paid out on the car. I spent a couple hours with a mallet & dolly, a bumper from the horde & a new Lithuanian tail light and I'm back on the road.

His Nissan was six months old at the time. Dude was stand up though. Told his insurance company it was his fault with no hesitation. Weird thing was the guy in the white shirt in the photo. I went to boot camp with him 30 years ago and hadn't seen him since graduation day. Small world.

That's about it for this update. I'll try to get back to regular updates.