Clutch Slipping or Engine Slipping?

I've been thinking about my clutch slipping and decided that since it is surging in jumps, it is most likely the engine loosing compression and jumping to the next cylinders compression, where it leaks down and the next one jumps.  That is a big relief as I don't want to replace my clutch yet.  So I plan to order new brake parts today.

Parking Brake and Clutch

I reported that my parking brake broke.  That is easy and cheap to fix.  However, with no parking brake I noticed my clutch was jumping.  It will not park on a hill.  It will jump forward 5-6", pause and then do it again.  So that is another set of parts I need to buy and I will probably hire out the work.  In a way I'm glad, because I would rather not worry about my clutch if I am towing.  I will probably wait on replacing it until I put on new tires.  I want a smaller diameter tire, that is lighter and peppier for driving around town and for towing.  So Sea Dog is parked at the moment and I'm driving Bruiser, my big Silverado.  I have been enjoying the new tires on Bruiser. I would like to take a longer trip to see how much my fuel economy has improved.  I'm sure I will gain at least 1 mpg on the highway and the same around town if I drive slow.

Parking Brake

While picking up my new cargo box, I parked on a hill and used a bit too much effort to clamp on the parking brake. One of the springs broke and I was able to remove the parking brake on the passenger side so I could drive home. I'll need to order parts for it, and unfortunately, I am missing one pin, two circlips and I might need to replace a toggle also. The good thing is it will be an easy repair and should not take more than an hour once I have the parts.

Purchased--Thule Cargo Box--18 Cubic Feet

Tested Wiring for Power Mirrors

I tested nearly every combination of wires for my power mirrors and could not get four way control. I deliberately did not test the solid blue wire, since the wiring diagram indicates it is use for the heating element of the mirrors. I blew a fuse testing the blue wire--so I need to think about testing every combination of wires. Five wires mated to the four control wires, is 120 combinations. That would take a while to test every combination.

The other possibility is the switches for the early mirrors are different for the later mirrors. The wiring diagrams are different, and I think this might be my problem.

I may try to see what wires go where inside the mirror. I can stick my iPhone in there and take a picture to see what wires control which functions. And I may call Volvo Service to see if anyone knows what the problem could be.

Thule Cargo Carrier

I've been thinking about prepping for a long trip. Once issue is storing dirty laundry so as not to stink up the car. My idea is some sort of cargo box on top of the car, like a Thule Cargo Carrier. Another option is to carry a hitch mounted trunk. These probably reduce wind resistance, compared to a Thule Roof Mounted Carrier, which increases wind resistance, lowering fuel economy one or two mpg. The hitch mounted carriers are really just platforms so I would still need a waterproof box to hold whatever I wanted to store in there--those would prevent opening the rear hatch--I don't like that idea much at all. I really like the Thule carriers because they open from both sides, and if properly secured, they will not let any water in, and don't interfer with opening the rear hatch door. I used one on a trip to Florida and we kept the inside of the car nearly empty so that the rear seat could be folded down for two teens to sleep while we were driving. The storage capacity was amazing, and the weight on top didn't seem to effect handling all that much, because the weight was centered and we had a good, tight suspension.

I discovered that Thule makes a swing away hitch mounted cargo carrier (left). This makes a bit more sense, since you can still open the hatch. Another issue is mounting a license plate to it. I have not mounted my front plate. Connecticut requires a front plate but they have gone back and forth so many times between requiring one and not requiring one, that I am not concerned. No Judge would convict me of this traffic violation given the inconsistency of the law. So, this carrier adds weight farther back, but should not impact fuel economy, except for the weight penalty.
Thule does make a swing away carrier that fits in a 1.5" hitch receiver--which is what I have. It is like having a second trunk and includes lights and a license plate mount.

As I am single now, on road trips, it will be just me and the dog, more than likely, so I can store things inside using a waterproof, odor proof sailing bag--which won't allow things to dry out, but will contain the odor of smelly clothes until I can wash them. I may need all that space in the back if I find a partner that likes car camping. There is room for two people to sleep in a pinch, if there is nothing else back there. So I am leaning towards getting a Thule roof top Cargo Carrier since I already have load bars. These come in silver which would match the car well. The Carrier to the right, is both aerodynamic and stylist...list price $810.

Some of the Thule carriers are very wide. That might limit my options putting a kayak on the roof. Wider load bars might fix that. The final issue is all of these things need a place to be stored when not in use.

New Tail Lights

I changed the front turn signal lights because they looked pretty bad. I threw out the old ones.

I wanted to change the back ones because they were faded and looked bad.

On one side, the drivers side rear turn lamp assembly was cracked at the edges. It still had a good seal, but, in general both sides looks old and tired.


I could have polished them up, but decided to buy new ones and to eBay the old ones. I figure I can get about half what I paid for the new ones, or close to it. So that is the plan. Even better I can use the packaging from the new ones to ship out the old ones. What could be easier.

This is one of the damaged ones to the left. See how the edge had split off. There was another area where this happened.


This picture on the right shows how the new one looks up close. A huge improvement. Just a few simple changes to lamps and turn signals and Sea Dog, my 1992 Volvo 240 Wagon looks almost new.

The paint job is not perfect, but it looks good. I may repaint the whole car in the spring.

Planning for future upgrades

I am thinking about taking another trip in my car. Before I do, I need to make a few changes.

First my lumbar support is broken in my drivers seat. I have a kit to repair it. So I need to remove the front seat and take it apart. While I'm doing that, it might be wise to install a heated seat element in it. I have the switches in place. Wiring that up, should be easy. So I need to purchase a heated seat element or a kit for each of the front seats. I always wanted the seat back to be heated also. This is something else I can do before winter.

Speaking of winter. I would really like a limited slip, or locking rear differential. It seems most people are putting True Trac systems in their 240's. That is what I will probably do. Without front wheel drive, I feel I need both limited slip and four snow tires for winter traction. The wagon has a lot of weight in the back, but a few hundred pounds more would help. This is one reason why I want a bigger gas tank on the back. An extra 15 gallons is an extra 100 pounds.

Ham Radio: I find that operating my Ham Radio on long trips makes the miles go faster. This is especially true when the bands are open during sunspot peaks--like right now. I have been collecting pieces for installing my Yeasu FT-8500 in the car. I plan to mount the detachable faceplate near and above the rear view mirror using the screws that secure the mirror mount. I'd like to fit the rest of the radio under one of the seats or behind the middle console dash. Since it is a dual band, I'd like to mount a speaker for each band underneath the dash. It is important to me that anything installed be neat, and hidden away as much as possible. I don't want wires everywhere.

HF Ham Radio: I have a second ICOM 706 radio, that works on the HF Bands. I'd like to figure out where to mount this radio. Like the Yeasu, it has a detachable face plate, so I can put the control head on the dash, or perhaps up with the Yeasu control head---out of sight, and mount the radio under the dash. It too might need a separate speaker.

Radio Antenna's: While I could use a magnetic mount for the short term. I'd prefer a through the roof mount for my dual band antenna. On my old K5 diesel Blazer, I drilled a hole in the roof and stiffened up the sheet metal with a 7" circular saw blade. It worked fantastic. I'd like to do something like that on the Volvo. Perhaps I'll wait until I decide to insulate the roof for that job. My Icom can operate on VHF and HF. It would be nice to have an antenna switch to allow me to use a 6 meter 1/4 wave antenna, a 102" whip for 10 meters, or a Ham stick for 40 or 80 meters. I don't want to have too many antenna's. Perhaps a mount in which I could remove and swap antennas would work for the HF bands. And a dedicated antenna for 2 meters and 70 cm, and another for 6 meters.

Internet Access and WiFi: I'd really like to have a high gain WiFi antenna. This could actually be inside the car or perhaps outside mounted opposite to the FM radio antenna. Hooked up to a 1 watt amplifier, I could pull in some solid WiFi, wherever I can find free access. Then I could create my own hotspot. I could also do this though my iPhone, if I pay for tethering.

iPhone mount. I'd like to mount my iPhone so that it is fixed with the camera pointing forward, so I can record a video of anything interesting on the road. I'm not sure where I'll mount this yet. I'm leaning towards the dash, just above the steering wheel. This will be easier to plug into my stereo also.

GPS Mount. I have had this on the windshield, but I don't like it being visible there. I have been experimenting with placing it in the ash tray. I don't smoke and don't use the ash tray for anything. This location is working out well. I am getting GPS signals there. I would like to make the mount more permanent and solid.

The drivers door seals needs to be replaced--this is essential, and should be a cheap fix. I might just take it to a body shop, and I've fussed with this sort of thing before without success.

After this, there are only a few more things I'd like to do--all non essential.

Sound Insulation: I'd like to Dynamat the doors and tailgate to quite it down. It is a noisy car. I would also like to do the hood and the floors of the passenger compartment. I may use some other product for the floors. This is not as hard as it sounds. But since I will have the carpeting out of the car, it makes sense to replace it with new carpeting. My present carpet is ok, but I'd like something fresher.

Temperature insulation: I'd like to spray foam insulate the ceiling.

Power Seats: The Volvo seats, when the lumbar support is working are pretty comfortable. Still I have used 10 way power seats in my pickup truck. Those were so comfortable, since I could adjust them easily and change positions, that was able to drive 1500 miles non-stop in 23.5 hours. I could not have done this without good seats. So, I will keep a lookout for a set of black Silverado 10 way power seats. First I'll measure the ones in my pickup truck and get an idea if they will fit. I will also explore other options like the Lincoln 10 way power seats. With this in mind, I will try to mount my Ham Radio somewhere other than under the seat.

Power Mirrors

As you can tell, I'm adding the options that I want that are not on the car. One thing I wanted was power mirrors. I found a wiring harness for this on eBay, and bought two new heated power mirrors at the same time. I have the mirrors installed and the wiring run, but I'm having difficulty making the connections. I've tried various combinations and can't get all the mirror functions to work at the same time. So I made up a table of every possible combination and I plan to check all 24 variants. I hope my switch will work with these mirrors. It is possible that they won't.

New Stereo

I am in the middle of installing a new stereo. I would be done right now except there are a few connections I need to make--the dimmer control, the sub-woofer out, and video in. I plan to install a small sub-woofer in the back, and I'd rather not have to pull the stereo to wire it in, so I'm bringing the wires for switching it on, and the audio circuit down to an accessible location. Likewise the video in connection. I have a video camera and want to add that in later on when I locate it.

So far I'm happy with the stereo, although the blue tooth connection for phone calls is very poor. That does not bother me much. I have a separate blue tooth speaker phone unit I plan to clip on the visor.

The camera will be useful for backing up to connect trailers. I might optionally install a second camera for my blind spot. I'll have to switch the video manually, so I'll need a dash mounted switch to turn the camera on--equivalent to the backup control switch. A small dial switch or rocker would flip control between two cameras.

Rear Bushings

Once again, this is something I did a few months back. I'm trying to get current on the car and wanted to show some of these things for those interested.

Here are some photo's of bushing that are worn out. I replace most of the bushings in the back. However, only three were real bad, two were so-s0 and the rest were fine. I did all but the lower control arm bushing because I don't have the tool for that, and didn't want to make one since they were good in any case.

Spark Plug Wire, Plugs, Rotor, and Cap

I replaced all of these things except the spark plugs early on. More recently, in the last week I replaced the spark plugs. It was running rough at low rpms. I am hoping it is the injector on that one cylinder. I put in a dose of injector cleaner. I had my Throttle Body cleaned when the Air Conditioning was repaired and front struts were replaced. It seems to run a bit rough after that. I'm 1/4 though my tank of treated fuel. I may run another batch of injector cleaner though later on if the problem persists.


Here you can see the plug closest to the firewall is fouled.

Air Conditioning

I took the wagon in for Air Conditioning service. I now use the new type of refrigerant, and it is nice to have cold air in the car. My compressor is still a bit noisy. I think it might be the clutch. I may replace it to quiet it down some.

New Horns

New horns cost $20 for a set. Installation took about 30 minutes. Most of that was locating tools. I used a razor blade to trim the rubber boot to fit. In retrospect, I wish I bought the black ones. The chrome stands out too much.

I've discovered the horns are working somewhat poorly at times. I will pull off the horn switch and clean the contacts for more reliable operation.

Cup Holders and Coin Tray

I wanted a better cup holder. There is really no good cup holder in this car. I found a Ford part and decided to put it in the DIN opening normally used for what is called the lower radio mounting location. The Turbo Volvo's have a radio here, and all other 240's have the radio in the upper location. The turbo's have three gauges where the upper radio is mounted. I upgraded the radio on top, with a takeout radio from the sedan. So that left an opening on the bottom and I installed this coin tray and cup holder combo in that spot. I also removed the Volvo power amp that goes with the stock cassette radio.

The cup holder works ok for 12 ox cans, and smaller paper cup.

The change holder is wonderful. I use it every day, and also keep small parts like nuts and screws in there.

Large Tachometer Upgrade

A common upgrade is to install a large tachometer in the space where the clock goes, and put a small clock and voltmeter in the two blank spaces to the right of the dash.

I started this job and something is not working. Something has since shorted out and my tach is not working, my turn signal indicators are not working properly, and I have been troubleshooting this for a while. It is a complicated circuit and I need to do some more testing to locate the fault. I don't think it is the instrument cluster itself, but I plan to swap the cluster from the other car to test this out.

More on this later.

Tailgate wiring and new Antenna

Swapping in a new radio antenna, purchased from Volvo was $65. I could have done better at a junk yard or eBay. I later saw one for $10.

A bigger problem was to rewire the tailgate. While there I discovered the wiper motor was missing two bolts and the whole thing was loose (Ppictured). I found one of the screws and tightened it up--no more rattling sounds.




The wiring used by Volvo is very finely stranded copper. I chose to snip out a section to reuse at the hinge. Splicing in a new section of wire was straight forward but time consuming. I had to remove one hinge at a time, propping up the tailgate with a 2x4 board. Afterwards, I needed a little bit of adjustment to make it fit right. Now it works great. I have a rear washer, rear wiper, and all lights--parking, brake, turn signals, rear fog lights, and backup lights work. A very satisfying job.

Window Tinting with 3m Crystalline 40

I had my windows tinted. I do this for many reasons.

First, to minimize heat gain. I drive vehicles with lots of glass. The solar heat gain and make these into ovens. I have a dog, and sometimes my brothers dog in the car. I want the dogs to be comfortable. Finally, tint reduces the need for air conditioning. That saves gas.

Second, UV protection. Any window tint will filter out 99.9% of the UV radiation that caused skin cancer, and also fades upholstery. I am not concerned about upholstery--I am concerned about UV protection. On long trips, left arms tend to get burned. I've even been burned on the tops of my feet from sunlight coming in from the back on late afternoons traveling east.

Third, security. If it is hard to see it, people tend to stay away. I think it makes them nervous not knowing who is inside. Even they are brave enough to peek inside, it is hard to do unless you are up close. I sometimes sleep in the back on long trips. It is rather comfortable. I feel safer if people can't see me inside. I also have less worries about my property being stolen. If it can't been seen easily, then it is not tempting. Also, the smash and grab approach does not work, as the film holds the glass together.

Fourth, appearance. I like the look of a tinted car. My preference is 35% tint on the front door windows and 20% everywhere else. Connecticut law requires the side windows to be no less than 35% tint, and they require a decal to be placed in the windows. Any level of tint is allowed in the back windows.

I chose 3M Crystalline 40 tint, which has a very high heat rejection. The actual level of tint is 39%. So I am close to the legal limit. For those who don't like dark tint, 3M Crystalline 70 is nearly transparent and blocks most of the heat. These are expensive high tech window films and there are other cheaper options, however, if heat rejection is your goals--these are the best.

While I was there, I had the vinyl stripe repaired under the rear side windows.

Here are some pictures of how my tint job came out.

Tires Choices

I have given tire choice a lot of thought. My favorite brand is Michelin. I like these because while they cost more up front, they cost less in the long term. They last a long time. Their tires offer lower rolling resistance also. I considered three of there tires. The Hydro Edge, the Harmony, and the Energy Saver A/S.

The Hydro Edge are directional tires and people rave about them. They cannot be rotated except on one side, and people complain they are loud and perform poorly in the winter as they wear.

The Harmony is their most popular tire. They are non-directional, so you can do a four or five tire rotation--if you have a full size spare, and some people get over 100,000 miles on these, but keeping their tire pressure adjusted property, rotating frequently, and keeping their front end alignment on specification. I came close to purchasing these tires.

Ultimately, I chose the Energy Saver A/S. These are not in production at the moment. I'm waiting a month to see if they will be available. I will wait as long as it takes. They are lighter and that helps with acceleration. A lighter tire is easier to spin up. Also, it is said because they rotate, the weight of a tire should be counted twice, once for it's weight, and once for the rotational energy required.

My Volvo is under powered. It came with tires that read 10% off. These were lighter tires and they allowed my car to sit lower--which is also more efficient. When I bought the Virgo rims, they came with 215-65R15 tires. These tires are heavier, and while closer to the factor spec for diameter, my wagon now feels slower and it is less fun to drive. While I'd like to keep close to the factory diameter, it seems there is no fuel savings of a larger diameter tire as I drive slow. I also need more pulling capacity for trailering. So I will mostly likely go with the new Volvo tire recommendation 185-65R15, or I might possibly chose the 195-65R15. The former is 17 lbs, and the later is 18 pounds. Both are substantially lighter than the Michelin Harmony, which is probably a more durable tire at 20 lbs for the 185-65R15 tire.

To compensate for this, I'm installing inflation sensors. I'm also looking for a 5th Virgo Rim for a full size spare, that I would like to put into a five tire Rotation. If I can't find another Virgo Rim, that can be powder coated to match the other rims, I'll probably use my extra snow tire for a spare and use a four tire rotation. I will keep accurate records of mileage and snow tire swaps to determine the longevity of these tires. I plan to rotate often, and re-balance at regular intervals.

If the Energy Saver is discontinued, I will probably chose the Harmony. I hope I can get these soon, as I'm eager to see my fuel economy improve. I'm estimating I'll be able to achieve 34 mpg with my wagon with these tires.

Virgo 15" Wheels

I wanted to up-size my rims one size. While I loved the ride and feel of the Volvo on 14 inch rims, tire choice was non-existent. I want to put low rolling resistance tires on Sea Dog, and that wasn't going to happen on 14" rims. I'd been looking around for a while and found a fellow with a Bertone sedan with Virgo rims. I made him an offer and bought them sight unseen. It was a deal. I paid $200 for them, and they turned out to be very nice powder coated alloy wheel. I could probably turn around and sell them for a nice profit, but I won't, I need them. While I was there, he had some Draco rims with snows mounted on them. One of the four tires is a bit worn out, but the others are in nice shape. I swapped my steel wheels, without the hubcaps for the Draco's and his four snow tires. I plan on buying two new snows, and using the extra as a spare--but will need another rim for that. The Draco's need to be stripped and repainted. Another expense, but worth it.

New Fuel Filter and Main Fuel Pump

The fuel filter looked like it had not be changed in many years. I decided to change the fuel pump as well since I wanted the car to be highly reliable. I also changed all the fuel lines except the line between the tank and the fuel pump. I plan to install a bigger fuel tank and will change the last fuel line at that time. Notice I dated the install for future reference.

The present fuel tank is 15.63 gallons. I ran it down pretty far recently, so I know it holds this much. I might have run out of gas but didn't fortunately. I want to double my tank size. If I move the muffle back 6 inches, I think I can do that. Stay tuned.

Trailer Hitch

I have lots of trailers. Some are light, 250 lbs with a 130 lb boat. Some are heavier--2000 lbs loaded. And I have another small trailer somewhere in between these sizes. I needed a trailer hitch. It installed in about 3 hours, and included a wiring harness. Wiring was a bit longer as I had to pull a power lead from the batter all the way back. While I was at it, I brought a second power lead back. I plan to put that into a distribution buss for any other options I might want in the back, like a cigarette power plug or a fan, or a second small battery. The hitch and wiring harness cost $210. Bringing the power forward was a problem at the firewall. I found a way though, shown in the pictures.

The springs shown on the right are progressive. I probably could have gotten by with the original springs. I found that in the sedan, with four people in the car, the trunk stuffed, and gear on the roof, and a few backs on people laps, that even with overload springs, I bottomed out a few times. So while I have not had the wagon loaded that heavy yet, I will at some point. The rear does sit higher and I had to adjust my headlights to compensate for that.

First things first

The parking brake didn't work among other things. I ordered new rotors for the brakes, all the way around, new brake pads and all new wheel bearings. Sea Dog made some funny noises driving home, I was a bit worried about the back end. After repairing the brakes that sound went away. While I was in there, I decided to replace the rear shocks, and also most of the rear bushings. There were four I could not do, as they were too hard to remove and were in good shape. Next I went to the front end and replaced the front rotors and pads, and inspected the bushings, which seemed to be ok.

I replaced two broken visor clips--right. I accidentally ordered the sedan version and had to return those and get them replaced with the correct ones. $10 plus an extra $3 for shipping the wrong ones back.

While replacing the shocks I also replaced the rear springs with overload springs and new bumper stops. I plan to trailer some with this car, and wanted the extra carrying capacity and I wanted to increase the maximum tongue weight. The car is rated for 3300 lbs towing--which is very high for a four cylinder car, and 200 lbs tongue weight. The new springs add, I'm told, 300 lbs carrying capacity. So I should be able to carry any tongue weight that a 3300 lb trailer might have. I ordered a trailer hitch rated for 3500 lbs and 350 tongue weight.

I dropped the wagon off at the body shop to fix the hole in the back and to repair/repaint the front quarter panel, and replace one hood hinge that was broken. The cost was around $1200 for everything, and now Sea Dog was looking presentable.

The steering felt a little funny at full lock on either side, so I decided to replace the front struts as well, along with some associated parts to (see picture for cracked upper strut seat) . I was a bit worried that the car rolled a lot and replacing all the shocks eliminated that problem. The steering issue is still there and I trying to figure out what the problem is. I will be putting new tires on it, and will wait a bit until I have a front end alignment with new tires--that might fix the problem. I also put on a new clutch pedal pad $3.00.

While awaiting these parts I ordered a new headlight for the drivers side and two turn signal buckets off eBay. Shown installed in top picture.

Introduction

I bought a Volvo 240 Sedan for my niece when she turned 16. I wanted her to learn to drive a stick shift, in a safe car, that got good fuel economy. She delayed getting her license, so as I rebuilt the brakes, replaced the bearings, fixed the fuel tanks sensor, etc, I started driving it. I discovered that it was really fun to drive. I drove it about a year and missed it when she finally got her license and learned to drive it. The only thing I did not like about it was the fact that is was a sedan, not a wagon. Years ago, my brother had the previous version of this car and I had an opportunity to sleep in the back one night and was amazed how comfortable it was. As the years past car styles changed and cars/SUVs became shorter and lost that wonderful space in the back. To haul building materials you need a pickup truck.

Our sedan is a 1992 model year. This is the last full year of production and features black trim, without chrome, and a black grill. These are minor differences, but I like that look better than the other years. The 1993 year was a short production year and they went back to a chrome surround on the grill--which I don't like--but this can be changed I suppose. The 1993 had a few more features I liked, like sound insulation in the hood. I can always add that in later at some point. So my goal was to find a 1990 t0 1993 Wagon in a color I liked. Color choice is actually hard, as Volvo was notorious for ugly paint colors--weird pastels for example. Also I wanted cloth seats, power windows, and if possible heated seats and power mirrors--these last two can be added easily enough.

After two years of searching I found a 5 speed wagon. I named it Sea Dog because the black and silver look matched the coat of my Portuguese Water Dog. Sea Dog had worn and cracked front turn signals, one new headlight--the other looked yellowed and faded, a rust hole visible when the back passenger door was opened, a small amount of surface rust on the front drivers side fender, a missing antenna, blown spare tire, and broken wiring in the tailgate. I bought it for $1705.