A bunch of questions about my new 240

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.

1. 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:

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.

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.

You can get a complete new one from

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 snipped-for-privacy@cox.net (Spring Valley CA)

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

'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.

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

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.

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.