New 240 Owner...Now what?

Yesterday, I purchased a 1980 240 DL Coupe from it's original owners daughter and have all the service records. It was driven a daily 4 mile round trip for 23 years or so...it has 95,XXX orginal miles and the motor and interior are absolutely mint. No dash cracks no fading, original glass. I made a appt for this week at DaisyWagen a great volvo shop in Seattle for a "full meal" deal. Tune-up,oil change, all belts, check engine harness etc... Beside's keeping it shiny what other preventive care can i do?

thanks all

george

Reply to
Volvo
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Resist the temptation to use synthetic oil. This engine was designed to run for 300k miles on non-synthetic oil, changed regularly. If you switch it to synthetic, it is likely that at least some of those 26 year old oil seals will start to leak. Run a high qiality 10W-30 oil with a good oil filter, and change it every 3k-5k miles, depending on how you drive. If the oil in it now is dirty, change it at 1k, then 2k, then when it stays clean looking, use the schedule I noted above. If you do switch to synthetic or synthetic blend, watch carefully for oil leaks for at least

6 months.

If the transmission is automatic, have it power flushed, and be prepared to replace one or two main seals. If it's manual, have the trans oil changed. Likewise the differential oil and power steering fluid, and preferably the brake fluid as well.

Reply to
Michael Cerkowski

What's this about syn oil causing leaks?

They couldn't design the car to run on synthetics because they weren't available. I could find as many websites in agreement with your statement as disagree.

Ed

Reply to
Ed

I've tried Synthetics in 2 of my cars, in both it caused leaks. 2000 Volvo S80-T6 and in a 2000 GranPrix GTP. In both it seamed as if every seal in the things were leaking (streching it a bit, but that's how it appeared), when switched back to regular oil, not a drop anywhere on the GP, on my Volvo I had to re-do the seals on the breather box because they continued to leak.

Why they leaked, I do not know. What I do know is I won't be going back to synthetic in any of my cars unless that's what it came with from the factory.

-Brian

Reply to
Brian V

A lot of the older rubber seals do not hold up to the synthetic oils, they turn into black goo. This happened to the aircraft industry when Mobil brought out a synthetic oil for airplanes. They had aircraft loosing all their oil in flight through the seals in the propellers and engines.

Allen

Reply to
Allen

Ok. Synthetic vs Regular. A touchy subject indeed.

Anything else?

Reply to
Volvo

George, Michael mentions a using a good oil filter. More specifically, use the exact oil filter from Volvo, or get your oil filter made by Mann, sold by the case from

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in your neck of the woods (Portland, OR). I have no affiliation with ipd, but many of us have found this Volvo parts supplier to be great with helping Volvo home mechanics. Don't use the oil filters from your neighborhood generic parts franchise. The Volvo engines are built to last, but expect to be well maintained well. The Volvo/Mann brand oil filter is a cheap insurance for this.

Group, Any thoughts about traditi> >

Reply to
Pat Quadlander

Step one: replace all of the Copper and Tin fuses with the bullet stainless steel kind. Corrosion of the fuses is the number one cause of hassles. Step two: 1980 is K-jetronic. Acquire a spare fuel pump relay, put it in the glove compartment. They fail without warning and are extremely easy to replace if you have one on hand. (Yes they are pricey, but a junkyard one works just as well provided that you test that it still works) Pushing 100K, you might want to also want to replace the timing belt tensioner, and the brushes are probably worn down on the alternator so you may want to have the brush/regulator package replaced so that you can ignore it for another 100K miles. Neither is particularly expensive, and they may go for another 50-80K, but why find out on the roadside.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Bradley

There are several issues here. The age of the oil seals as I mentioned, the kind of rubber used (I ran my 1986 Honda Civic Si on full syhtetic for almost two decades with no problems, then just a leaking distributor O-ring and 'weeping' head gasket at 128k miles and 17 years age), and, finally, whether or not the seals are really sound, or are being stabilized by old gummy oil residue. In that last case, it's just the high detergent factor of synthetic oil that does them in.

In short, with the exception of the early years of the 5 cylinder engine (with narrow, easily blocked oil passages in the head), and turbo engines run hard, it isn't a great idea to switch a Volvo engine to synthetic oil. It can work, but the risks don't seem to out-weigh the benefits, especially for the low-stress "red block" 4 cyl engines found in the 240 and 740/940 series.

Reply to
Michael Cerkowski

Volvo now recommends synthetic oil and fills up first time with synthetic ,but yes old seals will most likely leak with any oil .Remember nowdays they have seal expanders in the synthetic oil as it was an issue when Noah was a kid .

Reply to
John Robertson

If you manage to get past the Amsoil adverts ,you will find synthetic oil (the real stuff not the oils ain't just oils )con job , are really brilliant .Check it out .

BP MOBIL AND SUCH PREFORM WELL

Reply to
John Robertson

Thanks Bill and Michael and everyone else. She's at Daisywagan getting looked at right now... Michael - As far as the fuses can the ceramic fuses be replaced with steel ones matching the amp rating. Or do i need to get a new fuse box, is this pricey for a mechanic to do?

Reply to
Volvo

I don't think I'm the Michael you asked, but I'm here, so... I *think* the steel fuses are a simple swap-in. Don't consider that urgent, though, unless you have electrical problems. If your climate is reasonably dry you can just clean the contacts on the existing fuses. We live where the old fuses should be giving us trouble, but they haven't, not at all. We have an '88 240DL.

Reply to
Michael Cerkowski

I wouldn't considered Seattle dry. But I get your point nonetheless, I wait and see. Run now she's fine but I'll keep an eye out, thanks!

g
Reply to
Volvo

Hardly an issue with a modern RWD Volvo. My '89 owner's manual recommends synthetic oils for both the V6 and the turbo motors.

Reply to
Alex Zepeda

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