[Agnew]

Many thanks, DW42, your estate looks great as well!

If your transmission has a drain plug then it will be a BW35, not BW55, no issue, they do the same thing - the drain plug makes partial changes easier (the BW55 doesn't have one so I use a pump, does the same thing).

It could be a BW35, I have no way of confirming with the plate missing! The Haynes book says that from a certain date onwards, all automatic transmissions had a drain plug fitted, but the BW5/AW70 plug and washer look different.

Why not fix the pan gasket with a proper one now, it will eliminate one source of leaking ATF so you can narrow down the list of suspects?

Well, the proper gasket needs to arrive, which may take a while… Until then I will have most likely done another round or two of partial ATF drains.

Oil/ATF leaks are not really acceptable these days - so you should fix all of them (actually it is quite satisfying to achieve a leak free red block Volvo). Just be methodical and chip away it them until they are all fixed, generally it is just replacing gaskets and seals - all pretty easy.

I agree, my other classics have all been running leak-free for many years now. This is where I want to get with this one as well. I’m getting very close, see below.

I used water as a coolant in the RB until I was sure everything was working okay (getting rid of EG is much more difficult than water), but it isn't 40C here in England!

The cooling system is working quite good, especially considering the temperature. I flushed it and refilled with fresh antifreeze, 50/50 with distilled water. Still waiting for the thermostat to arrive, but the existing one still works well. Any idea what there are three thermostat temperatures listed (82/88/92)? What does it depend on? Engine type? Accessories? Temperatures in the country where they were exported? No idea which one is in mine, I will check when I have the new one and a few seals. Perhaps in a few months along with another flush. Given that there are different metals in contact with the coolant, I wouldn’t want to run it with plain water to avoid differential corrosion. Plenty of gunk came out when I flushed it. The drain **** with hose nipple is really convenient, I was able to drain it without making a mess, into a bucket, which was promptly hidden away before the local cats take interest. I will take it to a disposal facility in a 20L canister I have for this purpose, so getting rid of it is not much of an issue.

I have gone back to 20W50 with the RB and found it works much better than synthetic oils (the main seal weep has completely disappeared - saving me a messy job).

I’m divided about this. I’ve been running plenty of other engines on 20W/50 for years, but the Volvo book states that 20W/40 should not be used much below freezing. On the other hand, 10W/40 is given an upper limit of 40 degree C which is often exceeded here in the hot months, but we do get -15 degree celsius in the coldest months (as you may have guessed by the B17A engine and LHD, I’m currently stuck in Greece and the pandemic will keep me here for a while longer. I’ve driven from the UK to Greece and back 25 time, back when I was younger and healthier, but I hope I don’t have to do it anytime soon again!).
Some years ago I saw how long it took for the oil pressure to go up in a slant-4 with an oil pressure gauge, at -10 degree Celsius and with my favourite 20W/50, and am skeptical about its winter performance. On the other hand, it worked perfect from 0 up to as hot as it can get, and if the Slant-4 can handle it, I think the Volvo red blocks must be fine with it as well.

The engine on mine doesn’t have any leaks, which is good. So, currently running 10W/40 (I had plenty for another car, so it came in handy), but will probably try 20W/50 at some point. I wouldn’t mind an oil pressure gauge as well, an original Volvo item would be great, but still have plenty of things to sort out before worrying about that.

There should be some resistance pulling out the plunger, it sounds like the diaphragm may be leaking if the ATF level has gone down.

The first time I topped it up, it lost it pretty fast. The second time it was slower. By the third time, it seems to stay. It is not the diaphragm, but an o-ring on the adjuster screw. With a bit of luck, the ATF will cause it to swell up, so I can delay the stripdown until the diaphragms arrive. It must have dried up completely in 18 years of collecting dust.

The ignition advance is clearly wrong, change the vacuum hose and see if that works - if not you might have to strip the distributor to free off whatever is stuck (not a hard job). At this stage I'd be tempted (if I were you, which I am not) to change the internals of the distributor for a solid state electronic unit and dispense with the points and condenser. I think the cost is about £100 - but then you would never have to make an adjustment again.

I opened up the distributor, lubricated everything and verified that it all moves as it should. Couldn’t test the vacuum advance diaphragm yet, but the distributor itself is good. The dwell angle meter works again and I measured 63 degrees. Acceleration is good, so I think it won’t be the vacuum advance.

I think I’ll keep the points for now. I do have a complete Bosch distributor with the Lumenition system, from another vehicle, so I can try it out, but I did run two otherwise identical Slant-4 engines, one with the Lumenition and the other with a Delco-Remy points setup. I enjoyed the Delco much more and only had one points-related issue in over 10 years. The Lumenition tended to die each time the under-bonnet temperatures rose too high in the summer. Only temporarily, the cure was to open the bonnet, wait 10-15 minutes and drive again, taking care not to get stuck in traffic! I did not see much difference in performance between the two systems. The points did need frequent adjustment, but it was the system I trusted most. I always carried a couple of sets of points and condensers just in case, and drove from one end of Europe to the other with it on multiple occasions.

I really do wonder why you think it is worth using though, all it is telling you is where two points are on the flywheel (the bit of plastic on the cam cover does that with no electronics).

Most, if not all, the vehicles I’ve had up to now only had the strobe method as an option. Of all the work done on vehicles, the timing adjustment using a strobe is the one I have always greatly disliked. I just find it very unpleasant. If I can finally get to skip this part and do it by more pleasant means, I would at least give it a try.

Fortunately bits are quite cheap and the car is really simple, so you will soon have it all sorted.

I made quite some progress: All leaks fixed (apart from the messy goo in the transmission pan, but this is not a big deal and will be sorted as soon as the gasket arrives)! The biggest one was the right steering rubber bellows. I am very confused about that. I’m not sure of it was the wrong bellows, but it was wrongly fitted. However, the right side housing does not have a fitting for the connecting pipe! The bellows has a hole in which the steel pipe goes! I refitted it correctly and there’s no leak anymore. But I do wonder which power steering gear I have! It doesn’t look like what the Volvo book shows!



Could it be that the right side housing is missing? Or is it a different type of steering rack?

Also drained and refilled the rear axle with GL-5 axle oil. It is the 3.91:1 Type 1030, as far as I could tell.
I did a part-drain of the PAS fluid as well. What is the purpose of the steel pipe going into the bellows? A return line?

Finally, as the the idle in D was still rough, I checked carefully all the ignition parts I had assumed to be ok: I found a bad contact on HT lead #4, fixed it, and adjusted the carb.

It started really good, idling at 1200 rpm and only dropping to 800 rpm or so in D, really smooth. Went for a drive and noticed that as soon as I stop for too long in D, the idle speed drops. This does not happen in N.
So, it is now an intermittent issue, which I assume has to do with aging vacuum hoses (too many of them) and rising under-bonnet temps when standing still. If I have driven at some speed and stop for 15 seconds, then start again, all is well. But when I took a few minutes to back up into the garden, the idle speed just went lower and lower until it just stalled. Starts instantly again, but really doesn’t like the heat. I bet they didn’t have 40 degree Celsius summers in Sweden! At night it is much better, 28 degrees C ambient. Then again, I also don’t work well anymore at 40 degrees C. Well, below 500 rpm it starts misfiring. If I give some gas, all is well. Shift to N and it roars up to 1200 rpm again, super stable.

That's a nice car, especially with the "Turbo" grille; most 240s have a "waterfall" style one.

Thanks! I hadn’t realised this is the Turbo grille!

The carb is, or should be, a Stromberg 175 CD or 175 CD2. Avoid the Pierburg CDSUs if possible as they are more prone, in my experience at least, to idle at whatever speed they feel like. (I had a B21A with BW35 box that idled at a smooth 500rpm one day and a rough 1000rpm the next, and never really got to the bottom of why it did so.) Plus the pure Stromberg parts are still available at sensible prices. A needle and jet for a Pierburg cost £25 each back in the 1980s, whereas a new needle for a Stromberg was about £5!

The carb is the Solex 175CD, which is a Stromberg 175CD that just says Solex on it. I think all the Stromberg parts fit.

Those wheel nuts with the dimple sticking out are the older type and are probably the right ones for your car.900/700 s have a different thread.Later 240 GLT ones are big and chunky but would do.

Jim, I just realised that the chrome nuts with the dimple are just covers! The real nut looks much less exciting underneath! So, the boring-looking nuts are the ones whose covers fell off!! I wasn’t there when they changed the tyres, or I would have seen it earlier!

700/900-series wheels will fit a 200- series car, but the wheel nuts most definitely will not: 200s use imperial thread wheel nuts, 700/900 wheel nuts are metric. The wheel nuts are a mix; all are correct but not together on the same wheel, so it might be worth swapping them around to make it look more aesthetically pleasing or fitting the odd ones in the same position on each wheel - e.g. adjacent to/opposite the valve. It is possible that the car once had locking wheel nuts that have since been replaced with ordinary ones.

Imperial threads on a Volvo? I guess an SAE standard? I will check/measure and see what exactly is going on there. I might need to get some more covers, if I can find them.

All in all, I’m really enjoying this car. It’s easy to work on and seems very solidly built, which is exactly what I wanted.
It is very comfortable to drive and offers a very smooth ride.

I discovered a small crack on the exhaust muffler while I was working on the rear axle, so another thing to sort out there. I guess this will sort out the annoying rattle coming from there. I will also need to get a good length of fresh vacuum hose and replace all vacuum connections just to eliminate this as a source of intermittent trouble.
It is either a hose loosening up with too much heat, or an incorrect/faulty Thermostat. I will replace it soon and see what was in there.

Regarding the wheels, I was also wondering if they were meant to have centre caps covering the wheel nuts. I can’t say I like the wheels that much, but I’m not too picky about wheels. Even some plain steels are fine with me, if nicely powder coated and not rusty. For now they will do. But the best thing about alloys, which is the visibility of the brake disks and pads through larger openings, for ease of inspection, is not fully exploited with these wheels!

Finally, some questions about parts as the quest continues:

1) What do you guys use for HT leads? Do you try to match the resistance specs or just anything of the correct length? I’d like to replace mine before the wet months arrive.

2) What do you use for sparkplugs? Apparently, Bosch still makes the W7DC, but in Russia, and there are a lot of negative comments online about their quality. Any luck with other brands/types?

3) How about the ignition coil? Mine still has the (perhaps originally fitted) Bosch 0 221 122 006, which is not easily obtainable nowadays. Is it worth looking for an original coil to have as a spare or are there any other types that work well and are easily available?

4) Does anybody have any part number for the contact breaker points and condenser?

5) Any timing belt preferences? Gates? Hutchinson? Bosch? Other? Mine currently has Gates fitted, which still looks good, although about 8 years old.