240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

... that was all interesting stuff about gauges and instruments - one learns something new every day.

It was mostly a motorbike day yesterday - MoT on one of my bikes and changed the front fork seals on a mate's Husqvarna. I did get one small job done on the Royal Barge - I used the little electric lift pump to drain the power steering reservoir and re-filled it with nice new ATF. I managed to remove about half a litre (out of 1.1 litres), so I may have to do it again in few weeks to get most of it swapped. The steering was good previously, but it will be interesting to see if this leads to much improvement.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Hope your bike passed the MoT Alan?

I usually find doing the PAS fluid weekly until it stays clean (usually 3-4 times) works well. If you're planning on putting some miles on RB this week and doing another gearbox part-change next week, that would be an ideal time to do the PAS again too.

All these little changes/improvements certainly add up and improve the car for daily use and often it's the little things that can make the biggest difference to the overall pleasure/satisfaction.

Have you ever thought of variable interval intermittent wipe? No extra wiring/switches visible either..........

[Othen]

Good morn chaps,

The postie bought my solid state instrument voltage stabilsier this morn:



... a neat little kit, with couple of paragraphs of useful instructions:



Once the instruments were out it was an easy enough job to remove the old item:



... which did look as if it had seen better days:



... very 1960s technology.

I could have devised a method of connecting the new item to the existing earth on the board (it earths via its case), but followed the guidance to fixed the case to the Royal Barge's chassis (via a heat sink - i.e piece of bracket I found on the workbench):



and the two leads to the 12V +ve and the post for the instruments. At this point I checked the output voltage at the temperature sensor end: 10.1V:



All seemed well - so I started up and let the engine warm. Two issues were apparent:

a. The temperature gauge was still reading a bit high (without the series resistor), but not as high as previously.

b. The fuel gauge was reading lower than previously.

I had an idea that the high temperature reading was due to the new temperature sensor I'd fitted last week. You may recall it read a bit higher than the original (I don't know why, it was a NOS part, so probably 40 years old and made for an Austin Allegro). So, I had a cup of tea and threw a ball for Bob whilst the engine cooled down, then drained down 3 litres of coolant and swapped the sender back to the original. The result was:



... the temperature management is spot on, the photo was taken with the thermostat housing cycling between about 83 and 87C, with the fan cutting in once for around 10 seconds.

It looks like the temperature gauge is spot on now.

I have a theory about the fuel gauge, which was reading just below a quarter before the change. I'd covered about 50 miles since I put 4 gallons of gas in a few days ago (which made it register around half full). I'm assuming that rather than just going on to empty before filling the tank was probably running on fumes, so the 4 gallons should have read something like 1/3, not 1/2 (notwithstanding the excellent discussion on gauges and fuel tank shapes above).

The thing to do now is for Bob and I to drive over to Morrisons and get 4 gallons of their very cheapest - and see if the gauge goes to around 1/3 full, then monitor our gas mileage. It looks like I may have also gained a more accurate fuel gauge into the bargain.

... and another unexpected benefit: I mentioned a feint chattering sound from around the instruments a few days ago. I'd convinced myself I was imagining things, but now I'm sure it has gone (silence is sometimes quite deafening).

All in all a good morning's work. I hope the rugby goes well for us this afternoon and we beat the druids by a good margin :-)

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Hope your bike passed the MoT Alan?

I usually find doing the PAS fluid weekly until it stays clean (usually 3-4 times) works well. If you're planning on putting some miles on RB this week and doing another gearbox part-change next week, that would be an ideal time to do the PAS again too.

All these little changes/improvements certainly add up and improve the car for daily use and often it's the little things that can make the biggest difference to the overall pleasure/satisfaction.

Have you ever thought of variable interval intermittent wipe? No extra wiring/switches visible either..........

Yes, the MoT was passed.

I was thinking of a time delay for the interior lights - it is a bit annoying that they go off straight away when the door is closed - should not be difficult.

Alan

[Othen]

Well, I think that theory is pretty well proven:



... exactly as predicted £20 (4 gallons) gives 1/3 on the gauge (rather than over half previously).

There has been an interesting chain of events with the PO to get to this point. Some time ago the instrument voltage regulator failed, giving very high temperature readings at the gauge. In an attempt to reduce the gauge reading (it was not running hot) the PO (or the one previously) removed the thermostat, so the engine was never really warming up. To compensate for running the engine cold all the time he turned up the idle speed to 1500RPM, so the torque converter was dragging, making the car quite unpleasant to drive, also the heater never got warm so the car was always cold, also it used lots more fuel because it had to run with the choke out for miles.

After 4 years of his wife complaining that the car was always cold and was a beast to drive in traffic the PO gives up and sells the car to me for a couple of grand, but not before paying someone to change the brakes all round, fit new springs and nice adjustable Koni shock absorbers (also some bling bits I've almost completely got rid of).

I suspect the story went something like that. The upshot seems to be that I've acquired a 40 year old car that has obviously had good money spent on it in the past, but because of a £9 fix for the instrument voltage regulator was hardly used for the past decade and so has only covered 107,000 miles for a couple of grand.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Yes, the MoT was passed.

I was thinking of a time delay for the interior lights - it is a bit annoying that they go off straight away when the door is closed - should not be difficult.

Alan

Good news on the voltage regulator sorting things out Alan - you now have a spare temp sender if that one does give up the ghost although i suspect the new sender is more accurate now, in terms of resistance per deg C at least.

As for the interior light delay, should be very easy, i think later 240s had it and if not, the 740s did. I believe the interior lights are similar but you'll need the delay relay and drivers door pillar switch unless you already have a twin terminal type.

Easy to find out, undo the Pozidrive scrw securing the switch to the door pillar and pull it out, if it has two terminals, you're in luck. If it had two wires (one on each) on those terminals, clean up the terminals and see what happens, you might get lucky!

Meanwhile i'll look into part numbers etc for you. Could be worth checking the electrical diagrams as well, you might get a few clues from that too!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Good news on the voltage regulator sorting things out Alan - you now have a spare temp sender if that one does give up the ghost although i suspect the new sender is more accurate now, in terms of resistance per deg C at least.

As for the interior light delay, should be very easy, i think later 240s had it and if not, the 740s did. I believe the interior lights are similar but you'll need the delay relay and drivers door pillar switch unless you already have a twin terminal type.

Easy to find out, undo the Pozidrive scrw securing the switch to the door pillar and pull it out, if it has two terminals, you're in luck. If it had two wires (one on each) on those terminals, clean up the terminals and see what happens, you might get lucky!

Meanwhile i'll look into part numbers etc for you. Could be worth checking the electrical diagrams as well, you might get a few clues from that too!

Yes, good news, and thank you for your help Dave - this forum is invaluable - it would have taken months of trial and error to work out the stabiliser issue without it.

I'm back to the original temperature sensor now, which works perfectly. The new one I got reads about 1/4 high, but will be fine as a spare (maybe with a 10 Ohm series resistor).

I'm pretty sure the drivers door light switch has two terminals (I took it apart to fix the internal lights some time ago), so that is good. I got the idea for the time delayed interior light switch from the compendium of wiring diagrams you sent me a while ago (see pp 56, for the GLE model):



I have not really looked at it yet, but I thought I could probably do something better than bi-metalic strips using some more modern components.

What do you think - I reckon it would be a sensible enhancement that no one would even notice.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Yes, good news, and thank you for your help Dave - this forum is invaluable - it would have taken months of trial and error to work out the stabiliser issue without it.

I'm back to the original temperature sensor now, which works perfectly. The new one I got reads about 1/4 high, but will be fine as a spare (maybe with a 10 Ohm series resistor).

I'm pretty sure the drivers door light switch has two terminals (I took it apart to fix the internal lights some time ago), so that is good. I got the idea for the time delayed interior light switch from the compendium of wiring diagrams you sent me a while ago (see pp 56, for the GLE model):



I have not really looked at it yet, but I thought I could probably do something better than bi-metalic strips using some more modern components.

What do you think - I reckon it would be a sensible enhancement that no one would even notice.

Alan

Definitely an improvement Alan - if you can source a GLE being broken or use an aftermarket interior light delay relay like this one :

https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co....5/category/210

Also if you have a read through this, somewhere in the first few posts (Post #7) is a link to a programmable interval relay for the wipers that should be a straight swap for the 240 as well :

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=303130

Just to tempt you!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Definitely an improvement Alan - if you can source a GLE being broken or use an aftermarket interior light delay relay like this one :

https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co....5/category/210

Also if you have a read through this, somewhere in the first few posts (Post #7) is a link to a programmable interval relay for the wipers that should be a straight swap for the 240 as well :

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=303130

Just to tempt you!

I just skimmed through the thread (Bob wants his second walk) - so the intermittent relay is only £12 and is a one for one fit? Did I read that right, if so I'll order one when I get back.

With the light delay I was thinking of a modern relay, like your link, rather than from a 40 year old GLE.

Time for Bob's walk, before we settle in for the rugby.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I just skimmed through the thread (Bob wants his second walk) - so the intermittent relay is only £12 and is a one for one fit? Did I read that right, if so I'll order one when I get back.

With the light delay I was thinking of a modern relay, like your link, rather than from a 40 year old GLE.

Time for Bob's walk, before we settle in for the rugby.

Alan

The intermittent relay is this one for yours i believe - you'll need to check to see which one you've got :

https://www.rendcarparts.com/volvo/p...80/RD3523610PA

Light delay relay is £12 ish as linked to above and here :

https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co....5/category/210

My pooch wants her walk (she has one a day, tried her with more but she refused after the first few days!) so i'll be disappearing for a while too.

I did have other plans for today but not been feeling great so they'll have to wait another month now.