New Owner here - with questions!

[TomSaintJames]

Hi everyone, my name is Tom and I have just bought a 1988 740 2.0 auto hearse! It's matt black (which looks quite cool), with belted 17" steel wheels (also looks cool) and a skull on the front of the bonnet (less cool). I love 80's cars and have always fancied a brick shaped volvo, I hoped for a black HPT 2.3 turbo but managed to justify a hearse to the other half as a motorhome base vehicle, good news - after just one day of driving it is already much loved, even with its flaws. It has had it's cambelt, brakes and suspension done recently, so no worries there.

It's done just over 60000 miles, and the DVLA MOT history website (cracking idea that, well done DVAL) sonly has MOT history back as far as 2014, so I think it has been off the road for some time. Nevertheless it drives well, and after a couple of niggles have been sorted it should make a fine campervan for our european and UK exploits! We haven't accurately measured it yet, but it should be big enough for a full size double bed, a decent fridge (one must have cold beer, bubbly, white and rose wine), a cooking device and storage.

I have some questions that I hope the collective wisdom can help me with.

1) There is a whine from the rear end at all speeds, it changes pitch with speed (gets higher pitched at higher speed) and doesn't go away when you take your foot off the accelerator. Im thinking rear diff/prop shaft bearings etc? First investigation will be the diff oil, as in is there any and what state is it in.

2) Cracked and taped rear light clusters have let water in (so much so that when you open the bootlid you could have a quick shower!). This means that the drivers side indicator and brake light don't work, but the wettest side (passenger) do. I'm hoping a replacement pair of light clusters, some new bulbs and a clean and dry up of the contacts should resolve this.

3) The auto gearbox is quite smooth, but can be a bit lurchy when it changes when you put your foot down. It also doesn't appear to have a torque converter lock up like all my previous autos have had (above 55mph in top). It does have a little button on the side of the gear lever that changes the box down a gear (great for overtaking if you don't want to drop 2 gears in kick-down), this puts on a little up arrow light on the dashboard. From this, can it be gleaned which box I have? There is no service history with it, so will be inspecting and probably doing most service jobs in the near future.

4) It feels quite gutless for most of the rev range until you reach 3500 to just under 5000rpm, when it then changes gear and looses all power again. Is this normal for an auto 2.0? When cruising on the M6 on the way home, in the hilly section around the dales/pennines it just managed 67/68 on the inclines without pushing the pedal so it kicked down a gear. I didn't expect a huge deal of power, but does this sound OK? My concern is that when loaded up with all the water/gas/bed/carpentry etc that makes a campervan, it's going to be slow, and thirsty too! Is it fairly simple to drop in a 2.3, turbocharge the 2.0 that's already in there or maybe even drop in a turbocharged 2.3, I've heard that the B230 is the torque machine, whereas the B200 is quite good for peak power. The finished product will need to be able to cope with continental peagé, so 80mph comfortably is a goal - I don't think the 2.0 n/a will manage that once loaded with camper goodies, but the engine will be the last thing to do so we'll see I suppose.

5) It's currently riding on coil-overs, which are new to me. The ride isn't too bad but the back is very bouncy, which makes the driver bounce up and down quite comically in the very comfortable - and more importantly, sprung - seat! I'm hoping with camper stuff in the back, this'll calm down, but wanted to know if it may be worth getting the coil-overs professionally set up when it's finished? Hopefully this'll be a cheaper alternative than getting new OE spec shocks and springs put back in, and in my mind the adjustable coil-overs will deal with the extra weight better. I have a 1985 Citroen BX GT,
and so like my cars to be on the comfortable side.

6) It will stall when you fire it up from cold after a couple of seconds, nursing the idle with the accelerator pedal for those few seconds cures this although it runs lumpy, this soon clears though and it idles fine. Is this worth investigating? I'm hoping with some use, a service and maybe a check of plugs/leads/rotor arm/dizzy cap etc may help.

That's all for now! I look forward to your replies, and plan to have a good look around on this most interesting forum. I've also attached a picture of the hearse for your perusal.

[TomSaintJames]

I appear to have placed this in the sales section! Apologies, can it be moved to the general 700/900 page?

[Dirty Rooster]

Remove the skull and you have a very nice car!

What's in the engine bay? (pics)

[greener32]

Hi,

If you ever wanted to part with the wheels could you drop me a message.

Thanks

[TomSaintJames]

Drove it a bit more tonight, didn't stall after starting today which is an improvement. But I did notice it's low on engine oil, love the temperature specific dipstick, top marks for engineering there Volvo.

The skull is going, for sure! Fits in with the car, but a bit on the silly side for my taste!

Greener32, we may be swapping the wheels back to volvo ones, could do with a couple more inches of rubber to aid damping. Not sure on this yet, all four tyres are basically new, and the seller said the wheels were expensive too so they wouldn't be cheap if we did swap.

More pics to follow.

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Congrats on a very cool car! I watched it on eBay for a while, very cool indeed.

I would say you have the AW70 box. Both my former 2.0 auto estates had that box, the slightly harsh kickdown you describe affected one of mine and was helped a lot by a gearbox flush and oil/filter change.

The B200 motors are great, tough engines that will do big miles (I’ve had three 2.0 cars, two auto estates and my current manual saloon) but paired with the auto box they’re not quick cars by any means, and will be surprisingly thirsty (I averaged 19mpg with my estates). The performance you describe sounds absolutely in line with what i’d expect.

The light clusters should work fine when the plastics are replaced-if not, consult with the fuse box under the ashtray 🙂

The whine sounds like diff to me, but it could be a wheelbearing. All simple enough stuff to sort. Bear in mind the car’s former passengers weren’t too concerned with road noise, so soundproofing is likely to be minimal!

I’d get your coilovers set up by someone clued in to that side of things. All my 740s have been softly sprung but not too bouncy...it sounds well kitted out though, so some proper attention should sort it.

Keep us posted on how the conversion goes!

[greener32]

No worries. Message me if or when your ready.
Thanks

[GreenBrick]

If you don't stick a sign in the back window saying "No dead bodies left in this vehicle overnight" I will come and find you, er.. and ask again nicely. ;-)

[TomSaintJames]

Thanks for all your input chaps, really pleased with it so far. Needs a good service and some TLC, but otherwise is ok.

Are door card mounting bits available? The passenger door card has become detached and catches on the door seal every time you open the door, the thing is going to break completely soon if not sorted!

I'll see about getting a blog started as soon as I can have a decent look at it, and start replacing some bits.

Cheers.

[Laird Scooby]

Welcome aboard Tom!

The whine from the back end is almost certainly the ghost of the last passenger and should disappear with a quick exorcism.

Joking aside, it's almost certainly the gearbox extension housing bush and seal and/or the propshaft centre bearing.

The sounds these make, although just underneath the back end of the front seats sounds very like it's coming from the back end. Well worth getting them checked as you could be losing ATF which would account for the harsh changes!

Your gearbox is the AW70 from everything you've described, a very strong box and reliable if looked after.

Use Carlube ATF-U to drain/refill it, you'll need the large (4.5L) tub, buy yourself a 12v oil extractor pump from ebay for about £15, warm the box up by going for a 5-10 mile drive, shove the suction pipe down the ATF dipstick hole as far as it will go, switch the pump on and go and have a coffee. Come back about half hour later and you should have somewhere between 2.5 to 3.5L of old ATF in the bucket you placed under the pump discharge pipe.

Remove the pump etc and top up the ATF via the dipstick tube. Take it for a drive and recheck the level - should be done with the engine running, hold the brakes on and select each range in turn, holding for a few second s in each then return the lever to "P" and check the level. Top up as necessary.

Repeat this in a months time and then a month after that then once a year thereafter.

Re your stalling problem when cold, check all the vacuum lines under the bonnet for cleanliness internally, security, perishing and condition, renew/clean/refit as needed. Also clean your Auxiliary Air Valve or Idle Control Valve, depending which you have. From the sound of things, the AAV version. Use carb & air intake cleaner to do it.

As for engine choice, drop a n/asp B230E engine in there and use the injection system you already have. That will be as near a straight swap/bolt-on power & torque scenario as you can get. It will also improve economy due to being better matched to the weight of the car.

Re the coilovers - get rid and fit some standard springs and shocks on it. This will restore the ride height and probably get rid of the whine/vibration from the back end - long explanation but it's all to do with propshaft angles relative to the diff etc. For about £50 you could have brand new standard springs and shocks, you'll be hard pushed to find Nivos now and they're £700 a pair last i knew plus Nivo springs from Volvo - £OUCH!

Think that's everything covered!