240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I carried out the third partial ATF change today - we are nearly there. As usual, I managed to get just over 2.5 litres out, meaning that I've changed 87% of the original ATF now. The stuff that came out was still noticeably brown, but the consistency is much improved and it is much closer to red than at the first or second change.

I'll have to wait for an opportunity to try the Royal Barge out, but I'm confident the box is working very well now and this little bit of cheap preventative maintenance will extend its life enormously. I'm still planning to do a fourth ATF change in about a month's time, then 94% of the fluid will have been swapped and the process will be complete.

This has worked well.

Alan

From the sound of it, the 4th time will be the charm on yours Alan. It should be feeling a lot smoother through the changes and hopefully your economy should be improving too and a smoother idle when stationary.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

From the sound of it, the 4th time will be the charm on yours Alan. It should be feeling a lot smoother through the changes and hopefully your economy should be improving too and a smoother idle when stationary.

The ATF on the dipstick is a nice red colour Dave, so I think we are just about there. I need to take the Royal Barge out for a bit of a run to make sure it is all stirred up, but I don't really have a reason to at the moment.

I'll give the carburettor a check over next: blow the jets through, change the diaphragm and top up with ATF. I don't think there is anything wrong at the moment, but it will not do any harm to get everything back to standard.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

The ATF on the dipstick is a nice red colour Dave, so I think we are just about there. I need to take the Royal Barge out for a bit of a run to make sure it is all stirred up, but I don't really have a reason to at the moment.

I'll give the carburettor a check over next: blow the jets through, change the diaphragm and top up with ATF. I don't think there is anything wrong at the moment, but it will not do any harm to get everything back to standard.

Alan

I suspect after a bit of use, the ATF will get a bit dirty Alan - if it doesn't, call it good for a year then just do one part change a year to keep the ATF good, unless you end up doing 24k miles in a year!

With the carb, i'd suggest just doing the diaphragm and topping up the dashpot with ATF, if you have no reason to suspect the jets are dirty, they're usually best left alone.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I suspect after a bit of use, the ATF will get a bit dirty Alan - if it doesn't, call it good for a year then just do one part change a year to keep the ATF good, unless you end up doing 24k miles in a year!

With the carb, i'd suggest just doing the diaphragm and topping up the dashpot with ATF, if you have no reason to suspect the jets are dirty, they're usually best left alone.

I still think of this as like a bike: on an older motorcycle one would always have to clean the carturettors very early on, but then they are tiny in comparison, particularly on multi-cylinder bikes (almost all bikes have a carburettor per cylinder).

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Apart from the cold start enrichment, there's only one jet in your carb if it's the one i think it is Alan - there's a big needle that pokes it's way in and out of that one to keep it clear!

When i was a lad, the big thing was twin carbs on a car. If motorbikes had twin carbs it usually meant they were V-Twins and four carbs meant a 4-cylinder.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Apart from the cold start enrichment, there's only one jet in your carb if it's the one i think it is Alan - there's a big needle that pokes it's way in and out of that one to keep it clear!

When i was a lad, the big thing was twin carbs on a car. If motorbikes had twin carbs it usually meant they were V-Twins and four carbs meant a 4-cylinder.

The diaphragm (or dieafram is it is written on the spares packet) is fitted and the Pietburg carburettor topped up with ATF. It was an easy enough job - the only issue being me not realising there was a little rubber boss to align with a small indentation on the body until I'd got it all together the first time. The Autodata manual is good in this respect (the Book of Haynes is, for once, rubbish). No matter, it was only a 5 minute job to get it right once I'd bothered reading the manual (after doing the job, but we've all done that sometime).

The engine is running really nicely. The only thing I noticed is that the slow running screw needs to be virtually all the way in to get the tickover low enough. I don't think this is a problem, the engine ticks over quietly and steadily - in fact I wonder if the rev counter reads a tad fast?

That was the last job on my list :-(

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Othen

That was the last job on my list :-(

Does that mean that the Royal Barge is now going on to a care and maintenance schedule?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Does that mean that the Royal Barge is now going on to a care and maintenance schedule?

Well, I suppose it does. I bought the Royal Barge as an interesting project only a few months ago - and it has turned out to be a nice car with not much wrong with it. The advice from this forum (especially from Dave) has enabled me to fix lots of things at little or no cost (mostly by just putting the bits together properly). There are always things to do on a 40 year old car, but they are probably things that would come under care and maintenance now.

I had an idea early on that I might swap out the 3 speeder for a later 4 speed auto box, but now the box is considerably improved (by fluid changes) and the motor compliments it really well, so I’m minded to keep it as original (although that plan might change in a heartbeat).

I’m seeing the Royal Barge as a long term thing, something I might still own until I give up driving one day, so I’ll run this thread on and every now and then find something worth writing up that might interest others.

I really have enjoyed this journey so far. The forum has been an excellent source of inspiration and advice throughout. The Royal Barge has turned out to be a good car for me - I’m not doing many miles at the moment of course, but I’ve hardly used the other two cars or any of my bikes since I bought it.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

I should have mentioned the little locating nub on the diaphragm Alan but i thought you'd find it anyway. You'll remembr it for next time though!

I can't remember what the idle settings are on yours as in the base idle speed and then adjust the idle air volume screw (slow running screw) if it has one or if not, it will be just the throttle stop screw.

Then there's the idle mixture screw.

If it's running right then no need to worry at the moment.

Glad the RB is now on pro-active maintenance rather than reactive!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I thought i was Alan but quite a long time since i've needed to check it. If yo've found one for £11.50, it's worth buying...

Seen a good many of these fail, especially when i was in the trade. Had a few of my own fail too and Sods Law is, when you break down miles from civilisation in the pouring rain with no mobile signal, the nearest shops will have just sold their last one and the AA/RAC patrols won't even know what it looks like, especially if they can't plug their OBD-II reader in anywhere! .

Hi Dave,

Another good result: I've just bought a brand new Intermotor 15001 ignition module for only £9 (eBay). I'll keep it as a spare with the tube of thermal paste that arrived a few days ago.

Many thanks again.

Alan