1998 S90 questions... Suspension and a misfire

[scooters]

Been a while but I'm back and at present using an S90 ex ulster wedding car as my daily driver, clocking 200 miles per day at the moment as I am leading a large software roll out at an NHS trust covering a large area of County Durham and Northumberland.

Car really comes into its own on the hilly a roads.

There are a few issues which to date I've lived with because until recently my mileage has been 50 per week but now with the increased use I have to address them.

I'm pretty ignorant about the S90 although I do know the 940 and the 850 pretty well and I understand that despite being a rwd, this car shares some bits in common with the fwd as well. So I'd be really grateful for any pointers.

1/ suspension, I'm keen to improve the cornering. Would the best recourse be to replace the bushes, some of which are looking on their last legs, I don't want an overtly harsh ride, just a decent improvement. Or is there an iPd roll bar that will fit it (I might do both) and in which case, what one?
What are the suspension differences between the s90 and 900 series? Would a 900 poly bush kit fit?

2/ wheels. What's the original wheel and tyre spec? This one has wheels from a T5 with lower profile tyres which tbh look a bit daft on the car. Yes the lower profile helps with cornering but the road conditions up here are atrocious especially on the bottom roads and pot holes and damaged surfaces are a real hazard so higher walls for driving at the moment would be an idea.

3/ misfire. This happens between 900 and 2000 revs. It's intermittent, doesn't seem to depend on the engine temperature, is more prevelant if you drive in 'old giffer mode' and doesn't happen over 2000 revs. No fault codes returned. Any ideas?

4/ parts. It's been slightly 'modded' and as a result I would like to source a new grille and new headlight wipers. The existing grille had had the logo removed and been painted black (which doesn't work because of stone chips) and the wiper arms, parks and skooshers have been removed and the spindles left. The wipers are actually quite necessary in a daily in this part of the world. Do 940 740 parts fit? Is the grille a s90/v90 unique part?

5/ bad steering wheel shake at 60-70, I suspect wheel weights as in the effort in the past to make the car more 'rad' the wheels and tyres are a bit buggered about with. I'm going to get the tyres balanced but tbh would be more interested in returning them to factory spec so until i source a set of oem wheels I'll probably leave it. I have noticed a slightly split roll bar bush which will need looking at.

Cheers

S

[scooters]

Misfire...
Interesting article on MVS about this.
I'll check the vacuum but the symptoms on mine are usually on pulling away from a junction. MVS contributor suggests that this is possibly due to a brake servo hose leak. I e braking before junction, dumps air from the hose leak causing the car to run too rich on pull away until the vacuum system recharges.
This makes sense because when my wife drives the car the issue is more frequent and pronounced. Being a cheapskate who ran all sorts of BL chod in the 80s I tend to engine brake rather than use the peddle when slowing down.

The other thing to check is I have noticed a slight smell of petrol in the boot. Apparently splits in the vacuum hose to the fuel tank are not uncommon. This means that excess fuel vapour is not getting sooked back into the tank. You only notice it at lower revs because at higher revs the fuel is dumped into the engine.

Whatever it is I definitely suspect the air hoses on a 20 year old volvo over ignition especially given the rev and intermittent nature and that the symptom is more pronounced on breaking.

[scooters]

To Do List:

1/ check suspension and steering bushes for wear especially tie rods
2/ source oem wheels and get new tyres
3/ source misfire
4/ get some decent seat covers to protect the leather
5/ get a replacement grille
6/ get replacement headlight wipers
7/ sort the only but of rust: a tiny bit of bubbling under the top nearside windscreen seal, probably caused by a numpty from autoglass.
8/ add a Grom Bluetooth module to the stereo.
9/ fix the heater/air flow issue.. Intermittently stops coming out of the vents. Suspect solenoid flap, Sony other ideas?
10/ source a boot liner
11/ get the underside professionally waxoyled
12/ get an additional set of wheels (irons ideally) with snow tyres (I live 900ft up a hill in Northumberland, the winter was very, very hard here)
13/ timing belt and water pump
14/ replacement radiator as the current one us looking a bit tired
15/ continue the seat leather treatment. I'm applying weekly doses of gliptone conditioner and dubbin saddle soap. The leather is already a million times better, this is why I need the seat covers, keep the dig and the kids off the leather!

The car has clocked 4000 miles in 4 weeks and has performed admirably. My wife is hassling me to get an xc90 but tbh.. Better the devil you know and this car is a very good example.

[classicswede]

Non of the 940 bushes fit so stuck with fitting rubber. The most common bushes to go are the ones in the rear of the front wishbones.
The do use the same type of front spring and top mount as the 940.
The rear is a multilink IRS and most often with Nivomat

I have covered mine to Coilovers front and rear but keeping original ride height. Will be doing the same to my dads 960 limo when the Nivomats give up on that. It is stiffer but absorbs bumps well allowing you to go quickly over speed bumps.

I don't think IPD do any anti roll bars for them but with the Coilovers body roll is minimal

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by scooters

To Do List:

1/ check suspension and steering bushes for wear especially tie rods
2/ source oem wheels and get new tyres
3/ source misfire
4/ get some decent seat covers to protect the leather
5/ get a replacement grille
6/ get replacement headlight wipers
7/ sort the only but of rust: a tiny bit of bubbling under the top nearside windscreen seal, probably caused by a numpty from autoglass.
8/ add a Grom Bluetooth module to the stereo.
9/ fix the heater/air flow issue.. Intermittently stops coming out of the vents. Suspect solenoid flap, Sony other ideas?
10/ source a boot liner
11/ get the underside professionally waxoyled
12/ get an additional set of wheels (irons ideally) with snow tyres (I live 900ft up a hill in Northumberland, the winter was very, very hard here)
13/ timing belt and water pump
14/ replacement radiator as the current one us looking a bit tired
15/ continue the seat leather treatment. I'm applying weekly doses of gliptone conditioner and dubbin saddle soap. The leather is already a million times better, this is why I need the seat covers, keep the dig and the kids off the leather!

The car has clocked 4000 miles in 4 weeks and has performed admirably. My wife is hassling me to get an xc90 but tbh.. Better the devil you know and this car is a very good example.

Can't help with most of that but i can give a few ideas referenced back through your numbering system :

3/ It could be a slightly worn throttle pot, especially if the previous owner always dove in "old gimmer mode". That would put all the wear at the "light throttle" end of the potentiometer track. You could also wait until you're down to about 4 gallons of petrold in the car then add 2L of methylated spirits to remove any condensation that is in the tank - this can cause a misfire on light throttle/idle and poor starting.

4, 5, 6/ Ebay and http://www.partsforvolvosonline.com/

9/ On my 760, there is a bank of vacuum solenoid valves on the side of the heater box and they control various flaps. The solder on the connections to the solenoid coils failed so none of the valves were operating - end result, very poor airflow to anywhere! It sounds like you have one in the early stages and the solder is making and breaking. It also meant on mine no heater temperature control! It was hot or errr......... hot!

The rest i can't help with anything definitely contructive or you've already got it figured out.

[Dirty Rooster]

Originally Posted by scooters

... and the wiper arms, parks and skooshers have been removed and the spindles left. The wipers are actually quite necessary in a daily in this part of the world.

Nonsense.

5/ bad steering wheel shake at 60-70,... I'm going to get the tyres balanced ...

Scary!
Did you get all four wheel balanced ASAP?
I found Gates at Carlisle really good for my 940 on old 240 Virgos, they made a good job of a difficult deal.

I saw a nice black late S90 saloon today, Cumbria.

[scooters]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Can't help with most of that but i can give a few ideas referenced back through your numbering system :

3/ It could be a slightly worn throttle pot, especially if the previous owner always dove in "old gimmer mode". That would put all the wear at the "light throttle" end of the potentiometer track. You could also wait until you're down to about 4 gallons of petrold in the car then add 2L of methylated spirits to remove any condensation that is in the tank - this can cause a misfire on light throttle/idle and poor starting.

4, 5, 6/ Ebay and http://www.partsforvolvosonline.com/

9/ On my 760, there is a bank of vacuum solenoid valves on the side of the heater box and they control various flaps. The solder on the connections to the solenoid coils failed so none of the valves were operating - end result, very poor airflow to anywhere! It sounds like you have one in the early stages and the solder is making and breaking. It also meant on mine no heater temperature control! It was hot or errr......... hot!

The rest i can't help with anything definitely contructive or you've already got it figured out.

Thanks Dave, I'll check the throttle pot. Given it was a wedding car for 90,000 miles this is quite likely.

Agree with your diagnosis of the vent system, it cuts out at speed which suggests to me the flaps are flapping about in the wind.

[scooters]

Originally Posted by Dirty Rooster

Nonsense.


Scary!
Did you get all four wheel balanced ASAP?
I found Gates at Carlisle really good for my 940 on old 240 Virgos, they made a good job of a difficult deal.

I saw a nice black late S90 saloon today, Cumbria.

I live on a farm... Very very muddy drive, trust me, the wipers are needed, I'll save a fortune on tissues.

Might try Gates although I need to get a decent set of all season tyres anyway as at the moment it's on a combo of front snow tyres and rear budgets that make road noise, handling, ride and fuel consumption all less than amusing. Big heavy cars like this always benefit from a decent set of boots.

[Laird Scooby]

I don't know if you have any plans for upgrading the headlamp bulbs but if you do, seriously consider changing to LED bulbs (preferably ones that use Philips LumiLEDs as they tend to replicate the light pattern from filament bulbs so beam pattern is correct/enhanced) as they run a lot cooler so the mud, dirt, road salt etc doesn't get baked on my the heat from the halogen bulbs.

Can't remember the last time i needed to clean any of my headlamps since fitting LED headlamp bulbs! Also the colour temperature is more like daylight (6000K) so is much more restful on your eyes at night and has the added advantage of picking up small animals eyes easily such as rabbits, deer, foxes etc in the hedgerows - handy in a rural place!