I said i'll be back!

[Laird Scooby]

Been a few days and i've done quite a lot to the wee beastie! Sorted the drivers seat height adjustment, someone has been chopping wires and reconnected them with chocolate blocks so i found the two supply wires to the front height switch and reversed the supply on them (easily done, they'd previously been cut and reconnected using bullet crimps) and used the "UP" part of the switch to get both up and down on the front half of the seat. This then allowed the rear up/down adjustment to work so i finally got comfortable and no longer slide off the seat when braking!

It's not perfect but i'll wait for a new switch panel to come along and hopefully that will sort all of it.

Had a look at the exhaust blow from the join between the front box and middle section, fixed that and then found a blow from the flanges where the front box joins the front pipes. Both flanges seem corroded to hell and back and while the front box is available for about £42, the front pipes apparently aren't anymore.
However i have a cunning plan! At some point in the future i will probably fit an LPG conversion and for that will need Lambda sensors. It's possible to buy short lengths of pipe with Lambda bosses (they call them repair sections) already welded on and the bungs to blank them off are pennies. I'll simply cut the flanges out and fit the Lambda repair sections (with bungs for now) and job done!

Today EuroCarParts had one of their infamous sales so i bought 5L of 10W40 semi-synth and a free oil filter, should be here monday! Yesterday after discovering i was allergic to beheading, i ordered a new pair of aftermarket tailgate struts, they should be here soon (Monday maybe) and today i finally managed to source the correct bonnet struts for the princely sum of $8.99 each.
No that's not a typo, they were $8.99 each so $17.98 the pair. Shipping and Handling added about another 25 bucks so total of $43.65 or £33/£34 in proper money.
I'll post the link to the site tomorrow as it's bookmarked on my desktop but they're a kind of USA version of the original German and Swedish that we had here until it changed to GSF and did every make under the moon.

Also cleaned out the small bore breather tubes round the throttle body, that brought a nice improvement in smoothness, power and hopefully economy too! Engine sounds happier as well!

Still loads of jobs to do/investigate but it's all getting there!

[AndysR]

Nice shots, this just confirms how genuine the car is when you consider the mileage and it's as clean as it is. Obviously it's not showroom but then a car like that rarely will be at the mileage its done. I have to say your seat is in a much better condition than mine as it's suffered a small split to both the back rest and seat base.
Interesting to hear about the bonnet struts as both mine are tired and in need of replacement, something I'll be looking into in the near future.
Which breather pipe was it that you cleared out, I checked mine and they seemed ok, perhaps I've missed one?

[Laird Scooby]

Thanks Andy - the interior is nice especially for its age and the exterior isn't far behind. As you say, not quite showroom (not helped by my various bits and pieces floating around but with a good clean and polish inside and out it would be pretty close!

As for that breather, i'm hoping to get the oil & filter change done tomorrow so will clean the breathers a bit more and also adjust the throttle link rod so i'll get some pics of the breathers as i clean them.

[Laird Scooby]

Well the bonnet struts landed today so i spent a happy 5 minutes fitting them! I did take some photos but haven't uploaded them to the PC yet and to be honest, they were dead easy to do.
One of the old ones had more resistance when the rod was pulled out than pushed in! The other one still had some life in it so i wonder if someone has done the repair on the cheap in the past and just fitted one new one.

I did clean the breathers out a bit more but couldn't get any pics because it's pretty much hidden. From the oil filler cap, follow the thick black hose towards the throttle body and there is a valve (more of a 3-way tubing junction really) on the end of it, another thick hose goes to the air filter side of the air intake trunking just past the throttle body and then the small bore tube goes to the inlet manifold. I cleaned out this stub with some carb cleaner and then pushed the nozzle through it several times to make sure it was clear.
Also removed the oil filler cap and sprayed plenty of carb cleaner into the flame trap and positioned the hose/cap so the flame trap was uppermost and sprayed it again. After it had a good soak i turned it up the right way and let the carb cleaner (now dirty) run out before refitting it.

The throttle link rod was also a bit on the slack side so that had a tweak too! Now the idle speed when hot is up to about 900rpm in "P", i'll see if that settles down as the ECU re-learns the parameters. Bear in mind it was running cold (due to the thermostat) for however long before i got it, there's a fair chance the system is still re-adjusting/re-learning itself.

Hoping to get out and about in it a fair bit at the weekend so that should give it a shake-down and the copious amounts of carb cleaner that went through the auxiliary air valve might improve the cold start - the fast idle is way too low for a cold engine!

Still waiting on my new tailgate struts - turns out Hermes lost or damaged the originals and a new pair are winging their way to me! At least i can then open the tailgate without beheading myself or truncating my dog if i'm taking him walkies!

[biggbn]

Found your thread Man, nice car. I had saloon in gle trim and it was a fantastic old car. Keep on keeping on man, Gbn

[RAW]

Welcome back Dave. Rickmansworth you say? Wouldn't happen to have been a Chalfont Volvo car from Chalfont St. Peter would it? That's where mine was originally sold. I had a chap make up a set of replica original dealer plates from my originals but after a mishap with a seized rear wiper I no longer have the dealer sticker in the rear window.

Looks a lovely motor and I'm sure t will end up very tidy when you're 'finished' with it.

Regs,

Rich

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by biggbn

Found your thread Man, nice car. I had saloon in gle trim and it was a fantastic old car. Keep on keeping on man, Gbn

Thanks George - it keeps me busy!

Originally Posted by RAW

Welcome back Dave. Rickmansworth you say? Wouldn't happen to have been a Chalfont Volvo car from Chalfont St. Peter would it? That's where mine was originally sold. I had a chap make up a set of replica original dealer plates from my originals but after a mishap with a seized rear wiper I no longer have the dealer sticker in the rear window.

Looks a lovely motor and I'm sure t will end up very tidy when you're 'finished' with it.

Regs,

Rich

Thanks Rich - i believe the supplying dealer was Squire Furneaux according to the dealer sticker in the rear window. The "PJ" registration comes up as Guildford, Surrey and they have a dealership there so entirely possible.
However, a recent call to my local Volvo dealer brought up the suggestion it had a number plate change at some point in its life. I'm pretty happy with the plate it's got at the moment, especially the "F760" bit!

For now i'm concentrating on the bits that either don't work or not as they should. When i get on to the more "cosmetic" side of things, it needs better front and rear bumpers (rear definitely, it's been reversed into something and is now banana shaped!!!!!), new door mirror covers (chrome would be nice but i'd settle for body colour) and the blob on the tailgate dealing with.

Eventually i'll probably refurbish the wheels as well, quite tempted to paint the wheels body colour as i think that looks pretty effective with light coloured cars. Might go really mad and make a set of "floating centre caps" for it too! Reckon that would look good with the Volvo Iron on the caps.

I did have an oil and filter change planned for it yesterday but i managed to misplace my oil drain trays (both of them! One for oil, one for ATF and they were both AWOL!) for a start and secondly i'm not sure how i'm going to get to the oil filter without first removing the air cleaner box! It's probably the worst access to an oil filter i've ever seen!
Hopefully once i've done the oil change the top end rattle when first started from cold will disappear, it only lasts a few seconds and could just be a characteristic of the engine but i'd prefer if it didn't happen!
Next job will be an ATF part change followed by another one or two part-changes a month or so apart. Then it will be the nasty stuff like brake fluid and antifreeze changes.

[AndysR]

Wow certainly sounds like you've made some good progress with it over the last few days, keep up the good work

Bonnet struts are definitely something on my list of must do's!

The rattle you describe is not a characteristic of the engine when starting from cold and I hope the noise goes away once you've serviced it; I suspect what you're hearing is chain slap/slack until the oil pressure gets up, these have adjustable clearances so no hydraulic followers that rely on oil pressure. The likely cause of the slack chain, if it is that, maybe the chain tensioner, which would rely on oil pressure so perhaps the introduction of fresh oil will help there.

Oil filters a git, not going to lie, I found the best way to access was from underneath and reach in from the back of the engine forward to the filter. I did have to loosen it with a large wrench first though.. It also does a good job of leaking out onto the engine mount so maybe worth putting some card over that area before you do loosen the filter, I had to jet wash the area to remove the oil after the change.
Mine is due to have another change soon, not looking forward to that! Lol

Engine idle wise it should be around 750rpm once fully warmed up, mine is lucky to see an idle speed of more that 850 when cold after the initial fire up and perhaps running at around 900 for say 30 - 60 seconds. What I would say is, with the engine off and from under the bonnet, listen out for the 'click' as the throttle position switch comes off of its idle rest point as you start to pull on the cable. Despite the seemly low idle mine appears to do with no sign of complaint, perfectly smooth and pulls cleanly from rest without a hitch. One huge improvement I did note to the smooth running of the engine was the replacement of the dissy cap and rotor arm, the date stamps suggested they'd been done about 10 years previously, so not the originals, but the wear to the carbon tip of the cap and the rotor arm was quite significant, definitely money well spent! Also with yours if it's suffering a bit of tappet noise it might be worth checking the valve clearances are within spec

[Laird Scooby]

In all honesty i may have over-tightened the throttle link rod a smidge, i'll have to double check the adjustment next time i delve under the bonnet. For now though it's made a vast improvement to how it picks up and changes gear although i think the kickdown cable would cope with another tweak.

Once it's all settled down and i've done the oil & filter change, i'll check the idle speed properly and also the CO levels - where it was running cold due to the 'stat i suspect they may have been tweaked up to reduce hydrocarbon levels for the MoT.

Re the cold start rattle, it's only for a couple of seconds and only if it fires "first piston over the top" rather than a couple of turns of the crank first. I have a sneaking suspicion that although the oil was changed in 2012 (yes, that was the most recent!) the oil filter was wiped clean with a rag and he was told they had fitted the one he provided! As such there's a fair chance it's blocked, even if only partially. Also with the oil being so old, it's cohesion and shear strength will be non-existent so the top end is probably getting a bit dry when left to drain back to the sump.
If those suspicions are correct then a proper oil and filter change should work wonders in many respects!

The tappets are just about audible when the engine is hot and a bit more obvious when it's cold so you're probably right about them needing adjustment. As long as i can get it through the MoT in december without adjusting them, i'll wait until the spring and set aside a day to do them. There is of course the possibility that the oil change will make them a bit quieter as well!

I did wonder about reaching the oil filter through the N/S/F wheelarch, if the weather and a few other things are good tomorrow i might give that a try as i've found the oil drain trays now!

[Laird Scooby]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Throttle Position Switch Andy, normally i wouldn't have bothered unless there was a serious running problem as they should be factory set and never need touching.

However i had a look at it today and checked my adjustment of the link rod and also tightened the kickdown cable.

First though i checked for the click of the TPS and it would only click if i pushed down hard on the throttle butterfly shaft. To gain access i removed the idle control/auxiliary air valve, moved the breather out the way etc then spent a good while working out what tool was needed to go into the TPS screws!
They've been unsympathetically adjusted in the past with an Allen key that had teeth as it chewed the heads! However i managed to get them to shift eventually and then using a drift and a hammer, adjusted the TPS and was lucky enough to get it spot-on first whack of the hammer!
You're probably asking why i needed that! Some corrosion between the TPS mounting lugs and the bracket - if it ever needs doing again it should be easier to do it the conventional way!

With everything refitted i fired it up and not only did it catch first touch but idled cold at about 900-950rpm. As it warmed up, it settled down first to about 800-850rpm and eventually 750rpm which is where it stayed when it was hot.
I'll see what it starts like tomorrow from cold, in fairness it wasn't completely cold today when i adjusted the TPS as i'd been round to a friends round the corner from me.

I found the red/white wire (near the coolant header tank) that needs earthing to put it into test mode for the idle speed. I'll make a lead up for that tomorrow and test it out but i suspect it's probably about right at 700rpm.

The "seemingly low" idle speed doesn't worry me unduly as both my Rovers idle at 680 +/-50rpm hot but between 1000-2000rpm when cold and they're both 2.7 V6s and my Jeep (4.0 S6) idles about 11-1200rpm when really cold then drops to about 900-1000rpm on a cold start in warm weather and idles at 700rpm when hot regardless.

Just a case of me getting used to the various things this one does different to all the other Volvos i've owned as this is the first PRV/Douvrin V6 version i've had. In all honesty i think i should have bought one a long time ago as although the B230E is a fantastic engine, i always felt it could take more power (and always wanted more power!) but didn't want to go down the forced induction route.

This V6 ticks all the right boxes in that respect!