240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[john.wigley]

'Morning, Alan, pleased all's well. The oil pressure switch is not ideally situated. It is also very easy to dislodge the wiring when changing the filter; I always made a point of double-checking it's security following an oil change.

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

Might be worth renewing the oil pressure switch itself as well Alan. The same problem can cause the switch to leak and eventual catastrophic failure which causes instant loss of oil pressure.

Making a new loom shouldn't present too many difficulties, many of the plug housings and crimp terminals are still available from Volvo so you just need the wire. However it might also be prudent to use pattern connector housings instead of the Volvo ones as they have proved less than durable.

A couple of my "go to" autoelectrics suppliers are Auto Electric Supplies and Vehicle Wiring Products and maybe neither are the cheapest for certain things, i've never had a quality problem with anything i've bought from either. I've tried a few other suppliers and without naing names, these are the first on my list because i've had quality problems elsewhere.

If memory serves, you only have the oil pressure switch, temperature gauge, tacho feed, switched ignition +12V, and starter energise wires on that part of the loom so as long as it has a convenient multiplug to breakout from the rest of the loom, you shouldn't find it particularly labour intensive or time consuming.
For the oil pressure switch wiring that's subject to heat, i'd advise some nylon sleeving over the outside of the wire to the switch in the area it's exposed to heat.

Not sure how wise it would be to take the RB completely off the road during winter. Cars don't generally respond well to lack of use. Even if you only used it to transport Bob for his walk each day, that would be better than not using it at all.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

'Morning, Alan, pleased all's well. The oil pressure switch is not ideally situated. It is also very easy to dislodge the wiring when changing the filter; I always made a point of double-checking it's security following an oil change.

Regards, John.

I agree John,
I can't do anything about the location but I can put a better connector on the end of the wire.
Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Might be worth renewing the oil pressure switch itself as well Alan. The same problem can cause the switch to leak and eventual catastrophic failure which causes instant loss of oil pressure.

Making a new loom shouldn't present too many difficulties, many of the plug housings and crimp terminals are still available from Volvo so you just need the wire. However it might also be prudent to use pattern connector housings instead of the Volvo ones as they have proved less than durable.

A couple of my "go to" autoelectrics suppliers are Auto Electric Supplies and Vehicle Wiring Products and maybe neither are the cheapest for certain things, i've never had a quality problem with anything i've bought from either. I've tried a few other suppliers and without naing names, these are the first on my list because i've had quality problems elsewhere.

If memory serves, you only have the oil pressure switch, temperature gauge, tacho feed, switched ignition +12V, and starter energise wires on that part of the loom so as long as it has a convenient multiplug to breakout from the rest of the loom, you shouldn't find it particularly labour intensive or time consuming.
For the oil pressure switch wiring that's subject to heat, i'd advise some nylon sleeving over the outside of the wire to the switch in the area it's exposed to heat.

Not sure how wise it would be to take the RB completely off the road during winter. Cars don't generally respond well to lack of use. Even if you only used it to transport Bob for his walk each day, that would be better than not using it at all.

Many thanks Dave,

I think I will renew the switch next time I change the oil, they are only about a tenner. The old one works fine, but it is probably 40 years old.


I agree, making a loom for the engine bay (out of better wire) should be trivial. The block connector on the bulkhead still works - and comes apart. The wires on the car side are all fine, the insulation on the engine side has mostly rotted away (I've fixed some with shrink sheath or self-amalgamating tape already).



... The conductors are all there though, so I could just join the new loom in there. The block connector only has 8 gangs, (including the ones from the ballast resistor to the coil and from the tachometer to the coil which are currently bypassed), so there aren't many wires to run (just the ones you list, plus maybe that solenoid on top of the inlet manifold for the Pierburg). Good quality wire wrapped properly in vinyl electrical tape should solve any future problems.

I'm planning to SORN the RB November-March and keep it under the car port, which is dry and sheltered. The Skoda is a much better winter car (FWD), and this year I was going to get it some winter tyres on steel wheels. The Skoda needs using as well (it has hardly turned a wheel this spring) - I can still start the RB and drive it up and down our cul-de-sac (unadopted road) every now and then (I do the same with 2 of my bikes each winter).

Come 1 April the RB will be an historic vehicle and tax free anyway :-)

Many thanks for the links to suppliers - I will only need a few meters of wire in each of 8 colours; I'll see if I can do a deal.

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Many thanks Dave,

I think I will renew the switch next time I change the oil, they are only about a tenner. The old one works fine, but it is probably 40 years old.


I agree, making a loom for the engine bay (out of better wire) should be trivial. The block connector on the bulkhead still works - and comes apart. The wires on the car side are all fine, the insulation on the engine side has mostly rotted away (I've fixed some with shrink sheath or self-amalgamating tape already).



... The conductors are all there though, so I could just join the new loom in there. The block connector only has 8 gangs, (including the ones from the ballast resistor to the coil and from the tachometer to the coil which are currently bypassed), so there aren't many wires to run (just the ones you list, plus maybe that solenoid on top of the inlet manifold for the Pierburg). Good quality wire wrapped properly in vinyl electrical tape should solve any future problems.

Many thanks for the links to suppliers - I will only need a few meters of wire in each of 8 colours; I'll see if I can do a deal.

Stay safe,

Alan

At the most Alan, you'll only need 7 colours, one of those 8 gangs (poles) is empty in that multiplug. Also on that quantity of copper wire, it's too small realistically to do a deal on, the profit margin on copper cable is small at best. The anti-diesel solenoid on the carb could easily be linked to the +12V coil feed possibly reducing your wire count further in that plug.

Given the environment it's going in, i would be inclined to just tape the new loom in strategic places then use nylon sleeving over all of it with a spur for the oil pessure switches and any other odd places. Tape over the ends to neaten it up and you'll have a heat-resistant, tough covering on your new loom.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

At the most Alan, you'll only need 7 colours, one of those 8 gangs (poles) is empty in that multiplug. Also on that quantity of copper wire, it's too small realistically to do a deal on, the profit margin on copper cable is small at best. The anti-diesel solenoid on the carb could easily be linked to the +12V coil feed possibly reducing your wire count further in that plug.

Given the environment it's going in, i would be inclined to just tape the new loom in strategic places then use nylon sleeving over all of it with a spur for the oil pessure switches and any other odd places. Tape over the ends to neaten it up and you'll have a heat-resistant, tough covering on your new loom.

Dave,

Thank you, your reply has just prompted me with the blindingly obvious solution: a single length of 7 core auto cable (used for car trailer wiring and so on), this one comes in 0.5mm^2 size (good for 11A per gang, more than enough for all the components) - and it gives me 7 colours as well as already coming in a neat sheath:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-2...xCJTksD70gqXsg

A 5m length costs less that £8.

Probably 6 of the wires (coil +ve, starter, tacho, temperature gauge...) will terminate on the induction side of the engine close to one another, so just a spur off to the oil pressure switch would be needed to the exhaust side. I could take some measurements and have it made up with terminals off the car, all ready to splice into the block connector with some of the self soldering heat shrink joints I like.

Einfach, nicht wahr?

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Dave,

Thank you, our reply has just prompted me with the blindingly obvious solution: a single length of 7 core auto cable (used for car trailer wiring and so on), this one comes in 0.5mm^2 size (good for 11A per gang, more than enough for all the components) - and it gives me 7 colours as well as already coming in a neat sheath:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-2...xCJTksD70gqXsg

A 5m length costs less that £8.

Probably 6 of the wires (coil +ve, starter, tacho, temperature gauge...) will terminate on the induction side of the engine close to one another, so just a spur off to the oil pressure switch would be needed to the exhaust side. I could take some measurements and have it made up with terminals off the car, all ready to splice into the block connector with some of the self soldering heat shrink joints I like.

Einfach, nicht wahr?

Alan

Should do the job nicely Alan if they can all (except the oil P switch) be terminated close to the inlet side of things.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Should do the job nicely Alan if they can all (except the oil P switch) be terminated close to the inlet side of things.

Dave,

In the above I meant:

'Thank you, your reply has just prompted me...'

... credit due to you for prompting me towards the blindingly obvious!

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

No worries Alan, i read it as it was intended so not a problem.

I did check the thermal rating of that cable and it copes with up to 105C so with the extra protection of a nylon sleeve on the oil P switch, should be fine for many years to come.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Might be worth renewing the oil pressure switch itself as well Alan. The same problem can cause the switch to leak and eventual catastrophic failure which causes instant loss of oil.

Dave,

Do you (by any chance) know whether the pressure switch lies below the oil level (obviously when the engine isn’t running!)?

I’ve ordered a switch (for about a fiver) - I was thinking that I could swap it out when it arrives if that didn’t involve dropping the oil (I only changed it a month or so ago).

Alan