1980 Volvo 240DL - Hello, John, got a new mowtah!

Got 'The Svede' home in one piece. Drove almost 300 miles without a hitch and not much adventure other than getting a little warm on a 10 mile long uphill in 103 degree heat. When we arrived home she marked her territory with a little oil drip, which is perfectly fine with me. The car hasn't been driven much the past few years so I'm sure seals and whatnot are dried out. If it drips a lot I'll steam clean off the underside and throw some talc up under there to telltale where the oil is coming from.

The next few days I'll clean it up and take inventory of what needs doing. I'll also take some pics of her multicolored (mostly green, brown, black and white) interior which will need some work. Work, as in hunting around the junk yards for door cards, etc.

1st order of business is to fix the AC. I ordered some AC gauges compatible with R12 freon. Along with pressurizing the system with R134 and a marker dye I should be able to diagnose it. I didn't even look yet to see if the compressor clutch is engaging or the fuses are bad.

If the compressor is hosed it's about $120 trade, similarly I'm betting it'll be $100-$120 for the expansion valve or dryer plus about $75 to refill the R12. I'm hoping it's just seals or the usual leakage from the Schrader valves.

-Steve

Hey John! I grew up in Halifax and my family still live there ... love your and Steve's projects.

Plans are open right now. I want to drive it for a while, do some fixing over the winter, probably get it lower, bodywork, interior, etc.

The car is very sound mechanically and the engine runs very strongly but has very high miles, 202k, and the transmission is a little temperamental. Perfectly good for local driving while I do some work on it.

I am tempted by a conversion to a fuel injected Ford 5.0 V8 and T5 from a Mustang. Mustangs and 302/5.0 V8s and T5s are aplenty here and parts are pretty cheap. For example, $1500 would have bought me two rebuilt Mustang 5.0 motors and two rebuilt T5s last week with about a years driving on them. A ton of other parts came too.

Still early days yet so plans change ...

-Steve

Thanks ...

The two doors are reasonably rare, which will cause problems for replacing some of the internal panels. Might be able to restore them. This weekend I'll be tinkering with it and I'll take a pile of photos ...

-Steve

Did some testing on the AC system. I got a set of Chinese R12 AC gauges and connected them up.

They read about 75psi static pressure (without the compressor/engine running) on both the low and high pressure sure of the compressor, anything below about 80psi indicates the freon is low. Ideally one wants the pressure at greater than 88psi.

I checked the compressor clutch was engaging and it is, which is excellent news. I can turn on and off the compressor clutch from inside the car. The compressor is also running reasonably quiet which is a great sign that I don't need a new compressor, which costs bank!

Next step is to take the car to an AC shop and have them put some ultraviolet dye into the system to find leaks. If the refrigerant leaks the dye will also leak and we'll be able to see where exactly with a black light. Get the system evacuated, repair any leaks, pressure test the system, put in new mineral oil and refill with R12 freon and then I should have good AC.

The evacuation has to be done by a certified and licensed shop because R12 is bad for the environment and it's a $10,000 fine for evacuating into open air. Plus, I need the AC fixed, pressure tested and refilled. I don't have a freon license so I can't buy freon to refill the car anyway.

-Steve

you can get an r12 to r134 conversion gas, we use it at work. ill try to find out what it exactly is.

Static idle when cold is about 1200rpm and when warmed up it's about 1500rpm. The engine pulls clean and strongly. I suspect a vacuum leak somewhere, maybe the fast idle valve. I'll get some carb cleaner (or find where I ratholed it last time) to see if there's any stumbling or change in the RPM when I spray it around.

I also want to check the timing because the timing marks are not clear and I couldn't see them with my timing light. It's still too hot here to really get anything done, but the next couple weeks should see it cooling off and then I can get to it and my other projects.

When my iphone has charged I'll take some photos ...

-Steve

yup freeze 12. btw pic 26 is your idle control valve. take ity off and give it a good spray with carbie cleaner. i used to have a 244gl in the same colour, and i have a 1975 245dl 2.1 in maroon. awesome things. sussed the heater yet?

Just failed emissions testing in pretty good fashion. They are:

Loaded Hydrocarbons, 239 (220)
Loaded CO, 7.04 (1.20)
Idle Hydrocarbons, 425 (220)
Idle CO, 8.74 (1.20)

I have 60 days where I can get a retest for free.

The rules are I have to either fix it or spend $450 on repairs before I can apply for a waiver. I want to fix it, naturally. I bet if I fix whatever is causing the high idle that will go a long way to reducing the emissions.

If I understand it, the CO is usually indicative of overfueliing while the hydrocarbons is due to ignition.

Any ideas?

-Steve

Thanks mate! I don't know much about the Bosch mechanical injection yet to be adjusting it and I have no idea of the condition of the rest of the idle control or emissions curse word already on it. Time for more research and tinkering ...

Turbo (with Megasquirt) is one of options if I can't get the emissions fixed (or later even if I can). The other is a Ford 302/5.0L V8 and T5 (with Megasquirt) from a Mustang.

-Steve