Hi everyone,

Yesterday I was very very upset to find a junkyard near my house junked a MINT 1990 volvo 240 with only 193000 miles. I was thinking about buying the car as a whole because no one has touched it. Although I know the owner is going to make me pay out of the ***. So now I am in a predicament. I can either buy all the parts I can and store them or try to get the whole care here and just pull it apart, etc. It would be easier to have it here so maybe I can offer him 500 dollars for the car as a parts car. No title or anything involved. Well anyway, if worse comes to worse, I atleast plan on getting the wheels, tail light assemblies, etc. so I can have extra stuff for my 240. I also want to possibly pull the engine. Its a 1990 240 and its the B230F engine. Same engine as mine. My volvo is a 1992. Although the 1990 engine looked smaller. They look identical though. Anywho, here is also what I need to know. Is the 1990 B230F compatible with my 1992 B230F? My 240 is old and I am pushing 270,00 miles and my car wasnt very well taken care of by the previous owners. I will be travleing out of town alot soon and I need an immaculate running 240. I feel that this would be the cheapest option and the quickest. Instead of parting out and adding onto my already worn out engine, why not go ahead and put a whole better set up in. Plus while I have this 1990 B230F engine out, I can rebuild it. I need some guidence here wisemen! What would be the best route to take. Thanks!

Travis

 

Buy the whole car if you plan on keeping your Volvo...(my choice)
But just the engine will work fine...compatible engine head and block....I don't know from what year to year the red block was the same until end of production.....all the same. (maybe some components in different locations but easy swap with yours)

example:
1990? 940 turbo head went into an 87 240 wagon...no problems same freaking engine...with the distributor at the back of the camshaft instead below the thermostat...my project.

IT'S A SHAME THE VOLVO'S THAT END UP AT THE YARD RIGHT? IN RIVERSIDE, CA AND ORANGE, CA...I've witness atrocities....Volvo 144's 240 coupes and nice mint wagons...SERIOUSLY I WISH I HAD A MILLION BUCKS AND RESCUE ALL OF THEM...for me of course. he he...

 

all B230F engines are pretty much interchageable. the 740/940's have the distributor on the back end of the camshaft, but that can be capped off and replaced with teh 240 style side-of-block distributor. Early B230F (85-88?) used LH2 or 2.2 injection, while 89+ use LH2.4, but the differences are all external to the engine block. Cam, valves, etc are all the same. Later B230F had stronger main bearings, and the last 2 years of 940's had the L casting blocks with additional oil squirters inside to better lubricate the piston skirts.

now, B230FT (Turbo) engine blocks have lower compression ratios and different camshafts, so you wouldn't want to put one of those in a non-turbo application.

 

Ok, so if I just pull the entire engine with all accessories it WILL do fine being put into my 240? I dont plan on pulling just the head. I plan on putting the whole engine in my compartment as well as the transmission. Is this doable?

 

Yes, it would be fine....you may save a buck by just using your wire harness and intake manifold and exhaust manifold.

Just buy the head & block and trans.....clean it up nice and voala! Unless your wiring and other accessories look tired and worn out and the donor car looks younger better taken care of...

check the trans fluid at the junk yard car...pull the plugs to see how they look...the drive shaft might be in good shape eg: bearing/ujoints/rubber support hugging bearing, don't know what you call it.

 

Well I would pull everything out of the 1990 240 and put it in mine. My engine and some of the accessories are really old and worn out. This 1990 engine is very very clean. So I would use the wiring harness. Although someone said I should just pull off the ECU and keep the wires plugged into it so I can save time by not having to unplug everything. They said I could feed the ECU through the firewall and then just plug the ECU into my car with all the wires still attached. Is this how it should be done? Thanks alot guys.

 

I didnt know there was an engine harness and a body harness. I would take the engine harness and connect it to my body harness. My body harness is still in pretty good condition.

 

on my 1987 240, there's THREE main harnesses, 1) dashboard/engine, 2) EFI, 3) Ignition

the ECU is in the passenger compartment and certainly wont fit through the firewall hole, which is about 2", but its trivial to unplug it and just feed the harness connector through. the harness has a big rubber gasket that fits into that firewall hole.

I *have* heard that for the chrysler IGNITION harnesses used on the 87/88 240s, you should leave the ICU plugged into the ignition harness as that plug is a weak spot. the ICU on our 87 is on the front right fender behind the headlight.

 

Ok so what would need to be done? How would I need to go about doing this? Swapping the engines? I need specifics so I know what I am doing.

 

GO THROUGH A CHECK LIST OF WHAT YOU THINK IT'S BETTER ON THE DONOR AND WANT OT SWAP OUT
I would make that 2" hole long enough to fit the ECU if the concerns are to leave it plugged in.
I use a Craftman 12V multi tool with the spade metal cutting blade to cut the opening of the in-tank fuel pump (use something similar) for better access.

Maybe you will need to cut it about an inch and a half on top and bottom as the ecu is about 4 and a half inches long.

I would just unplug the damn thing carefully. Done so on an 87 240 wagon. Same thing with the ICU...although mine had been applied a gobb of electrical connector grease of some type and was very easy to take off...it just came off easy...

TO DISCONNECT OR NOT TO DISCONNECT? THAT IS THE QUESTION.
SWAP ICU and ECU would be my choice

 

a complete engine swap is not really a job for a novice mechanic.


god, I wouldn't cut the firewall, how are you going to weather-proof it afterwards?!? just unplug the ECU, its meant to be unplugged.

 

I understand. Well the only way I am going to get a better running 240 is if I do something about it. So I may just have to go through my first engine swap and see what happens. It cant be that hard. Its more so just unplugging and then plugging everything back up properly. The only area I am still cloudy on is the wiring part. Not really sure what to do yet. Thanks for all the info though.

 

Yes, I know, the cutting thing is a bit wild but just a thought there. I am too happy with my tool set probably..!

 

whats wrong with your engine? the bottom end of these swedish bricks is usually indestructible. nearly all problems are peripheral systems, like fuel injection, ignition, belts, hoses, alternators, all of which are readily fixable.

 

the short version:

you'll need an engine hoist, a helper from time to time, and a complete set of decent mechanics tools.

remove the air box, air plumbing, the radiator. disconnect everything external from the engine and transmission including fuel lines, shifting linkage, electrical harnesses, intake manifold, exhaust downpipe.. disconnect the drive shaft from the back of the transmission. disconnect transmission cooler lines, oil cooler lines, etc. attach hoist to engine, lift engine weight up a bit.

disconnect rear transmission mount, and both engine mounts, lift engine and transmission and swing them clear from car. OR, leave transmission in car, disconnect engine from transmission, slide engine forward carefully to get off transmission drive shaft, lift engine out remove seperately, then lower transmission out of bottom of car with a transmission jack. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

the engine and transmission combined are likely over 1000 lbs (just guessing).

reassembly is the inverse [dontcha hate it when instructions read like that?]


this is not something I'd tackle as a first project.

 

Well my engine is just old. In the summer it overheats when driving in city traffic. My temp gauge goes into the red and then my car rejects the anitfreeze. This happens often. I have been fine all winter. Its the summer heat thats doing it. I cant find the problem. I have changed thermostat, did a complete cooling system flush, did radiator check and it was up to temp specs, no leaks on water pump, etc. I am guessing it just has some strange behaviors because the car is old. It runs decently though. But I cant imagine what all of those overheatings have done to the engine internally. It can't be good. I also changed my belts afew weeks ago to find that my power steering mount is attached to a bracket by a bushing. As I was loosening bolts to change the power steering belt, the whole assembly fell out because the bushing is loose now for some reason. So now the belt is semi tight on the pulley. That belt is squeaky and I know it isnt tight enough and I dont even think I can get what I need to replace this assembly. I cant find it anywhere online. And I know I will have to get another bushing pressed in by a machine shop. So other than that my car runs fine. I also have idling problems. My engine code says lambda sond. A local volvo guy said that is old school for oxygen sensor. I havent gotten a new oxygen sensor yet to see if that fixes my idling. All in all its a decent car but I have only had it for a year and have gotten it running much better. The previous owners did not take care of the car. And I know eventually down the road I will probably run into some serious issues. I felt like it would be easier to just put something fresh in rather than to deal with those headaches. Let me know any other good options that could be suitable. There is still a pristine 240 in a junkyard ready to give me endless opprotunity. I just need to figure something out ASAP and go with it. Thanks guys. Please enlighten me with further thoughts.

 

Sounds like you can swap it out just fine. Your head gasket probably needs replacing....now that I've done about 3 times on 3 240s. I had a bad temp sensor along with a bad gauge cluster on the dash. Bought a new temp sensor and a dashboard from a yard and took care of the problem.

Your ride sounds like the swap would be best. I am leaning towards at least half of the wiring being swapped. I agree with Pierce, just unplug the connectors....I never had a problem doing so. Buddies will come in hand if you do the swap.

 

Thanks alot guys. Its a hard task ahead but hopefully I can get it done. I should be able to. I also will have to see if this engine runs and works. Its so clean so I assume it does. But looks can be deceiving. Im going to have to go out there and inspect it some more and then make a decision. Thanks guys!

 

If you can buy the whole car and store it at your home then that would be the best choice because you can pull the engine out of the car at your leisure and rebuild it with new gaskets and other stuff so that you put a good as new engine in your car.

It also allows you time to take care of everything because i can gaurentee that you will miss something or leave a needed part at the junk yard in your rush and have to go back(been there done this)

But an engine swap is not too bad with this car as it is RWD and the engine is longitudinal and if you look to each side of the engine you can see ground so that means it is a small engine in a large engine bay so there is lots of room for unbolting stuff and it is not crammed in. Plus no dropping of a cradle like a FWD car. Due to it being fuel injection there is not 50 million vacuum lines to remove.

I surmise that with a helper that you could get your engine swapped out over a weekend. That Volvo redblock is a great engine to learn engine swaps with.
Good luck

 

Thanks alot journeyforce.