I have a 1980 242 with the B21F engine. Two questions, please:

1. On the firewall, there is a solenoid valve (it's located a little to the right of center on the firewall) that has a green wire and two vacuum hoses attached to it. Where do the other ends of the vacuum hoses go?

2. Do these cars have a problem with the master cylinder where (I think) the vent or overflow ports will get clogged up and they will start leaking? Or maybe it's caused by a bad check valve? In any event, what would cause a fairly new master cylinder to start leaking? I think maybe the leak results from the fact that when you try to fill up the rear fluid reservoir (which is supposed to overflow into the front reservoir), the fluid doesn't go into the front reservoir and you wind up overfilling the rear one, but I'm not sure. That's what it seems like it is doing, though.

Thank you very much for any help you can give me on this.

 

Billy,

I have the same freaking questions. If i'm reading the book correctly (this is based off a 76-78 B21F though)the solenoid valve attached to the firewall has to ports for hoses. The bottom leads to the center port of the EGR valve while the top of the solenoid valve goes into the wax thermostat. I hope this doesn't violate a copyright, but enclosed is a diagram.

http://tiny.cc/jyyPT

Do you know where to buy a replacement? I'm having a bitch of a time puting my entire engine back together and this is my first "project" car. Do you have any photos of your engine bay so I can get a good idea where stuff goes? LOL!

 

Dear Sleazy_E: Thanks for your help. Yes, I saw that diagram in the Haynes manual, but my car doesn't have EGR.

The front nipple on the intake manifold (to which I have incorrectly connected one of the hoses from the solenoid valve in picture no. 2, below) should really be connected to the side nipple on the PCV valve under the intake manifold.

The solenoid valve on my car connects to the distributor vacuum advance line and reduces advance under full acceleration at high RPM in order to reduce NOx emissions.

I would suggest getting a new solenoid valve from a dealer. Also, I'm new to this forum, so I don't know, but maybe there is a parts supplier connected with this forum that might have one? Or you could try AutohausAZ.com.

Here are a few pictures of my engine compartment that might help you. This is pretty much as it came from the factory:

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/volvo1.jpg

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/volvo2.jpg

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/volvo3.jpg

http://www.directcon.net/retroguybilly/volvo4.jpg

While you've got your car apart, I would strongly suggest that you construct yourself a new engine wiring harness if you haven't already done so. These cars had a known insulation failure issue (it disintegrates) which will result in bare wires in the harness where it gets hot as it runs along next to the left side of the engine, and it will eventually short the alternator output to ground. The wiring harness runs under the intake plenum and manifold and you can't replace it unless you remove the plenum and manifold. You can make the new harness out of larger-gauge wire so it will work better than the original, and wrap it in heat-resistant fiberglass tape. I like to solder all my connections, including wire splices.

Thanks again for your help.

P.S.: the leaking master cylinder turned out to be a broken nipple on the brake fluid reservoir where it enters the master. And the "valve thingy" in the pictures is the PCV valve. Doh!

 

Billy,

Thanks for the photos! Any updates on your fixes? I found some other diagrams online today -- http://personal.linkline.com/dbarton...mDiagrams.html

Any chance you know what size vacuum hoses fit our cars? I need to replace all of them. (Texas Heat is a killer).

Thanks,

Eric

 

The car is running like a champ now, better than it has in years, but I had to take another stab at it before it did. The first time I worked on the car, I repaired the wiring harness but I was in total denial that the old harness had taken out the alternator because rebuilt alternators cost about $150. So the battery went dead again, and I had to come to grips with the fact that I had to buy a new alternator. I should have checked the first time to make sure the old alternator was charging properly, but I was in denial because I didn't want to spend the $150.