ok, just bought a 1991 740 Wagon with 231k miles on it. this car is super clean in and out and under the hood! 2.3 runs like a champ and tranny shifts perfect, pretty sure the head has been off and head gasket replaced and so on. but other than that this car is really awesome. i gave $1300 for it and think i did pretty good. now, since i have been a Ford man most of my life i am new to Volvos (other than the 87' 740 Turbo i owned for about 5 weeks 4 years ago). bought this car for the wife and kids to get around in while i finish college and again so far pleased. So, with all that said here is my question/issue: front end has pulsing when brakes applied throughout speeds (warped rotor i am sure of), but the front end has a HORRIBLE shake between 40-55 mph, after that it is smooth. just wanting to find out the common issue they have before i take it to the shop at school and put it on the lift for myself. i am sure someone on here will know the answer. Thanks so much!

-New Guy

 

Quite often when a car with a warped rotor is driven like that for a long period, teh tyres can take a "set". That is, the higher/lower braking effort due to the warped rotor can make the tyre go out of round slightly.
Warped rotors are also hard on tie rod ends if left for a long time.
So, I would check tie rod ends and have the tyres balanced, and if in budget, get new front tyres.
Of course, you could have a warped road wheel too..........

Regards, Andrew.

 

thank you sir, i was thinking some of the same things...just making sure there were no Volvo issues that one might not see right off hand.

 

Sounds like tire balance issue. Also might seem trivial but... tire air pressure plays a big role, make sure there all set correctly.

 

alright, so today i took the car to the shop at school and did the following: installed brand new rotors, pads, balanced front tires, checked tie rod ends and ball joints, and set all tire pressure to 40 (max is 44), one back tire had 67 psi in it.....didnt have time to balance back tires. but with all this the car still has the bad shake between 45-55 mph. the shimmey is gone since i replaced the rotors though. but both rotors were pretty bad and both were under .906 when measured with the micrometer, one was REALLY bad. so this week i am going to balance back tires and if that doesn't do the trick i am going to buy new tires.....

 

anyone know how to determine which steering rack i would have? i need inner tie rods for the car, DS is shot and PS is almost there. thus the issue with the front end shaking.

 

I just bought a 90 a couple of weeks ago, and I've been grabbing all the info I can find, and according to my stuff...

CAMgear = small opening at wheel end of rubber rack boot.
ZF = wide opening with a metal disk.

Various sites also have the info from the build tag on the radiator brace, and/or the tag on the door pillar.

Here's one now......

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/700M...teNumberCoding