So I'm trying to bleed the brakes on my 86 240 and the top bleeder screw snapped on the passenger side and stripped on the driver side. Do I need to use the top one or can I just use the one of the other two? Everything I've seen online just said to open the bleeder screw, but didn't specify that it had to be the top one (although it seemed like that was the one people used). If anyone could explain the process to me more thoroughly it would be much appreciated!

 

on a non-ABS 240, there's two separate brake circuits to the front calibers, they both need to be bled. one brake circuit goes to the upper half of both front brakes, and to one rear brake, while the other circuit goes to the lower half of both front brakes and hte other rear brake. this way if a circuit fails, you still have braking on 3 wheels.

you will need new (or remanufactured) calibers if you stripped the bleeders. brakes are far too critical to be messing around with kludge fixes.

 

I went ahead and grabbed a new caliper off of an 85 240 i found at a scrap yard, but it seems like it's a bit too small for some reason? I looked it up on an auto parts website and it said that the 85 and 86 should have the same caliper, but maybe they're slightly off? I can't seem to get it on there without it rubbing against the rotor, but I really don't want to swap it out again because those brake lines were a pain in the ***. Probably should have just bought a new one...

 

volvo was kinda notorious for using several different vendors with incompatible versions in any given year.

and I never trust random web stores to have correct info.

lets see, VADIS shows front brakes on a 1986 could be ventilated disk or nonventilated disk, both Girling. below volvo PN's are new (refurb w/ exchange)

non-ventilated, left: 1330303 (5002026), right: 1330304 (5002027)
ventilated rotor: left: 1330306 (5002028), right: 1330307 (5002029)

so you need to be sure to get yours to match the style brakes you have. ok, 1985 shows the same numbers for non-ventilated and ventilated...

guessing the donor car was non-ventilated, since those rotors are thinner, being solid steel, while the ventilated rotors are double-disks and thicker.

 

There is a data sticker on your car somewhere in the trunk area. On the wagons, IIRC, it is on the right side bulkhead under the "security hatch" in the floor. Probably similar place under the carpeting in the sedans. It will give you vital info on the build components such as brakes and steering rack. My 86 240 came with Girling calipers, but ATE were also used that year.

 

per VADIS, Volvo's older parts catalog, ATE were used in back, but the fronts for both 85 and 86 list just girling ventilated and non-ventilated..