The steering on my 240 has started vibrating gradually. It wasn't present at all when I bought it a year ago. Over the past 3 months or so, the steering wheel has started to vibrate a tiny bit when I go above 50-55 mph. Over the past couple of days, the steering shudders rather violently whenever I need to brake if I have to brake at highway speeds. I am not sure where to start.

Another thing I have realized is - at low speeds I can hear something "clunk" on the front passenger side when I apply my brakes. I am guessing the sound is still there at high speeds, except that I cant hear it due to the engine running. Similarly, there is a hum that comes from the passenger side when I am driving (I need to pay really close attention to it though).

Any ideas on what could be happening?

 

first, check all 4 rims to be sure they aren't bent (jack each one up to check) and check each front wheel on the car that there's no wobble or play either at 9-3 or at 12-6

then get your wheels balanced, front wheel balance is the number 1 cause of wheel shimmy.

pulsing brakes means uneven rotor wear on one or more wheel, the fix is usually new pads and rotors all the way around. if you have a dial gauge, you can take each wheel off, and use the dialgauge to check the rotor for runout at a couple places along its radius.

 

Seems like I have multiple problems here. I got the front wheels balanced and that took care of most of the vibrations at highway speeds. I checked the wheels for play and they seem fine.

However, under heavy braking I still have violent shudders. I am pretty confident I need new rotors and pads at this point.

On a side note - did the 1991 year model get an automatic antenna (one that will go up when the unit is turned on)?

 

our 87 240GL had an automatic antenna, on the rear left fender (sedan). my daughter's friend's 92 has a manual, but I'm not sure its original.

 

How do you wire it? The previous owner on my car was an idiot to say the least and had the worst electrical jobs done on it. It came with a cd player that worked for all the wrong reasons (it would never shut off unless I disconnected the battery).

Anywho, my car now has a Toyota cassette player. The original Volvo wires go into a connected that then goes into the cassette player. I found a connector that in the trunk by the driver's side hinge. It just dangles there. I have no idea where it goes. Any ideas where I could plug it in? I am trying to get my car to her former beauty.

 

is that a black rectangular 2x2 block connector with black, red, and green wires? that plugs into the volvo power antenna.the green wire is power from fuse 8 (always on), the black wire is ground, the red wire is the signal from the radio (blue on most japanese stereos). the actual antenna radio signal connection is a coaxial push pin thing on a thick black coax cable, separate from the 2x2 block control connector.

the power antenna motor itself sits behind/forward of the spare tire directly under the antenna hole in the fender, and is bolted to a bracket near that left trunk hinge?



the radio plug is the one just under the "F" in the watermark, while the 2x2 motor cable is leaning up against the spool on the right.

 

footnote. interesting. VADIS (an older Volvo electronic parts catalog that the dealer parts counter used) says that 1990- only had manual antennas, there were two kinds, a telescoping one that pushes in flush, and a fixed short wire whip.

but, the greenbook TP-31767-1US, 240 1991 Wiring Diagrams (US), shows 'radio with extra amplifier and power aerial' ... whatever, I bet the ol' hirschmann antenna bolts right up and plugs in. you do need the right hardware on the fender hole, there's a inner and outer rubber seal piece, and the cap nut flange thing.

hmm, there's a kit, volvo PN 3533190 which appears to be all the stuff you need to connect the power antenna (not the actual radio antenna cable, but the bracket, the harness to the motor, and the outside flange trim piece with the cap screw thing. the power antenna also has a drain tube that goes out the bottom drain in the wheel well. I didn't bother to look if this kit was still available, or how much it cost. the alternative, of course, is to find a car at a pick and pull with a power antenna, and take everything unscrew the cap nut, unplug the connectors in the trunk, unbolt the bottom of the antenna from the bracket and remove the whole motor/antenna assembly. Also remove the bracket, and the motor cable too, if your car doesn't have them.

it doesn't matter if the antenna has a broken whip, those are $15-20, and easy to replace. remove that 'snail' cover on the right end, remove any broken antenna whip pieces, clean the snail and grease, reassemble, install it, then feed the new antenna in according to the instructions.

 

I definitely have that connector with the green wire in it. The thing is I couldnt find any slots/holes to plug it in. Similarly, there seems to be no motor. The connector has 3 wires and those seem to be coming out of the loom that carries the tail lamp cables further back in the trunk.

My antenna does have the seal pieces and the flange deal. I am sure it was power operated due to the fact that it will go down all the way inside to a point that I cannot pull it out (going by the fact that the 240 was sensibly designed compared to the C70 I have - if it were a manual antenna there would be a "stub" remaining outside when it was pushed in all the way).

Would you happen to have a picture or two by any chance?

 

well, if it was a power antenna, inside the trunk there would be that assembly I pictured above, with the 'snailshell' spool and motor assembly at the bottom of the antenna tube, and a relay shaped control module on the side.

 

oh, if this is a wagon, the motor is under the left rear floor panel, just behind the tail light

 

Its a sedan. Let me look more closely and report back here tomorrow

 

There have been no 240's in the local pick n pull for the past 8 months ! Not sure why, but seems like either all the junks ones around here are scrapped or people are wanting to hold on to them longer.

 

I found out where that motor was. Turns out it is dead so need to wait for a 2/740 to arrive at the junk yard.

Now, I replaced my brakes and pads and the shudders have gone. But I have realized that the steering and almost everything vibrates quite a bit. It starts at around 50 mph and then smoothens out more or less by 60 mph. There is also a sort of humming (faint - had to keep the window open and really listen carefully) that comes from under the car at highway speeds. The noise level was same whether it was on drive or neutral. And the wheel balancing hasnt helped it. The tires seem fine and are a year old with about 12 miles on them.

 

jack up both front wheels, putting the front of the car on jack stands. grab each front wheel at 9 and 3 oclock, and see if there's any play in the steering, where you can move the wheel back and forth but the steering wheel doesn't move. if you think there is play there, pull back the bellows on the steering tie rods, and see if the play is in the ball joints behind the bellows, or if its in the steering rack itself. the inner tie-rod ball joints are available as replacement parts from OE suppliers (but not from Volvo themselves). if its the whole steering rack, they can be rebuilt, or it might be easiest to find another one from a wreck.

 

The steering rack seems to be fine. The PS oil level hasnt dropped at all over the past year. The driver's side wheel has play when I move it at 9 &3. The passenger side seems fine. The steering itself doesnt seem to have much play. It moves very little. The bushings seem worn but they dont seem to be too bad. Time to replace the ball joints and tie rods?

 

Could it be the wheel bearing is causing all these problems?

 

I found this on an older thread:

If you have play at 9 & 3 oclock but not at 12 & 6, then your problem most likely is your tie rod ends.
If you have play at 12 & 6 oclock but not 9 & 3, then your problem is most likely ball joints.
If you have play at both, then it could be your wheel bearings or both of the above.

I definitely have play at 9 & 3, not 12 & 6. So i am guessing its the tie rods. Which tie rods? Is it the outer tie rods or is the steering tie rods?

The vibrations are slowly increasing. So I am trying to prevent anything from popping out while I am on my 40 miles daily commute

 

to figure out which tierod ends it is, get a friend to help. same setup, front of car up in air on sturdy jack stands, have friend rock wheel gently at 9&3, while you feel the tie rod ends. the outer end you can see, if the wheel and rod tip are moving but the rod isn't, by putting your hand around that you can tell. the inner is behind the rubber bellows, so to confirm, you'll need to pull the bellows back off the steering rack, and same thing, rock wheel, feel shaft, if the shaft is moving but the steering rack inner piece isn't, then its your inner joint.

extra fun, there's two different sorts of inner rods, and they aren't interchangable, one kind has 'inny' threads, the other kind has 'outy threads' (ok, one is TRW/CAM, the other is ZW, I think). you're supposed to be able to tell them apart by the outer end of the bellows, one kind has a big rubber disk that the bellow fits over, the other kind has a bellow that tapers down to fit right on the rod.

I had to do the inner joints on our 1987 240 that has a gajillion miles (speedo broke at 250000 over 10 years ago, car is probably over 400K now), and discoverd, with it all apart, that our bellows didn't match the type of rod we had, ooops!

inside threads:


outside thread:

 

Awesome! Any advices on how to take out that inner tie rod? Everyone seems to be using a special tool. Is there anyway to remove it with just the regular tools i have?

 

heh. its the ONE place on a car that a pipe wrench is the appropriate tool.

on SOME of the steering racks, there's a thin metal washer thats 'tapped' down over flats to keep it from unscrewing, so you'd use something like a flat screwdriver to pry that back first... on the one pictured above, there were punchmarks where it had been pranged to stay put. I followed some instructions I saw online and installed the replacements with blue lock-tite...