sagging rear ends are usually due to worn out trailing arm bushings, unless some dufous cut springs down.

 

Here is the front window switches, now that i have been up in the dash a little, its obviously an aftermarket job.. but i also found the plugs for the rear, both work, and mothership Volvo claims to still have some of these switches. I will see tomorrow.

Debating on weather or not i should attempt the front windshield repair myself...

any recommendations for redoing the suspension, but having it just a bit lower than stock? maybe 1 or 2 inches?

 

IPD sport springs, matched with appropriately stiffer shocks, Bilstein HD recommended for sportier handling. IPD swaybars are optional (they'll reduce body roll aka lean on hard cornering).

but, before 'upgrading' suspension parts, replace any worn bushings. Unless you're building a track car, use factory rubber bushings. If you're building a track car, you might use SuperPro poly (made in Aussie), but I'd avoid chinese poly like hte plague, it won't last. If you do use poly, use a LOT of green marine bearing grease on them. like fill them with it.

 

I'm not a bit fan of lowering these 240s. I mean you can, but this introduces more issues than most people realize. Stiffer springs & shocks, sure, if that is what you want. But you have to realize that unless you start altering some key elements of the suspension, your suspension will now behave as if it is 1 or 2 inches deflected, which with the McPherson strut (on the front end), this moves the wheel not just up, but tilts the top of the tire inward a bit. to compensate for that, you have to change the angle the strut comes into the part that holds the wheel. There are kits for this out there... just know that is what you are getting into.

I recently replaced my rear end bushings with the SuperPro poly. Now, my car is not a track car by any means, my rational was this: I hate replacing bushings, and the poly should last (theoretically) a lot longer than the rubber. Also, replacing the bushings on the rear end suspension is an absolute pain in the asparagus. Here is why:



The rearmost bushing on the trailing arm is pressed into those two rings on the on the AXEL (The bushing is number 5... follow the dotted lines, and THAT is what it is pressed into), which means, unless you want to remove your axel, you cannot get a press on there to press it out like you would the bushings on the other parts of the trailing arms. Since that was the bushing that had definitely dissolved on mine, (which was Volvo oem) I HAD to get that out, and it proved to present me with all sorts of trouble. SuperPro's Poly replacement doesn't need a press to go in, so I went that route.

Now, There is a special tool to help you do this procedure on 240s... however, I didn't want to buy it, and preferably never wanted to mess with those bushings again, hence the poly. Will the poly last longer than the rubber? I'll let you know in about 15 years. As to the question, is the ride harsher? Maybe. I don't notice anything, and I've got some bumpy roads around here. Maybe my back passengers would notice a difference... but I seldom have those. Anyway... just my thoughts.

Pierce, have you ever replaced the rubber bushings I am talking about there on your old 240? If so, how did you do it? Just curious.

 

I replaced our 240's rear end bushings the old fashion way. I took it to the shop and opened up my credit card. the shop I used has a full set of volvo tools so there's probably some special screw press or what all for removing those #5 bushings you talk about. I remmeber the head mechanic saying more than a couple of them were a real SOB, and yes, they charged me something like 8 hours labor for that. This was like 10 years ago, somewhat before I knew better, and I used IPD's poly kit, which I doubt were superpro. they've held up OK, the rear is still tight, and doesn't have the squeaks and klunks it had before we did this. the 240 in question now has about 400K miles on it.

 

Very good points fellas. I am probably confused about this, but the PO kept telling me that he had put the suspension from a turbo 240 on the rear and was planning to do the same for the front. Does anyone know what that would actually change? I didn't notice any differences noted when i read through the suspension chapter in my Bently book. would putting a turbo suspension on a non turbo car cause it to sit lower, there is a sway bar from a turbo also... I think the thing to do will be pretty much a full car suspension overhaul. Pierce why are you saying you think poly is not the best way to go?? i thought it was better?

What do you guys think of the window switch situation? pretty interesting dash hua? Im trying to figure out the best place to mount the switch for the rears. they were originally in an authentic volvo black switch box on top of the center console, don't think that spot will work any longer as i found an almost matching in color armrest...

 

Work is so annoying... sorry it's been a while.

I don't know what the differences are in the turbo suspension. I *think* that they had different sway bars. They might also have had stiffer springs, but i'm just speculating on that.

IF the PO had put turbo suspension on the rear, he probably switched out the rear sway bar. This means that your swaybars (front to back) are not in harmony, and that isn't a good thing. Mis-matched swaybars can cause unpredictable oversteer or understeer. Matched ones will still provide situations where oversteer or understeer will happen, but the idea is that it is predictable.

So, how can you tell what you have? Get out your set of trusty vernier calipers and measure the diameter of the swaybars. I don't know off hand what the measurements are, but there are about a bazillion threads online devoted to 240 swaybars. The matching of the pair is important, and that is why IPD usually sells them as a set. AFAIK, this is less of an issue with the 700 series cars. Or rather, the step up suspension for 700 series cars really only needs a new rear end unless you are getting really aggressive.

Now, this is mostly theory to me. I helped my brother put on his IPD swaybar on his 740T, but I've not modified the suspension of my 240 at all. Well, save the bushings.

 

Oh, on a side note: When my brother replaced the swaybar on the 740T, I noticed little improvement in handling & cornering. When I replaced the bushings in the rear end of my 240, the improvement was HUGE. When the bushings don't hold your car clearly in place around corners, you feel kind of like you are floating around corners, and like the back is slipping a bit. Now, it feels like the rear end is right where I want it.

Moral: Bushings first, 'cause the other stuff can't help much if they are shot.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with your statement here. I would like to replace the bushings, My question is how in gods name did you get them out, and more importantly how did you get them IN, without all the fancy pullers and pushers from Volvo??

Any tips?

The wagon blew the water line to the heater core on a trip out to the coast, just got the new wiring harness in so looks like that will be on the agenda for some point this week. i would really like to start gathering parts for the suspension work that needs done also.

I will have another look at the sway bars this week. I believe you're right, the only difference is the size. haha

 

If you poke around on brickboard you'll find that most people build their own trailing arm bushing remover. It can be done for less that $30 but does require some shop tools. Check out this site:

Homebrew Volvo Trailing Arm Bushing Tool

Putting poly in for trailing arm bushings will lead to a harsher ride with more road vibration transmitted the body of the car.

 

I got my bushings out... several ways. it's a long story...

super-pro recommends burning those rear ones out with an oxy acetylene torch. What ever experience I do have, working with one of those isn't included. I tried to use a propane torch. But I wasn't super fond of the idea. The result was that I caught the bushing on fire--which would not be so bad--it would help me get the bushing out. HOWEVER, it also caught the parking brake cable housing on fire. NOT good. Furthermore, plain old water was not putting it out very well, so I used my trusty fire extinguisher. My brother has speculated that if I used an oxy acetylene torch, because it is hotter, it would not have been a problem. However, I abandoned this technique, as now I had to replace and fix the parking brake cable housing. (I was particuarly upset as I JUST repaired my parking brake). So, I got some more advice, and ended up using a wood boring screw like this to drill it out:


This worked reasonably well, and I cleaned up some of the residue with the torch and some wire brushes. (Yes, I used the torch again, but without the threat of the whole bushing catching on fire, and wetted cloths over things that might catch on fire. This worked much better.)

I didn't use the homebrew tool, because I wanted to use the poly bushings, and with the poly bushings, you leave the metal cylinder in place. Hence the complication. If you are going to use the rubber bushings, building the homebrew tool is probably the way to go.

 

Thats a good bushing story. Most of my suspension looks pretty decent. We will see how long it is till something breaks. Its been a while but i have been updating the wiring harness and cleaning flame trap, water hoses ect.

I got everything back together, went to put the battery in, starter kicks on as soon as i have the ground hooked up. i have been looking over wiring diagrams, I am really stumped, big red wire to starter, alternator to starter, and little yellow wire on the pin... the only thing i can think is that maybe when i was cleaning everything something internal of the starter shorted out, that doesn't seem that likely either. What is going on here, help me get control of my starter back!

thanks

 

disconnect just that little yellow, hook up the ground and does the starter run? it shouldn't.

hmm, wait, yellow? I thought Volvo used pink, or blue-green for the starter pin '50' control circuit. yellow is usually something like the coolant temp sensor. hmm, greenbook for 1985 240 says 'blue-yellow' for the pin 50 control wire. this wire should be open (0v) until you turn to Start, then it should be +battery.

and yes, there's a solid yellow wire to the ECT (engine coolant temp sensor).

 

I got one of Daves new wiring harnesses. so some of the colors may not match up exactly, although most do..

Yeah that was the first thing i thought to do because the little yellow(its actually yellow with a blue stripe) should be to the starter relay, correct? and disconnecting it should not allow the starter to run? when i did that and tried hooking up negative to battery, starter kicked right on.

So its my starter or i have a faulty relay somewhere?

Thanks

 

no relay in the circuit there. if the yellow-blue starter control is disconnected and the starter is spinning, then your starter's solenoid is frozen 'on'.

lev

 

So a new starter would fix that. Do you think that could happen while i was cleaning the engine bay??

This is just never a problem i have herd of.

 

well,,,, you wanna try something, disconnect the big heavy wire from the starter and battery plus, connect the ground wire, and use a jumper wire from the battery plus terminal to the "50" pin on the starter, bump it a few times. maybe you'll unstick the solenoid.

 

Ill try that and let you know. With a small little jumper switch wire is ok?
Good thinking.

What i don't understand is how this would happen when everything was unpowered for the last 2 weeks??

 

Well that worked great, now it cranks perfect, no start though. mucho bummer. Gets fuel, ill look at spark tomorrow. would a loose ground cause a no start?

 

sure, loose ground can cause many things. if the fuel pumps are running after you've cranked it (they stop a second or two later), then the ICU is getting timing pulses and passing them onto the ECU, which is a good thing. so if you're not getting spark, its probably the power module or coil or distributor.

what year 240 is this? up to 1988, and after 1989 use different fuel injection ssytems, LH 2.2 vs LH 2.4.