Okay, I know this is the sort of dumb question only n00bs such as myself post, but I'm preparing to fix (read: "Restore to former Glory") my childhood's wagon, which is a 245 GLT Swiss Special. The poor thing has stayed on the back of a warehouse for 15 years, and has spent the last 5 outside on the driveway, but hasen't been turned on since.

Now, I don't know where to start, so I was wondering what is the essential reading material to go though before putting hands to work?

Thanks in advance!

 

the only decent printed repair manual I've seen is the Bentley book, and I dunno if its still in print.

 

Yep, one can still find it on a couple of places, but the prices are though the roof.

 

I have had good luck with eBay for old manuals. Picked up a number of them for a Fiat 124 Coupe.

Dave Riedle

 

I went to ebay and didn't found it for less than 40$. It's way more than I can afford right now, so I've asked a friend to ask his volvo parts supplier if he happens to have one arround he'd part for someone restoring his dream car.

 

the best resource is the greenbooks, which were the factory service manuals.. there's various assortments of them available online, as Volvo no longer sells them. you can buy a dvdrom which has copy protected scans of most of the 240 greenbooks, but its not 100%, I know there's a few missing years in the wiring diagrams. greenbooks include every aspect of the car, engine, transmission, steering, brakes, suspension, wiring.

 

I already have the 84' greenbooks, at least the ones I've found out, thanks. So I was looking to complement the info. Thank a lot! Now to find that blue book!

 

If you have the Green Books you certainly don't need anything else (Volvo books wise). Any other info, just Google it--everything is out there...

 

the bentley book might be useful if you're new to wrenching, as it spells out a lot of procedures which the the greenbooks just give specific details to assuming you know the basics, but the data in the greenbooks is far more accurate, and also more vehicle specific, as the bentley book covers all years and muddles the details. those years include 3 different FI systems, etc.

 

FI systems? Can you explain? Sorry, I'm literaly a noob at thise things, and don't understand the acronyms most of the times since in Portuguise, they're often different.

 

FI=Fuel Injection
Send some pictures and as much information as possible for the best response on how to proceed.

 

I would, but my baby isen't nearby right now. My 245 in need of care is 400kms away, at my grandfather's place since we have no garage where to put her. I'm starting to read up before I get my mom to have her transported here and I'll be the one fixing her then. Problem is....I don't have a driver's licence yet *blushes in shame* and she won't do bring her here untill I do, so I better study all the resources I can so I can fix her then. Dad said that the "longarinas", which I beleave to be some kind of support near the engine bay [I tryed translating the word online but it said something about aerodynamics?] are rusty, and the wheels might be stuck, but apart from that, she seems fine. I'd check the radiator, engine and fuel systems to see if anything was messed up too, and the wiering, since my grandfather's place had mice....but this is a noob's view. What would you guys suggest?

 

how long has it been since this car was semi-regularly driven?

if its been sitting a couple years, than you'll probably need to replace the crap in the gastank with fresh gasoline, inspect all rubber hoses and wiring looking for rodent damage and/or age cracking, flush and replace the brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, and engine coolant. change the oil and filter, of course. all wheel bearings and such should be checked for smooth rolling

you can't 'fix' structural rust short of cutting the rusty pieces out and welding in new ones cut from a non-rusty car (but if you have a non rusty car, why would you fix a rusty one??). any visible rust on the exterior likely indicates there's much worse rust where you can't see it.

a spanish market car may well have different FI (Fuel Injection) than the US market cars which had pretty strong smog control. What year is this 245 GLT? early years had 'CIS' injection also known as KE-Jetronic. early/mid 80s they switched to 'LH' electronic injection, this went through several generations.

Volvos from about 1981 or 82 to about mid 1987 are subject to bad wiring known as 'eco junk' or 'bio-degradable', this is bad news, and its every bit of wire in the car, although the stuff in the engine compartment usually fails first due to the heat and stress. the insulation turns brittle and flakes off, often inside the black 'sheaths' around hte harnesses so you don't even see where its going bad, once the insulation is gone, the wires can short together intermittently causing all sorts of random hard to diagnose problems.

 

So basicly, I'll have to work in her with a mechanic as well. Damn. She's from 1984, and it's the Swiss Special version, as she was bought back in the Fatherland [I'm swiss].

She's not driven since 96, sadly.

 

20 years parked? :EEK:

its going to cost WAY more to get that thing road worthy than its worth. anything in the gas tank turned to varnish 15 years ago, and that includes in the fuel pumps, fuel lines, injectors, etc. ALL the rubber hoses are going to be bad, dry, cracked and likely to fail the instant they are pressurized.

my suspicions are, this is at best a candidate for a full strip and rebuild where you use several OTHER newer 240's to supply a lot of the parts you'll need. a project like that can cost 10s of 1000s of US Dollars.

 

I'd say she's worth it.

From my understanding, she's been turned on occasionaly during this years and can move one her own. At least this is what I was told yesterday.

I was also told last night, that a couple of years ago, dad placed that spray to reverse rust or something like that on those areas above mentioned [the Longarinas?]