I will be changing the rear coils on my 1990 240 Volvo DL tommorrow(on my birthday!). Is there anything I need to know to do special or grease?

 

Nope, it is very easy to do. Just make sure you have a good socket set with extensions.

 

The lower mounting nuts for the coil springs, as well as the lower nuts for the shock absorbers, are self-locking and you should use new ones. Spray the old nuts with PB Blaster or Kroil to loosen them up. They can get pretty corroded. You should have a floor jack and a pair of jack stands. Loosen the lug nuts. Lift the rear at the differential with the floor jack and place jack stands at the rear jacking points. Remove the wheels. Lift the rear end slightly with the floor jack. Note the orientation of the coils and how they're seated. Disconnect the shock absorber and spring lower mounts. Then lower the jack to unload the springs and remove them. They may be stuck because of undercoating and corrosion. Be sure the new coils are seated properly. Torque the spring mounting nut to 14 ft-lb, the lower shock nut to 62 ft-lb, and the lug nuts to 85 ft-lb.

Happy birthday. Safety first.

 

i called a couple of shops and they said with the car on jacks and the rear arms extended, there isn't any pressure on the springs. they said that that i don't need a coil compressor because when i loosen the bolt the springs will flow right off. can anyone confirm this?

 

You don't need spring compressors for the rear coils. Once they are unloaded and the lower nut is removed they should pull right off.

 

I did it successfully this weekend. It was pretty easy. My car's appearance looks a lot better. Thank you for the help.

-Dman

 

I have one question....before I removed the coils...when I detached the shocks and coil plates and let the arms hang down...the left side of the arm hanged down all the way and I got the spring out easy. But the right side arm did not fully hang down and the spring was still snug, making it a little hard to get out. why didn't the arm come all the way down like the left side? Could that be a sign of something wrong?