Hey all,

Picked up a 1987 245 today, this is my first Volvo and I love the thing already. Car runs and drives awesome, the only real complaint I have about the car is the fumes in cabin even while moving. Exhuast system looks and sounds tight but I am wondering if how its routed and whats in the system is causing the issues. Running along the passenger side, the cat is newer but its an OEM part, first muffler is a glasspack but from the first muffler its goes up and over the rear end housing then straight out the back, no second muffler with the two 90s exiting out the drivers side. The tip of the exhaust is clear of the car and like I said its newer pipe and seems tight. Would the lack of the second muffler cause this stank? It was suggested by the guy I bought it from since the license plate lights are missing that it may be getting in there. The smell is without a doubt exhaust, it does have two really small oil leaks but its not that. I can roll the windows down and make it liveable but rolling them down isnt always going to be real fun in the winter or in the rain so i need to track this down.

Thoughts before I haul it to the muffler shop?

 

Volvos should constantly be sucking fresh air in at the cowl, and exhaust it at vents in the rear side of the wagon. I normally drive a 240 with all 3 square ventilation buttons out, and the fan on the first click.

the exhaust pipe should be straight out the back, poking out under the rear... I'm not sure what you mean by 'two 90s out the driver side'

phew, a single 'glasspack' must be kinda loud. the stock exhaust is very free breathing and very quiet.

 

Yeah I was a little vague there....so, in the diagram part 9 on my car is what is routed out the rear of the car, 10, 11, 12 and 13 or 14 all aren't there. The 90 degrees angles I talked about are on 9 and 14. Noise is a touch on the loud side when you get on it, I don't care for that but under normal driving sound isn't terrible, just the fumes.

So now that we've cleared up what I meant, you think this difference in parts could have a role in my fumes?

 

more likely, you have an exhaust leak at the header or downpipe.

you might block the pipe with a tennis ball or something while its idling and see if you can see/hear the exhaust coming out somewhere (2 man job, one to hold tennis ball, other to investigate). if there are no leaks at all, it will probably stall or push the tennis ball off the end of the pipe no matter how hard you hold it there.

 

I'll check it more throughly, had my hand over the tip (just started it haha) and didn't hear any hissing in the back but engine ran the same. I'll recruit one of my compadres to plug it up so I can listen. If we can't pick up where any sounds coming from what would be our next course of action?

 

well, if you're smelling exhaust fumes in the cab while moving, and the fan is on low, recirc is not closed, then its pretty much got to be coming from forward of the cowl vents, which is to say, under the hood... unless this car has gaping rust holes.

 

Makes sense to me, thanks pierce, will report back