I have 2 questions, I have a 1989 240 dl sedan and today I went to put air in my tires and I had no idea how much air to put in, any idea?

And the second question is, Where I live is cold this time of year and when I am driving my engine makes a ticking sound all the time when I accelerate, is it my timing belt? My timing belt cover is cracked and I am thinking it may be rubbing against the belt and may break soon. The first question may sound silly, but thanks for your help!

 

On that engine your timing belt can break and nothing catastrophic will happen unless it stands you in the middle of no where. A ticking could be anything. Does it follow the engine speed? wheel speed? It could be excessive valve lash if someone had messed with the car and set up up wrong. I really don't know what would cause it only when accelerating. I could be exaggerated then. Look for it with the car idling under the hood. Also if you have not changed the oil in a long time, old oil breaks down and becomes less viscous. This could make the valves tap more. If you've been changing it at the proper intervals and with the right type of oil, then the oil is not a likely solution.

Tire Inflation:
I put 34 in the front and 34 in the rear (unless I'm hauling a load). My car calls for 32, but that's a bit low since in America we like cushy rides. They rate them a little lower for that reason. Anymore than 34 that would be excessive and you would wear the center of the tires out faster than the edges. Also when you check the pressure, you check it when your tires are "cold." This means that the car has not been run for an hour or so or it has only been on a really short trip (like down the block to a gas station). When you drive, your tires warm up and pressure increases inside. Warm tires grip better and will have the proper inflation. A warm tire will be 2 to 4 psi higher (I think) than the cold pressure. So you can use all of that to figure out proper inflation.

Lastly, inside your door jambs there are information plaques. On my car the one on the passenger side has the tire inflation for my car. It's pretty standard to put that information there on all makes of cars.

Good luck.

 

Hi thanks for the reply, I put 33 in my tires today and double checked them just now and they seem okay. As far for the ticking sound, the sound follows the engine speed and grows loud but tolerable at about 55mph. Once it warms up or we have a decent warm day she runs quieter, I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. The oil was changed recently, like a month ago with the proper oil at my volvo mechanic. I only have one more thing I have noticed, the car idles REALLY high when I put it in park sometimes. any ideas?

 

The tapping noise could easily be excessive valve lash, but there is only one way to check: you open the valve cover and stick feeler gauges in until you find the valve lash. The clearances should be .12" to .16" for a cold engine, and .14" to .18" if the engine is warm. But listen around the valve cover to see if that is where the noise is coming from. Just watch out for drawstrings if you have a hoodie on.

With the high idle, is it totally patternless when it idles high or low? There's not very much information to go with there. You should check for vacuum leaks and try cleaning the Idle Air Control (IAC) valve. It's under the intake manifold, with two hoses: one comes from in front of the throttle body and the other goes into the intake manifold on the engine side.

 

I will check the valves this weekend (weather permitting) I live in Maine so I get small windows to work on the car when it isn't freezing cold, and I am glad you mentioned about the drawstrings because I wear a hoodie almost all the time and I am not a fan of banging my head on anything especially the engine in my brick I can clean out the IAC before that though I am sure, what should I use to clean it out? The car had alot of work done to it recently also, I am not ruling out a vacum leak at all. In the spring I am replacing alot of this engine with some higher performance parts so I am not really panicking, she runs nice on warm days and usually runs fine after being driven quickly on some of these sub-zero days we have been having lately. I appreciate the help I have gotten here for sure, thanks again.

 

Clean the IAC with carb cleaner.