I've read many of the post before actually joining the forum. My problems are the temperature guage doesn't work, the odometer doesnt work, the speedometer just quit working, high NOx on emissions test (failed)and no rear brakes (failed safety test). I put new brakesand calipers on all the way around. I did find a hose from the flame trap to the throttle body was disconnected. I hope that is why the NOx was so high. The standard here is 1227 and my reading was 2355. I'm looking for ideas on the brakes and emissions.

 

Temp gauge compensation board might be bad or the wire on motor bad. Odometer most likely bad gear can be replaced. Speedo might be bad rear axle sensor.

 

The last thingI have to figure out is why neither rear brake works. I've bled and bled through three litres of fluid. I tried gravity bleed, pressure bleed and brake pumping. The master cylinder is "new rebuild" from the parts store.I have plenty of vacuum. These brakes have been a pain since replacing all four calipers/pads and rotors. I read the brake related post. Is there anything I haven't tried yet?

 

Did you have the rear calipers off? If you did, make sure that you didn't install them on the wrong side of the car. Check the bleed valve - if it is on the bottom of the caliper, then it is installed on the wrong side.

 

Yes, the caliper was off because I put new ones on. The bleeder screw is on top.

 

When bleeding the rear calipers, do you get any air bubbles out?

 

I pulled the driver's rear tire and last night and tried the bleeding again. All I got was a stream of fluid, no bubbles.

 

After bleeding, is the brake pedal solid or does it go to the floor? Also, how do you know that only the rear calipers are not working? Did you test them while the rear is jacked up?

 

The NJ state inspection has amachine to tell the braking power of all four tires. The two rear didn't register any braking ability. The left front took longer than the right front. The pedal doesn't go to the floor, but is soft. The car does stop, but I can't pass the inspection until the back works.

 

Since you have replaced the master cylinder and the calipers, the only other options are to trace through the system to see what else may be failing. There isn't much more to it.

There is a junction block below the master cylinder. Just follow the two output lines from the master cylinder down to a metal block. It has two lines going in and six going out. Make sure this block is not leaking at all. Apparently they are known to go bad and leak (although I have never seen it).

The only other item I can come up with is underneath the car near the left rear seat. This is a pressure regulator of sorts. It has two brake lines going in (from the front of the car) and two leaving - one going to each wheel. This is supposed to balance the front/rear braking pressure of the car (rear gets less braking pressure). I have never heard of one of these failing but it seems a logical culprit. Maybe you could pull one out ofa junkyard and try that out.

One problem you have is that you have no way of verifying your fix unless you take it in for an inspection. Hopefully they don't charge you for those.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck.

 

Hope you get the brakes working, I'm not getting involved with that discussion...

If your odometer is still broken you might go to:
http://www.hyperocity.com/volvo240/volvoodometer.htm

Mine was broken and I replaced a little (29$!) gear with help from this site. really pretty simple and it's been good for almost 2 years. Dave

 

I ordered the gear, so that won't be a problem. I'm thinking I'll have to get a new OEM master cylinder instead of the new "rebuilt" one.

 

@#$&^%$#@ BRAKES!!! I replaced the master cylinder and the pedal is still soft. Also, I replaced the gar in the odometer and that nor the speedometer works!!! This car is one day away from the scrap yard. I can't find those gremlins!!!!!

 

My head is clear and I'm calm now. Could the junction box (proportioning valve) get gunked up and partially block the lines? Master cylinder is new, booster works fine, plenty of suction. New calipers/rotors/pads all the way around. Only streams of brake fluid come out when bleeding. The odometer gear didn't fix the problem and why would the speedometer quit working? I even bought a different cluster and same problem.

 

I changed out the junction box at the same time I replaced the master cylinder. The reason was the brake failure light came on. When the little piston inside the junction box moves enough to cause the brake failure light to come on, the junction box has done its job. My opinion the junction box is designed to do its job one time only. Subsequent equalizing of the pressure and "resetting" of the piston often does not reset the seals on either end of the piston properly and it leaks past those seals. Anyway, that's my story.

Replacing only the switch on the junction box is frequently an unproductive exercise because the seals are leaking.

 

maybe you have tryied this maybe not but hell what do i know but have you bled the brakes the proper volvo way? (by that i mean the way the manual says since we have a goofy yet amazing braking system) haha. if you have tried bleading you might want to check the rear brake valves (im drawing a blank on the name) its the small film tube looking things just in front of the rear axle on the body, somtimes those give me trouble resulting in "non working rear brakes". hope that helped somehow.

 

I've tried every way to bleed them. I never heard about a tuble thing by the axel. I'll have to crawl under there and take a look.