So yesterday I did my second 'shakedown' drive in my '91 740 that sat for about 2 years. Previously the power steering cut out severely when driving slowly, so I replaced the old fluid with fresh ATF and bled the air out. It now cuts out less, but still makes the car a chore to steer when parking.

I did notice that the p/s pulley is very large. Can I ***-ume this is due to my 4.10 gearing (seen this on my bmw)? I.e. do the lower ratio cars come with smaller pulleys? If so is there any damage done if I slap one of these small pulleys on my car so it spins the pump faster? How do I remove the pulley? This would be a cheap temp fix until I can get a new pump, assuming my old pump is not quite pumping enough psi.

Oddly my speedo resumed working even though I did nothing to fix it. Also I discovered my a/c still runs on R12 even though the system was repaired after most were using R134a. It doesn't work but I'll mess with it in the spring.

Thanks!

 

if its still cutting out, you need to bleed it some more, there's probably still air in the system.

jack the front end up (both wheels off the ground) and put it on jack stands. start the car, and smoothly turn the steering stop to stop to stop to stop (gently hold it against each stop for 3-4 seconds so you can hear the pump strain a bit when you do this), then shut off, suck out the PS fluid from the reservoir (I use my topsider oil suction can, but a turkey baster works too) and replace with fresh (I use regular ATF for this), repeat. this should get the rest of the bubbles out of the system.

I've never had to mess with the pulleys, the PS works fine on our 91 940SE and 92 740T (both wagons), and my daughter's 240GL sedan.

 

I'll only add that I do not believe Volvo ever got sophisticated enough to alter pulley sizes. Either you still need to bleed as Pierce suggests or...if you notice turning in one direction is more difficult than the other, you need a new rack.

 

Thanks for the tips, I guess I didn't bleed it enough (but I did use the wheels-off-the-ground method). It's not harder to turn in one direction than the other and it only cuts out at slow rpms so hopefully the rack is OK.

After the steering is sorted out and I add a muffler (can't replace what's not there) then I should have the car on the road, pretty stoked.

 

re: mufflers... my general experience with euro cars (VW, Volvo, Benz) is the factory OEM mufflers are 10X better than ANY aftermarket stuff. We have an 87 240, its original muffler is still going strong. ditto my 92 740.

 

Wow! That's impressive durability for a muffler. I used to purchase my mufflers from volvo cause that was my experience with my honda - the OEM was so much better than the aftermarket. However, I didn't find that to be the case with our Volvo. The OEM would last 4 years but and the aftermarket about 3. So I stopped paying the premium for the Volvo mufflers. I guess the salt they use on the roads here must just eat them up.

Now the downpipe and the cat - they are still original from my wife's '89 - now transplanted in my daughter's '91 240.

 

My issue is that I think o.e parts from 20-30 years ago were indeed superior to aftermarket that was available atthe time. That's why mufflers, fuel pumps as well as many electronics that are original last so long. I question whether today's o.e. parts are sufficiently superior to warrant the extra $$$. We installed a Bosch fuel pump assembly in a 2003 S40 in July; it came in yesterday on a flat bed...pump had died again. When you do this for a living, the distributor will warranty the failed part; no way to ever recoup the labor cost of doing the same job twice. The tech gets paid twice; it is the shop owner who takes the hit.
We keep records of course. The list of o.e. parts that exceed the lifetimes of aftermarket parts is shrinking, IMO. We don't do exhaust work, so I can't speak directly to that issue. But...Texas is particularly gentle on undercarriages.