Its been very cold here over the last few days, and a new problem has become apparent. In our 1992 240 wagon, the climate control doesn't blow warm. Not only that, but the temperature gauge on the dash doesn't show the engine even begin to get warm until about 30 mins into the drive.

My first thought is that the thermostat is staying open and not letting the engine heat up. Can anyone validate this, or suggest something different?

 

check that the heater valve is working. on the last couple year 240s', they switched from a cable activated heater valve to a vacuum activated valve such as have been used on 740/940 for 10 years earlier.

you'd need to start the car with the hood open, find the heater valve (its between the engine and the firewall, inline on one of the two heater hoses that come from the back of the head and connect to the heater core under the dash). have someone work the heat control lever from off to high and back (slowly) and see if you can see the valve lever move. if not, check the vacuum lines in that area.... there's a vacuum line from the intake manifold that goes through the firewall to the heater control panel, and another that comes from the heater control panel to the heater valve. the vacuum hose from the intake manifold probably goes to a vacuum booster thing (plastic bubbles) with a 1-way valve.

 

Great suggestion, I'll try that. What do you make of the fact that the engine remains cold (according to the temperature gauge)? My Mercedes 300D has poor heat in the winter because the low engine temperature literally cannot heat the cold air effectively enough. When it is around 0 degrees F, I only have heat below 45mph!

I wondered if it could be a similar situation, where the engine is being kept too cool and through extension not heating the engine compartment.

 

yeah, its probably a good idea to check the thermostat. they are pretty darn easy to access on these engines, anyways.

 

Is the lack of heat a new event?
Did it have heat before, last season?
There are cars that have hard time heating up in winter, Volvos are not known for that. One crude solution is to block radiator partially with some type of shield... This is last result of course, first make sure that the Tstat is good and that the heater valve is operational like Pierce said...

 

the heater in a 240 should be able to bake you if everything is working well. after all, these are SWEDISH cars, and its effin COLD in Sweden in the winter.

 

I agree that the 240 is the best heated car I've ever driven. For EXTREME cold, Volvo offered a grill cover to allow the radiator to warm up. For polar expeditions, I presume.

I live in Texas, so of course when I saw one that would fit my GT...I HAD to buy it!