Cheap Auto achieved...sort of

[idiotboy]

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

[idiotboy]

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

[Cheggers]

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

 

It's unlikely, given kplunky is waaaaaay up North, but I'm near Reading and at a loose end if you want it checking out

[Cheggers]

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

 

It's unlikely, given kplunky is waaaaaay up North, but I'm near Reading and at a loose end if you want it checking out

[kplenagh]

Make sure you keep on the oil and filter changes and put in the right grade of oil,as the earlier models had timing chain issues where the tensioner lets the chain slip,and needs to be replaced ( not usually terminal,but still a unwanted arsepain ). Insurance must sting,even on a 1199 cc VW

 

£120 a month insurance, and that's with a little help.

I had quotes for a lot more, for a lot less of a car.

 

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

 

It's unlikely, given kplunky is waaaaaay up North, but I'm near Reading and at a loose end if you want it checking out

 

Yeah that's a bit far right now, I've actually seen the car you're on about on eBay earlier this week when I was having a browse around.

I think I'll wait until my insurance policy is up on the Polo before I start a serious hunt for a motor, unless there's something reasonably near by that is an absolute steal. Gives me time to save up money if there's any work needs doing to the car I eventually buy.

 

EDIT: Never mind anyway, I've found the car for me - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-VOLVO-85 ... 8fd&_uhb=1

 

(But on a serious note, I'm thinking about going to look at this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1989-Ford-Esc ... bcc&_uhb=1 given that the mileage and condition is decent)

[kplenagh]

Make sure you keep on the oil and filter changes and put in the right grade of oil,as the earlier models had timing chain issues where the tensioner lets the chain slip,and needs to be replaced ( not usually terminal,but still a unwanted arsepain ). Insurance must sting,even on a 1199 cc VW

 

£120 a month insurance, and that's with a little help.

I had quotes for a lot more, for a lot less of a car.

 

I really want a 340, it's on my list of cars I'm looking out for at the moment.

Wouldn't mind a Vauxhall Carlton either, but I my brain tells me I'd regret that.

 

Really nice purchase there though!

 

There's a 5 door 340 1.4 auto on ebay ending today, near reading....quite cheap.

 

It's unlikely, given kplunky is waaaaaay up North, but I'm near Reading and at a loose end if you want it checking out

 

Yeah that's a bit far right now, I've actually seen the car you're on about on eBay earlier this week when I was having a browse around.

I think I'll wait until my insurance policy is up on the Polo before I start a serious hunt for a motor, unless there's something reasonably near by that is an absolute steal. Gives me time to save up money if there's any work needs doing to the car I eventually buy.

 

EDIT: Never mind anyway, I've found the car for me - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-VOLVO-85 ... 8fd&_uhb=1

 

(But on a serious note, I'm thinking about going to look at this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1989-Ford-Esc ... bcc&_uhb=1 given that the mileage and condition is decent)

[idiotboy]

Morning's post has delivered the train tickets from home to Burnham on Sea for the 27th Volvo collection day.

 

Vendor has even offered to put us up, although I think the missus has expectations of either a cute B&B or a hotel in either Bristol or Cheddar. Budget might not extend that far. What is the done thing, should one accept vendors hospitality?

[Cheggers]

Morning's post has delivered the train tickets from home to Burnham on Sea for the 27th Volvo collection day.

 

Vendor has even offered to put us up, although I think the missus has expectations of either a cute B&B or a hotel in either Bristol or Cheddar. Budget might not extend that far. What is the done thing, should one accept vendors hospitality?

 

I assume you've seen The League of Gentlemen

[M'coli]

Ohhh yes!

[Morgan84]

A Local Allegro for local people !

[idiotboy]

Well tomorrow is the day of the epic journey to collect Lulu the Volvo 340 DL Vario from deepest Somerset. Train tickets are paid for and in my hand, Insurance is paid for, and crumpled Autoshiters brown envelope full of £50 notes is packed.

 

Quick look at TFL website fills me with dread as most lines needed for cross London dash from Marylebone to Paddington via a quick stop at St Panc's, are shut for engineering works. Well it wouldn't be an Autoshite journey with out some kind of transport induced sphincter twitching near miss.

 

Unlike my previous journey to collect the allegro of fail, I'm not going to take any spares and only my small socket set. I did wonder about a wheel brace but I'm that confident it will be fine I probably won't take it as it will make my bag too heavy to carry whilst on crutches.

 

Vendor has confirmed that Lulu is running lovely and I have taken them up on an offer of accomodation for the night. So all being well I'll be posting up the road trip soon.

[idiotboy]

Hi All

 

We're back now and Lulu the Vario 340 Volvo has made it home, with only a couple of technical hitches.

 

Saturday

Left the house at 9.15 and noticed at once a fine dusting of snow covering the ground, the sky was brilliant blue and there was a crispness that made me glad of my big woolly jumper.

 

Managed to catch the 09:30 Chiltern trains Turbo into Marylebone, which didn't live up to its Turbo handle one jot taking 45 mins to get to London a journey that usually takes 25 mins

 

As usual the London Blunderground was mostly closed so some high speed hobbling on crutches to get to Baker street enabled us to go to St Pancras pick up mazoomer from cash machine and dash back to Paddington via the Hammersmith and city line. Since the Met line and the Circle line were partially closed the whole world it seemed was packed onto the H &C and we managed to get to Paddington for 11:40. The 12pm Bristol train hadn't arrived yet so we got hot chocolate from Mc Dogbits on Platform 1. Never never again, it was awful, tasting like cleaning fluid mixed with Chocolate sauce. I returned it and swapped it for a coffee which was also bloody awful. The 12:00 train rolled in and I was pleased to see a proper train, HST and MK3's but now powered by the MTU engines. I used to love the old Paxman VP powered HST as they made an awesome noise on departure, sadly those days are gone and they now grumble out of Paddington. Give me two Screaming Paxmans at full chat anyday.

 

 

At Bristol we had a 10 min gap between trains but this was reduced to a 2 min dash as the HST was 8 mins late. Not great as the HST came in on platform 15 and the Taunton train departed on platform 6. I also got my crutch stuck in the door of the wretched Taunton bound sprinter (another piss take of a name if ever there was) causing a slight delay in departure so apologies to anyone on here who was on or waiting for that train. My bad.

 

At Burnham station we were met by Lulu's owner Sophie and driven back to theirs as we were staying over. The journey did not go well as the Volvo conked out on the exit ramp of the station and would not idle. This was a bit of an arse as it made driving quite difficult, Sophie couldn't understand it as it had been running well all week. I think it must have been my aura interfering with the Renex electronic ignition system, as I am a Jonah when it comes to vehicles.

 

By fits and starts we finally made it back to Sophie's and two cups of tea and some tools later we found dirt in the carb, so fingers crossed that was the issue. Also the heater fan resistor pack, packed up (again) and we removed it for a quick soldering session. These are apparently a load of crap and often go wrong, the issue was found to be a dry joint between the contact and the connector on the PCB. Its all held together with rivets and there must have been corrosion under the head of the rivet. Still more solder fixed that (I hope).

 

The car oddly also appeared to be a different colour more of a slate blue than the photo's suggested, but it was definitely the same car. The only rust I could find was a couple of small blemishes at the bottom of the passenger door and a light bit of surface rust where the paint had been polished thin on the boot. and bonnet. The boot gas struts had been replaced recently too and now the boot has the ability to break your jaw on opening if you are not fast enough to move aside. It also needs two people to close it. Over time I'm sure the gas struts will bed in but in the mean time it could be an anti theft feature. There is also an ancient car alarm which had been fitted by its 2nd owner who lived in Liverpool for a couple of years. I'm not sure if it works and I'm too scared to test it.

 

Staying over with Sophie and Dave was a good plan and after a lovely evening of home cooked food, wine and trivial pursuit Sunday arrived and along with it the rain. Completely the opposite of the previous day.

 

We managed to pack our kit into Lulu and head off into the typically misty rain of the Mendips you know that fine drizzle that can soak you to the skin in minutes. A fuel and Bacon sarnie stop at Street and we headed to Cheddar on a Cheese and Scrumpy mission for Beri. I thought a nice pootle up through Cheddar, Wells and Bath to the M4 would be a good idea.

 

 

At Cheddar, we got stuck in Traffic and proved that the temperature warning light does work as the cooling fan doesn't. With flashing red LED's we lurched into a carpark in the centre of Cheddar. A bit of carpark investigation later and corroded contacts on the sender unit proved to be the issue. Using a nail file and a bit of wiggling the fan burst into life so I'm hoping that should stop any further over heating, but a coolant change and flush is on the cards anyway, it looked a bit chocolatey to me.

 

 

 

After a long M4 Journey the Volvo made it home and now joins the fleet of oddness. Having never driven one of these before I wasn't too sure what speed to do on the motorway so I played safe with a sub 60mph trundle.

 

On the road the 340 was a pleasant if a bit of a strange driving experience, with my hand heading towards the gear stick to change gear on more than one occasion. The thing can pull away smartly but did seem a tad under geared for the motorway. Hopefully there is nothing untoward with the CVT but I don't want to thrash it until I've given it the once over.

 

So jobs to do:

There is a wicked wheel wobble on the steering which must be due to either a buckled rim or a very badly balanced tyre which needs sorting ASAP. If it turns out to be the rubbish Chinese tyres its on I might ditch them and buy a new pair of something decent, just to reduce the vibration.

The brake Servo pipe where it joins the inlet manifold looks in desperate need of renewal as it could fail at any time.

The coolant needs a good flush down and a change.

Tappets sound like they need adjusting.

The fan belt needs replacing and I need to change a couple of the vacuum pipes for the CVT system as they look a bit frail.

I'd probably also get the carb properly cleaned and serviced as this made a remarkable difference to the LNA.

Fix the speedo as the needle moves but the mileometer and trip doesn't.

This morning on startup there is a whine from the near side that it wasn't doing yesterday so that's either the fan belt slipping slightly or possibly an alternator bearing. Hopefully its not the water pump.

 

If anyone out there has any Volvo 340 bits, pipes etc anything let me know.

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. Nice write up. Glad you got back safely given your reputation! Can't believe the car started playing up before you even got back to the vendor's house.

 

Presume you're on the DAF Owners forum. If not, you should be!

[345DL]

Hi

 

The car looks really good, I hope you enjoy it. They are fairly simple things to work on, so any teething problems you have should be quite simple to sort. The heater resistor is problematic in my '85 340 too, it's a very common issue. Re the boot struts, I have found that replacing one is sufficient, and doesn't then need wrestling strength to close it, so if you do have one of the old ones, put it back and it should make life a little easier. A variomatic will cruise very easily at 70 on the motorway, much easier than my 4-speed manual one.

 

This guidance page on the v3m website is invaluable in explaining exactly how the variomatic system works, should you ever need to learn: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... =39&t=3803

 

Also, and you may already know this, when you take it for an MOT, you must tell the tester not to put it on a rolling road as to do so would kill the transmission.

[idiotboy]

Just back from the tyre centre getting the wheels balanced and the fronts were 30g out each side. Rears weren't too bad and I had the spare checked too cos I'm anal like that.

 

I wasn't aware of the rolling road business, is that actually a common CVT thing or is that just for these?

 

I also had a chance to check out the front brakes with the wheels off and they have plenty of meat on them so that's good. Being now a happy 343 owner I also tightened up the floppy drivers side wiper arm and tighened the loose battery stay and gave it the car a wash. I'm beginning to wish I'd got one of these years ago.

[345DL]

I wasn't aware of the rolling road business, is that actually a common CVT thing or is that just for these?

 

I'm not sure, I know it's in the MOT Tester's handbook that belt driven cars shouldn't go on a rolling road. All I know is that when I bought my car I was told this, and that it's something to do with a rolling road testing the two sides of the car separately, and the transmission doesn't like only one rear wheel spinning at a time.

[dollywobbler]

It's a CVT thing. They don't like it!