Roffle Rainagain's S80, now FOR SALE, now only £749! Roffle?

[rainagain]

I was looking at Saab 9-3s, then I quite fancied a Honda Accord, I saw a nice one for £1400 that I was planning on going to see. However I showed my OH the car on Gumtree, she didn’t like it and suggested I should look to my inner Scotsman and the deep in the blood desire to drink vast quantities of alcohol, deep fry all my food and above all own a Volvo.

 

I had thought about getting an S60, but she found an S80, which I had initially dismissed as being too big, but I thought it was worth a look. I took it for a test drive, it all drove ok, it was advertised as having rear parking sensors, after the test drive I asked the seller if these work, he said yes, I then tried to reverse park the car and almost hit my OH’s car. “Oh sorry I thought they worked†he said.

 

Yesterday was my first day using it for getting to work after selling Richard my Punto at the weekend, I’ve found the back left brake is dragging. Apart from that it’s lovely and comfy to drive the cruise control works perfectly, the radio sounds really good but I’m already missing the Kenwood DAB I had fitted in the Punto. It does come with a fair bit of service history but I can’t see the cambelt getting changed anywhere so that is on the to do list after the rear brake. I used the 40% code on here with GSF and bought oil/air filters and plugs so it will be getting a full service soon. This is something I do on all my cars when I get them as it gives me a good base to work from.

 

The to do list stands as follows:

 

1. Sort rear brake - DONE

2. Service engine - DONE

3. Change cambelt - DONE

4. fix rear parking sensors

5. fix non-working boot lights - DONE

6. fix non-working driver’s heated seat (which the seller also said worked)

7. try and source replacement rear passenger door (it has a dentin the top part that someone has tried to knock back using a what looks like a pick axe.

8. Sort small rust blebs on driver's door - DONE

9. Fix drivers air vent - DONE

 

Here’s the sellers pics:

[Jazoli]

Looks nice that, they are bloody huge cars, I've always fancied one after driving my FIL's 400k mile one last year, they are too wide for my commute down country lanes though.

[rml2345]

Welcome home lost brother.

S80s do look like lovely things to have, well bought!

[rainagain]

Things are off to a great start with this car, I noticed the driver's window was juddering quite badly when you closed it, I just thought it needed some silicon spray. Just nipped out to in the works carpark as it's lunch and lubricated the sides of the window with silicon spray. It doesn't judder anymore, instead it pops out of the guide and you now need to guide it in by hand from outside the car. Looks like the mechanism isn't lifting the glass squarely and the tight runners were the only thing keeping it in. Suppose I better add this to the to do list, as I need to open the window each day for the works car park barrier better add it near the top!

 

to do:

 

1.       Sort rear brake

2.       fix driver's window

3. Service engine

3.       Change cambelt

4.       Change coolant, something I also like to do on cars when I get them, especially as the coolant looks a bit watery

5.       fix rear parking sensors

6.       fix non-working boot light

7.       fix non-working driver’s heated seat (which the seller also said worked)

8.       try and source replacement rear passenger door (it has a dentin the top part that someone has tried to knock back using a what looks like a pick axe.

9.       Sort small rust blebs on driver's door and top of boot

10.   Possibly change auto box fluid

11.   Fix drivers air vent

12. change pollen filter

[rainagain]

An update on the non working driver's heated seat, I noticed last night the passenger one doesn't work as well so maybe it's a shared fuse?

[Richard]

It looks tidy, it'll certainly be a change from the Punto. It won't take you long to get through that list.

 

Window runners must be a Volvo thing, my 850's window makes alarming noises at the bottom of its travel and even the 1975 244 I learned on had issues with the window.

[rainagain]

So this Saturday I finally got some time to work on the Volvo. Top of the list was the sticky rear brake. I discovered that the wheel brace that came with the car was badly worn and useless expect for rounding off bolts so it went in the bin. I will pick up a replacement next time I’m at the scrappies.

 

 

 

So I jacked the car up and took the wheel off, naturally this is when it started raining. I was amazed that given the car is ~15 years old it looks really grot free underneath. The back plates on my brother in laws Meriva have both rusted out and his car is less than six years old, yet mine only have a few specs of surface rust on them. I took the calliper off and cleaned and lubricated the sliders. I got a good squirt of silicon behind the piston rubber boot and then exercised it in and out. Then it started to rain really hard so I put it all back together and abandoned my idea of fixing the driver’s window.

 

 

 

When it had stopped raining I finally found the dipstick for the auto box which is buried right down on the gearbox, this is where is gets strange I pulled it out and it showed just below min. I wiped the fluid off on a cloth to try and see how dirty it was, I then put the dipstick back in to repeat this test and when I pulled it out it read fine??? I can only assume that the last person who put it in didn’t put in all the way. But even this doesn’t make sense as there is about 50mm between the full mark and where it first was and I don’t think the dipstick could stick out this far without being obvious. I will check it again and see what happens. I also ordered the HBOL for it as I have no idea what fluid to put in the auto box or where to add it. I did some searches online and got a variety of answers as to what fluid is supposed to be in it.

 

 

 

Had a good drive to work on Monday, once I’d arrived I checked the back wheel and it’s no longer warm, so that’s one job I can tick of the to do list

[rainagain]

Hope these work using phone as this page is blocked on works pc

[rainagain]

Oh well partial success with pics, don't know why they're all landscape

[Tickman]

Great cars these, the one I had was brilliant at covering miles.

Regards the gearbox dip stick, there is a 'cold' and 'hot' side which might explain the difference.

[rainagain]

When I pulled it out it was only about 3mm from the bottom of the dipstick. I put it back in again and pulled it out and this time it was right up at the max cold mark. I will check it this lunch for a live update.

[Honey Badger]

I quite fancy a big Volvo, something like a S80 with a 2.9, I believe the main reason for this is that I'm 3rd generation Scottish exile. I'm also a bit ginger, it all adds up i suppose.

 

Which engine does yours have?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

cool motors these, I fancy one. What engine is in yours?

 

https://automotivado.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/emme-a-misteriosa-historia-do-lotus-brasileiro/

[rainagain]

Sadly its the 2.4 petrol with the miserly 140bhp map. For some reason Volvo have made it very hard to just stuck the 170bhp map on it.

[rainagain]

Here's a post lunch time autobox update. I pulled the dipstick and this time showed just below max for cold which is good

[rainagain]

So i put it back in and pulled it out, this time it looks like below. It must pull fluid behind it the first time you pull it out. This is going to make changing the fluid 'interesting' when it comes to topping it up

[rainagain]

I finally got round to changing the cambelt on the Volvo. This is has got to have been one of the most irritating cam belt swaps I’ve ever done. Firstly the wheel arch liner is riveted in along with the mudguard. Rather than drill all these rivets out Volvo provide a flap you can bend out of the way, however this is very stiff and constantly pushes against any tools or your hand whilst you’re trying to work. The next fun thing was trying to unclip the power steering reservoir from the coolant reservoir, they two bottles moulding lines had somehow locked together so no amount of prizing and fiddling would separate them, I was try to prize them apart with a screwdriver when I started thinking how badly this could end, i.e. hole poked in one of the reservoirs. Considering space was so tight when I changed the cambelt in the 156 I had to use screwdrivers bit gripped in pliers even leaving both reservoirs in place left me with a far bit of room compared to this.

[rainagain]

The next stumbling block was removing the crank pulley nut, I stupidly followed the HBOL and wasted time fabricating a tool to hold the crank still. Next I wasted more time trying to undo the nut using a breaker bay and an impact wrench. Even standing on the breaker bar and hitting it with a two handed sledge hammer it wouldn’t shift. I then resorted to jamming the breaker bar and flicking the starting, something that always makes me nervous. I give it one flick and it made a horrible mechanical noise, but the nut was loose and nothing was broken!

[rainagain]

I used the can’t get it wrong technique of marking the pulleys and the old belt and then transferred the markings to the new belt. I fitted the new tensioner and idler, however when I fitted the new belt the camshaft pulleys wouldn’t align. After a bit of how on earth can this happen, I put the old belt back on it was then I found that the exhaust pulley had rotated one tooth out. Sorted this and bolted it all together and set the tension, all good. Then I had a good fight getting the aux belt on whilst trying to move the auto tensioner out of the way. Job all done and it was only 11:30pm and I had to get up at 5am the next morning.

 

 

 

Looks like the old belt was the original one

[rainagain]

Need to add this to the to do list, the top of the engine is saturated in oil, I’ve no idea why it but it did leave a pretty pattern on my Dad’s driveway.

[Richard]

I think the answer to where you add the ATF is down the dipstick tube.

[Rocket88]

Need to add this to the to do list, the top of the engine is saturated in oil, I’ve no idea why it but it did leave a pretty pattern on my Dad’s driveway.

 

 

Good pressure washing will sort that out.................followed by weeks of misery chasing various electrical gremlins

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Well done rainagain!!! You are a pretty fearless mechanic, I remember your battle to fit a replacemebnt DCI engine in a Megane was it? Anyway splendid effort, I'm always interested in your threads and since reading this thread i have been regularly scanning the bay for S80's. There was a beautiful burgundy one wiht a dead clutch for 400, 99% of them seem to be silver or metallic grey.

[rainagain]

I'm absolutely loving it so far, it really is lovely wafting along. It's funny I never really wanted an automatic but now I've got one I think it's great. I now find it strange driving my OH's car and having to change gear. I almost bought another S80 there was one on gumtree for £300 with the driver's door in pieces as the electric window was broken. Was being sold by a garage who said they just didn't have the time to fix it. Which probably meant it was a complex fault and they couldn't solve it.

[Honey Badger]

The thought of playing with pulleys and timing on a car fills me with the terror, so fair play to you doing this and making it sound easy.

 

Automatics grow on you especially if you have a stop start commute, makes for a much more relaxing drive.

[rainagain]

Spent lunchtime at work soaking up all the oil on the top of the engine with some blue roll. Just been for a drive and the whole top is wet again???? I did the pcv tests I found online and it passed ok. I now think its go to be the oil filler cap seal, which is what other people have found. Could I get the seal from Ford rather than Volvo as the Ford dealer is closer to me? I'm sure they used this engine in some Fords, anyone know if they did?

[rainagain]

With the unusually warm weather I've added another fault to my list. Even with the fans turned up full, only a sparrows fart was being emanated from the vents. I first thought it was the pollen filter. Tonight I pulled it out and it did look a bit ripe. However even with it removed the air flow wasn't much better. It was then that I noticed that the fan speed wasn't changing. As you turned the dial from off it came on but doesn't get any faster. From a quick google it could be a number of things, Hopefully nothing too expensive

[rainagain]

The random spaghetti wiring in the pic above is from this half installed/half ripped out Nokia phone kit. This will be getting properly removed once i find where it's getting a live feed from

[rainagain]

Since I'm having problems with the interior fan I thought I better get the driver's window sorted. I took off the door card and discovered someone had either been there before me or Volvo had started wrapping things in red electrical tape in the factory

[rainagain]

The window not winding up straight is quite a common fault and I had bought new blue plastic sliders to go in the runners. It was then I discovered that the original slider hadn't broken up instead it looked like part of the slider mechanism had seared off. As I live in Siberia whilst I was wondering if the S60 uses the same mechanism as these are more common in the breakers, a gust of wind blew the door card over and against a handy small wall which nicely scuffed the top of it. To say I was incredibly pissed off at this would be putting it mildly.