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

[rainagain]

Here’s a pic of the vent pipe I cobbled up. It means the pressure in the engine should always be either a vacuum or atmosphere. The one way valve means the crank case gases are pulled into the inlet manifold via the existing PCV pipework as normal, however should the crank case pressure ever exceed atmospheric pressure, i.e. the PCV system is overwhelmed due to restrictions within it, the one way valve will open and allow it to be released. The PCV system on this engine normally needs replaced every ~100,000 miles so at ~95,000 miles my system is probably due a replacement. I’m quite tempted to leave this installed if I can work out a way of making it look neater than the current Heath Robinson setup.

[SiC]

Is that a genuine Festo t-piece?

[rainagain]

Is that a genuine Festo t-piece?

Yep, I only fit the best!

[rainagain]

As well as sorting the oil leak I've also changed the noisey front wheel bearing. It didn't get off to a great start I took the wheel off to be met with this, someones been here before

[rainagain]

It looks like the CV boot has been replaced using a universal boot trimmed with garden shears judging by the rough cut edges. I think as Richard has said in the past disturbing the hub to change the boot finished off the wheel bearing. I managed to get the mashed drive shaft bolt off (luckily the wheel bearing came with a new one), followed by the disc, caliper and caliper bracket. Removing the bearing unit itself was a total PITA. The bolts were stupidly tight right to the last thread. You'll notice my attempt to not lose all my tools during the job by using a plastic tool tote. 

[rainagain]

After a lot of effort I got all the bolts off, then a few taps of soft hammer resulted in this

[rainagain]

I was amazed at the 'Aero bar' like quality in the casting, look at the holes in the top of the casting! Also you will notice the rubber seal could have done with being replaced but as it was the weekend I couldn't get hold of one

[rainagain]

As the HBOL says reassembling was just like above in reverse but you swear in different places, now I no longer have an awful howl when on the motorway. The bearing unit was £36.50 from ebay delivered which I thought was pretty good.

[rainagain]

I can put up with many problems with cars but one thing I can't put up with is not starting. A couple of times when I turned the key to start the engine nothing happened, I initially thought I was just imagining this until a couple of times it wouldn't start at all. By smacking the starter solenoid I managed to get it to start. I was going to go to upullit and pick up a replacement until I found one on ebay for just £9.99 delivered!

 

Even though the replacement from ebay looked older than mine (the ebay one is in the right in the picture) once fitted it worked perfectly, access was quite good as well. Annoyingly the replacement came with an additional mounting brakcet at the rear of the motor, I spent some time removing this only to find when fitting it not only did my car have the necessary hole tapped, but it even had a bolt screwed into it, so I could have just left the bracket on.

[rainagain]

The next job I decided to tackle was a failing bulb in one of the rear light clusters, this had been bringing on the failed bulb warning. A quick smack to the rear cluster normally brought it back it back to life.

 

The rear cluster came off no problem and a brand new Ring bulb was fitted, I put it back together turned on the lights only to be greeted by the same warning message on the dash. I looked at the cluster and now both tail light bulbs in the same cluster were off. I thought there must be a bad connection in the cluster plug, but this was fine. I got out a volt meter and looked for 12V, there was nothing there. I was starting to think it was some funny Volvo thing were I needed to connect a laptop to the car to reset the fault when I thought about checking the fuse.

 

I found it had blown, I then checked the resistance of the new bulb, it was only 0.3 Ohms, I checked another spare bulb and the other bulb in the cluster that hadn't blown, both were around 3-4 Ohms! This the first time I've ever had a faulty new bulb, I changed the fuse and fitted the other spare bulb and all was good. Amazingly enough this 'simple' bulb change took me about twice as long as it took to change the starter motor.

 

I then moved onto the failed boot lights, I was expecting some sort of wiring problem giving the fact both boot lights weren't working, however the fault was dead simple to sort, strangely both bulbs were missing! I like fixes like these.

[Tickman]

....strangely both bulbs were missing! I like fixes like these.

Possibly removed by a previous owner because of a power drain issue?

 

That's what I would be looking for as I cannot see any other reason to remove bulbs from there.

[Kiltox]

Dealers remove them when cars are on their forecourt - boots up sells cars 

[rainagain]

Make sure they go off when you close the boot!

 

Ben

Yes this was my first thought! But luckily they do, I think what Kiltox said sounds likely.

 

Reminds me of a problem I had with my OH's Stilo the boot light is triggered off the boot lock not being latched. However the micro switch in the lock failed so the car thought the boot was permanently open. The problem this caused apart from the light being constantly on is as the car thinks the boot is open is disables the electric boot release so you can't open said boot. The boot lock itself is quite a complicated mechanism so rather than remove it I cut the wires that went to the micro switch and rigged up a 206 boot tilt switch, which did the job perfectly.

[rainagain]

Dealers remove them when cars are on their forecourt - boots up sells cars 

And balloons they must attach lots of balloons to the cars!

[Richard]

And these stupid massive inflatable cheese string things.

[andy18s]

[rainagain]

I bought one of these a while ago, although I paid about half the price it is now:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DHL-free-2014-newly-V-CHECKER-A301-OBD2-OBD-auto-Diagnostic-scanner-A-301-Multi-Function/2025324138.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10065_10068_10000009_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10062_10056_503_10055_10054_10059_10099_501_10078_10079_10000012_10103_10073_10102_10000015_10096_10052_10053_10050_10107_10051_10106-501_503,searchweb201603_3,afswitch_5,single_sort_0_default&btsid=94e5f48f-0fd0-4227-b1c1-234be804fa95

 

Whilst parking at work I noticed the battery voltage was only showing as 12.8V with the engine running. I checked it with a volt meter and whilst the engine running it is only about 12V. When you start the engine it jumps to ~14V then slowly drops down. At one point driving home I saw 11.8V on the scanner.

 

I connected VIDA Dice last night and it confirmed when running the battery voltage was only 12.5V. What confuses me is it starts fine and doesn't show any signs of having a flat battery, i.e. it always starts no problem with the starter turning over at normal speed. Is this just how it charges or is the alternator faulty? One thing I have noticed is if I leave the ignition on for only about ten minutes the 'low battery voltage' message appears on the display. Is this because the battery is knackered or is not being fully charged? I did read once in car mechanics that a modern car can't completely charge a flat battery and you need to bench charge it, although I didn't believe this at the time. I didn't use the car for three weeks back in October could this have let the battery get too discharged?

[rainagain]

Looks like the alternator has failed, the voltage dropped to 11.3V this morning. My Alternator part number is 8622786, it's a 140 Amp Bosch alternator, the other number on the alternator is 0 124 525 014.

On Ebay I have seen a 140 Amp Bosch alternator also from S80 but its part number is 8637847, the other number on it is 0 124 525 001.

Does anyone know if these are the same alternator?

[Eddie Honda]

Cross references match. Don't know what the precise difference is, but interchangeable.

[Jifflemon]

i *think* some of the volvos have an over-running (decoupler) pulley? that may be difference

[rainagain]

Thanks for the replies, I think I'm going to nip to upullit tomorrow and hope they had the right one just in case. If not I will try the ebay one

[RichL]

 My Alternator part number is 8622786

 

This is the Volvo part number which a dealer should be able to refer to. The other numbers are Bosch 

[rainagain]

upullit alternator fitted, charging ok now

[rainagain]

It failed its MOT on Wednesday for a poor hand brake. I jacked up the rear and set about adjusting the cable as the hand brake had become a navigational device (it pointed to the Pole Star). However as soon I tightened the cable the back left brake started to grab, also when the handbrake was on, this side would lock but you could rock the wheel back and forth with a clunk a clunk noise as the shoes moved.

 

I took the disc off and the shoes looked worn with less than a 1 mm on the lower part of the bottom shoe. I ordered some shoes from Eurocarparts which I picked up today after finishing work early. I have the retest booked at 5 and I thought it shouldn't take long to swap the shoes on the left hand side, complete the retest and then get the other side sorted when I get home.

 

However I've fitted the new shoes and they do exactly the same thing! I ground the lip off the drum inside the disc so I know it is not this catching. They still grab as soon as you start tightening the cable and you still get the clunk a clunk noise if you move the wheel with the handbrake on.

 

Does anyone have any idea what it could be? The retest is in less than two hours!

[Richard]

The only thing I can think of is hitting the drum with a big hammer to make sure the shoes are centred properly. Is everything in the cables and mechanisms free?

 

There's also a possibility of some kind of leading shoe/trailing shoe mix up IIRC.

 

It's normal for there to be quite a bit of free movement when the handbrake is on.

[rainagain]

cancelled retest

 

Have ordered set of adjusters from ebay (£15!!!) as I haven't got the time to hunt down something suitable at the scrap yard.

 

Think it's funny how it's doing exactly the same thing with new shoes as it did with the old ones. I double checked everything is assembled ok.

 

I can only think the drum is worn so that shoes have too much room to move about. Hopefully the adjusters will sort this.

[rainagain]

The only thing I can think of is hitting the drum with a big hammer to make sure the shoes are centred properly. Is everything in the cables and mechanisms free?

 

There's also a possibility of some kind of leading shoe/trailing shoe mix up IIRC.

 

It's normal for there to be quite a bit of free movement when the handbrake is on.

 

I wonder why it drags as soon as you start to tighten up the cable, the old shoes did the same thing, hence why the last owner had left the handbrake so loose. Anyone know how to set up the shoes with these adjusters? Do I slacken the cable fully then use the adjusters to bring the shoes in contact with the drum? I was thinking of tighten up the handbrake cable at the handbrake itself to take the play out of the cable and then using the adjusters to take care of seating the shoes against the drum.

[Guest Hooli]

Wind the adjusters up till the shoes are just off the drum, like real drum brakes. ie adjust it up so it drags & then back it off a touch. Then take the slack out of the cable, doing it this way means the shoe is even on the drum and applies it's full force.

[scaryoldcortina]

also make sure any pivots or swivels in the handbrake mech are free to move - it's often overlooked but a common cause of shite/grabby handbrakes.

[rainagain]

Sadly I've done all of this, the only thing I've not done is check the cable. I think this will be my next step. I'm also going to swap the drums round and see if the fault moves as well