Project Take Five: sounding better

[SiC]

Been done for speeding yet?

I was just about to say, go careful with the loud pedal. Especially this being a boosted engine, you can find yourself looking down and going "how the fuck did the Speedo get to that position so quickly?!".

 

I guess this is possibly the quickest and most powerful car you've owned?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Driving a fast estate is good fun.  You get that look from people that think you're a Geography Teacher when they try to dick you over on a roundabout.  You'll know it when you see it.

 

Mine's nowhere near as fast as this, though.  So you'll get that look and satisfying smugness even more.  Which can only be a good thing.

 

For the full effect, wear a beige hat.

[Mrs6C]

Driving a fast estate is good fun.  You get that look from people that think you're a Geography Teacher when they try to dick you over on a roundabout.  You'll know it when you see it.

 

Mine's nowhere near as fast as this, though.  So you'll get that look and satisfying smugness even more.  Which can only be a good thing.

 

For the full effect, wear a beige hat.

Don't try it in the wet though, as you'll just look silly... no traction control and all those horses at the front wheels does not make for a satisfactory outcome...

[Shirley Knott]

This looks great, just enough of that classic Volvo blockiness but with modern car performance= massive win.

[Guest Hooli]

Don't try it in the wet though, as you'll just look silly... no traction control and all those horses at the front wheels does not make for a satisfactory outcome...

 

Left foot braking always got these to drift quite well back when I was young & stupid (about Ghosty's age...)

[Ghosty]

Collection SUCCESS.

[Ghosty]

No petrol station shot yet, as the seller left half a tank in it. 

 

As you might have noticed it's a 70 litre tank.

 

I still have some of it left.

[somewhatfoolish]

No petrol station shot yet, as the seller left half a tank in it. 

 

As you might have noticed it's a 70 litre tank.

 

I still have some of it left.

Not trying hard enough! A few dozen traffic light GPs should get rid.

[Guest Hooli]

Not trying hard enough! A few half a dozen traffic light GPs should get rid.

 

EFA

[oldcars]

Nice, might have to try one of these some day.

[Ghosty]

Old Man has managed to fuck up one of the interior A pillar trims with carb cleaner while attempting to clean adhesive off the windscreen.

 

How hard are they to find? I'm a bit miffed to say the least.

[schonker]

That looks tidy.

[Ghosty]

This video tells you how to read the mileage from the OBD1 blinking light computer in the engine bay:

 

 

The T5's actual mileage is 185,560 - the odometer is stuck at 168 something.

 

I also found a codeless PREMIUM SOUND SYSTEM, and the correct one for the car (tape only, and black facsia), on eBay for £23 delivered. I'm going to take it to a Volvo dealer and see if they can generate a code for it at the same time I ask for a history printout. Someone was asking £90 for one with a code...

[Pegasus79]

If you are a FaceAche user... Join the ‘Mechanics Bodge Jobs’ Group (it’s as bad as it sounds) List the details of the Radio etc and some helpful member will give you a working code. HTH

[BorniteIdentity]

I called Volvo for a code for my 1990 Volvo 240. I was put on hold for 2 mins and given it over the phone.

 

Be nice and I reckon you’ll be lucky.

[Guest Hooli]

Get the reg of the car the replacement headunit comes out of. When I worked in a Volvo dealer we could only look it up easily by registration.

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

I LIKE THAT PAL   

[Sheefag]

The very best upgrade I ever gave my 850T5 (apart from a turbo from a T5R) was a VW wiper relay which made the intermittent wipe, infinitely adjustable.

 

VW Part Number 3b0 955 531

 

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26474

[Ghosty]

Aah, I know those things, my mum's old 9N had one. That's nice to know.

[Sheefag]

Main dealers are surprisingly reasonable on parts prices for older Volvos. Useful to know for when the brake light switch and the ignition switch eventually dissolve.

Both are really easy fixes by the way.

[Ghosty]

Fixed the radio. 

 

Bought a codeless, period correct PREMIUM SOUND SYSTEM (black faceplate - V70 ones are grey) on eBay for £18 - they go for silly money with the code, there's one up at the moment for £90.

 

The standard unit and the PREMIUM unit are of the same construction - and I couldn't see much variance in features, except the PREMIUM SC-801 has a balance control on the volume knob, and a couple of labels.

 

When the PREMIUM unit arrived it was rattling when you moved it.

 

I took the top off, and it was revealed that somehow a 1/4" drive flathead screwdriver socket had found its way into the tape mechanism. well that's a freebie.

The volume knob was also loose - typical, the one part broken on the other radio. Originally it was my intention to take the new radio to a Volvo dealer and ask for the code, but the looseness of the volume daughterboard prompted me to investigate it. 

It turned out that the radio faceplate merely clipped in place, then was held in place with two screws, one at each side. Removing these clips and prying the faceplate off revealed that the volume potentiometer and its associated daughter board were only held in place by an 11mm nut on the pot, which hides behind the faceplate. Popped this off, and then the board is free, and simply unplugs from the main board. I took it out, plugged it into the not-PREMIUM unit, and reassembly is the repeat of removal. I also took the PREMIUM system's knobs as they were much cleaner and less faded.
The radio now works fully, and is basically a PREMIUM SOUND SYSTEM as I can't tell any difference between the two past the balance control. Of course, I fitted the PREMIUM faceplate to the working radio, because PREMIUM.
It's sounding good!


Also, the blower motor is completely gubbed. It sounds like a two stroke moped when you turn it on now, and it only works on position 4 - 1-3 just don't work. Hmmmmmmmm.

[somewhatfoolish]

The resistor pack will have dissolved. TADTS

[Ghosty]

The resistor pack will have dissolved. TADTS

 

Yep, knew that as soon as I put the fan on. Doesn't explain why the motor sounds like a two stroke moped though...

[somewhatfoolish]

Bearings or fan; bearings probably not replaceable on a motor that size, the fan rubbing on the casing or random debris that's made its way into the plenum can make all sorts of weird noises.

[Stanky]

You might be able to get some more life/less noise from it by undoing the blower motor and fan and poking some grease into the bearing, rotating by hand to get the grease to run down the spindle into the bearing then repeating. I did this several times with the Saab blower motor and it quietened it down for a good 3-6 months each time.

 

Don't use copper grease, it dries out. Just general purpose grease is fine. and you hardly need any, just a little dab on the end of a nail, allow it to work its way in, then repeat a few times until it comes back out.

 

In the end I got a replacement motor and fan because redoing the grease every 3 months, with associated faff of removing the glovebox etc got too much, but it does work. if you can work the grease further into the motor than I could you may get more time between greasings.

 

Worth checking the pollen filter too, i reckon mine died prematurely because the deflector plate that stops water running down the windscreen and being ingested by the fan inlet was loose so it just drank rainwater straight into the workings. I siliconed this back on and the new hasn't become squeaky in the ~2 years since I swapped them over.

[somewhatfoolish]

Aerosol spray grease or bike chain lube would be a lazier way of achieving the same thing; it starts off runny then as the solvent evaporates it gets thicker and stays where you want it..

[Ghosty]

Oh fuck, I forgot pollen filters existed.

Not had a car with one before.

[Ghosty]

One of my mum's friends likes the T5 so much I've been gifted a pot of leather balsam by them for the seats. 

Another friend of his, a giffer-ish bloke with a mint N plate mk3 Cav, is also immensely taken with it. I think it might even be more well recieved than my Civic...

[Sheefag]

Oh fuck, I forgot pollen filters existed.

Not had a car with one before.

 

Remove. Throw away. Do not replace.

[Ghosty]

Investigations have occurred.

 

A new heater resistor arrived today. It's not properly in place but plugging it in revealed that the fan now works on speeds 2 and 3, as well as 4. The blower motor still needs attention that will be done in time.

 

Brakes need bleeding.

 

The low coolant light occasionally briefly illuminates under load (so when the contents of the bottle move around they're making the sensor open circuit). The header tank is cracked on an inlet so it probably needs a top up (and new tank).

 

The vacuum hoses all need replacing as they've perished. This will be strangling the boost amongst other things.

 

I went into the OBD1 port and used its jumper pin to read the fault codes, in a very similar method to how you reveal the mileage in the ECU.

 

There were two codes relating to overfuelling at idle and under load (o2 sensor?), one relating to the knock sensor, and 'ECU memory failure'.

 

The prior three are probably related to the PCV system being clogged, but this won't be hard to fix after some investigation. Should cost about £70, but will be well worth doing: my route home from work ensures all my cars get a full exercise and potential for Italian tune-ups and handling testing. 

As such I briefly managed to dislodge a bit of the blockage today, it would appear, as the car had a random burst of power, and more boost than usual.

 

 

Definitely needs a good service.

 

I've found that Dunlop SP Sports, and Uniroyal Rainsports are about £50 a corner, nice price considering the Pirelli Cinturato P7s it wears now are £90 a corner. I want to get some of these for it in time, as the Pirellis on there handle very badly: no grip and loads of understeer at any speed.