Diary of a Trainee Shiteist

[Shep Shepherd]

Have you tried tightening all the screws on the back of the cluster? I cured my intermittent speedo by doing that.

 

Yes. The PCB on the current cluster (third replacement in eight years) is dicked, though - I have had no dashboard illumination for almost three years!

 

Has anyone got a spare VDO-type 740 instrument cluster with a good PCB that I can cannibalise?

[Shep Shepherd]

You broke a 740?

 

Yes; not sure if I should be proud or not... appears the coil has gone and fried itself causing intermittent bouts of running, normally lasting no more than 20 seconds. Purchased new one today which is the wrong one, new part should be here on Monday to restore it's rightful place as the rattiest car in the street. Looking forward to it, 24mpg has never been so comfortable...

 

Apparently, coil failure is quite rare on 740s and 940s. Fuel pump relay failure is far more common, though. Guess how I know?

 

I'd keep a spare in the boot, just in case...

[cms206]

Apparently, coil failure is quite rare on 740s and 940s. Fuel pump relay failure is far more common, though. Guess how I know?

 

I'd keep a spare in the boot, just in case...

 

Fella from the RAC came out, did various checks at various points, then produced a hammer and started belting the coil... Volvo coughed into life, and switched itself off again. Seems to be a coil issue as more or less everything else related (dizzy, HT leads, etc) have been replaced since November.

 

I'll have to invest in spare relays...

 

Out of interest, should the injectors be slack... ?!

[Shep Shepherd]

Slack fuel injectors?

[cms206]

Slack fuel injectors?

 

 

Didn't think so! They're not slack as in they pull out, but they do turn quite happily. I'm still learning how to speak Volvo, my last experience of one was my mate's 340 Redline which suffered from a collapsable front end.

[Shep Shepherd]

Aha!

 

Although they've never been removed during my ownership of the car, The Volvo's fuel injectors will turn in their manifold holes quite easily. I presume that this is quite normal, as doing so doesn't cause fuel leaks or affect the car's running. Even so, I don't make a habit of it

[scooters]

I have some sympathy-

 

2 years back I bought a lovely 960 Turbo (4 pot with a turbo on it - early 960s were launched with this unit as the 6 pot ewas not ready for a year)

 

very quick car - very comfortable. Collected in Swansea then on the M25 it died...

 

what then followed was 3 AA call outs, one auto electrician and over 400 quid on replacement ignition parts. Eventually I got fed up and sold it to a vicar for 200 quid who spent 4 weeks going over every wire with a multi meter before diagnosing 7 seperate issues with the ignition and injection wiring looms.

 

Despite their reputation for indestructibility (rightly so) many of the late 80s early 90's EFI Volvers are beginning suffer from these dsort of faults that can be a nightmare to solve uyou can get lucky and it can be something like a crank shaft sensort but with the cost of ignition components from volvo it can be an expensive excercise.

 

Unjustly Volvos are beginning to get a bit of a bad reputation for unreliability due to this but when you consider it is usually on cars over 20 years old which are still be used as main family transport its a bit harsh given many other makes would have disolved/dien many years previously.

 

IMHO we will see more of these sort of faults moving on - as they are only beginning to manuifest as it takes 20 odd yeas for it to happen I am expecting the level of knowledge of owners to come along accordingly. It can be an expensive issue to solve as it usually involves replacing components - yes you can get scrap ones but if you want new it adds up.

[rml2345]

I can't knock that 740s reliability to be honest. Did 3000 miles in it in about 6 months and didn't cost more than a new alternator, a battery, and a shitload of petrol. Any car that is knocking 22 years of service is bound to have a few things go wrong with it.

Due to a broken fuel gauge I did run out of petrol in it once

Don't go more than 200 miles between fill ups!

[cms206]

After quite a long time since the last update via another thread regarding a Proton which will hopefully be winging it's way back down south in the near future, I am now custodian of this rather fine machine. Cambelt and fanbelt ordered today, will get those changed over the weekend hopefully then get a service kit next week and get it running slightly less lumpy.

 

Bit of back history; Garbaldy purchased 'Sooty' from his local friendly chimney sweep after it was threatened with the bridge.

 

My mate Colin's Autoshite spec Peugeot 205 was rendered unservicable last week so his missus' futureshite petrol 407 saloon was pushed into service to convey me down to meet Mr Garbaldy. Thoroughly nice chap too when we eventually worked out what side of the nearest major town he was, with the added bonus of directions given in relation to the nearest tractor main dealer. Anyway, the car was better than I hoped, cash changed hands and we set off north again, arriving back around midnightish. Other than a mysterious leak and unservicable demisters it's a thoroughly pleasant thing to drive, no untoward rattles or bangs, goes in a straight line, stops in a straight line and now it's been Redex'd and run on Shell's finest super unleaded it's pulling considerably better than it was too.

 

Did a very quick exterior tidyup consisting of a wash with raw TFR and the steam jenny which resulted in this...

 

N702 UVN by cms206, on Flickr

 

N702 UVN by cms206, on Flickr

 

N702 UVN by cms206, on Flickr

 

 

... now done the black trim and set about the interior, so more pics when it's looking more like a less sooty Cavalier. I suspect I may now know what the fluid leak was, as the offside front wheel area seems to be the region it's making itself known and theres a strong smell of petrol on the move as of tonight. A job for Sunday I think...