'88 240 rear suspension problems

Hi there,

I just bought an '88 240 with about 175,000km on it. Its in decent
shape and will be in better shape once I fix a few items (rear
tailshaft seal, bushing, and gasket, adjust valves, change timing belt,
new fuel filter). I've already put new torque rod bushings (neoprene),
and all new brakes in the front, plus a few other things like broken
lenses, etc..

Anyways, what my problem is that last weekend I tried to load more than
the usual folks in the car (myself and 100lb. girlfriend, a total of
about 300lbs.) which made a grand total of 4 people in the car for the
first time (about 700 lb in total plus luggage)! In short, the car sank
very low in the back and the rear wheels (tires) went right up inside
the wheel wells, and the nose went up in the air. We began to drive and
were bottoming out everywhere. On top of this, there was a
rubbing/vibration (not the tires rubbing) coming from the back end.
After about 5-10 min. I turned around and had to grab a rental car for
the duration of our little trip. Rental car handled the load fine as
any car should.

My question is what will fix this problem?

a) Would new rear coil springs fix it alone, or should I be replacing
the rear shocks? Should the coils be HD, and could I put the wagon ones
in for extra height? As for shocks, would Bilstein Touring be ok, or
would the HD's be better. I don't necessarily need performance... more
safety and comfort.

b) If I do this, do I need to replace the front strut cartridges as
well? ...and the front springs?

c) Is there anything else to replace in there, or is there anything
that should be replaced while I'm doing this? or better yet, is there
anything that might break and I should be buying while buying the other
things? How do I get an original parts list showing all the bolts/nuts,
etc. for 240 suspension?
(Apparently the rest of my bushings are ok (were checked when my torque
rod bushings were changed). Would putting new trailing arm and crossbar
bushings make a difference with this problem?

d) when it comes to shocks and springs, what is the best bang for your
buck? I keep hearing about IPD coils and Bilstein shocks, but the cost
of all of those is more than the amount I paid for the car! ($425 btw).
I'm hoping to have it for at least 3-5 yrs or more so a decent set
would be nice. FCP Groton has good prices on the coils, but the shocks
seem to be about $400 before shipping on every site.

***e) What the hell was the vibration from? It got worse as I
excellerated (hence why I took it off the road with that load). Could
it have something to do with the fact that my tailshaft bushing is
shot? Or could it be something else back there? It's worriesome. When
the backseat is empty, there is no vibration. My mechanical inspection
by an experienced volvo mechanic found no problems PREVIOUS to the
load/vibration problem.

Thanks to anyone who answers. I'm looking forward to having a car which
I can actually use!

Hint to any other folks looking to buy a used volvo: test the ride with
a full load!

cton.
Toronto, ON

88 240
99 subaru outback
85 honda civic

 

BTW, its a 4 door sedan.

Thanks,
Cton.

 

Maybe U joints..? The drive shaft is running at an angle it's not used
to when you had the car loaded down. I dunno. Doesn't seem like you had
it overloaded.
I hauled a load of folks in my 245 once... 3 corn fed dudes and ones
girlfriend in the back, my buddy and his wife in the front passenger
seat, luggage in the back, and me at 220+. Must have been 1200-1300 lbs
or more.
We only went a few miles from the airport to hotel. The car was on the
stops all four corners. I seem to recall a vibration as well but I
chalked it up to being overloaded...

 

Springs.

 

_____
Correct. The 240 drive shaft tends to vibrate a bit when it is heavily
loaded and you put full power in the drive train. Is due to "alignment"
of gearbox output shaft and differential input shaft. Also, the centre
hanger bearing may need new rubber mounting collar and/or new bearing.
However, the car should not hit the suspension stops. Make sure that
you don't have broken rear springs. Heavy duty springs are available.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. Good call on the springs and centre
bearing & housing. I've been reading up on them and I'll be checking
both out as soon as I can get under the car. Would replacing the
present crappy springs with a set of wagon HD springs be over-kill you
think?

 

If you're going to carry heavy loads, no, not overkill. However, you
may be able to get by with a set of used wagon springs, which will be
way cheap.

Also, there is a bushing under the axle where the trailing arm sits.
These are hard to see, but are a common failure. The weight of the car
actually hangs from these bushings - if they're torn up the car sits
lower. Also, you get driveshaft vibrations under engine load, as the
forces move the axle around too much.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)