New 240 Owner...Now what?

Yesterday, I purchased a 1980 240 DL Coupe from it's original owners
daughter and have all the service records. It was driven a daily 4
mile round trip for 23 years or so...it has 95,XXX orginal miles and
the motor and interior are absolutely mint. No dash cracks no fading,
original glass.
I made a appt for this week at DaisyWagen a great volvo shop in Seattle
for a "full meal" deal. Tune-up,oil change, all belts, check engine
harness etc...
Beside's keeping it shiny what other preventive care can i do?

thanks all

george

 

Resist the temptation to use synthetic oil. This engine was designed
to run for 300k miles on non-synthetic oil, changed regularly. If you
switch it to synthetic, it is likely that at least some of those 26 year
old oil seals will start to leak. Run a high qiality 10W-30 oil with a
good oil filter, and change it every 3k-5k miles, depending on how you
drive. If the oil in it now is dirty, change it at 1k, then 2k, then
when
it stays clean looking, use the schedule I noted above. If you do switch
to synthetic or synthetic blend, watch carefully for oil leaks for at
least
6 months.

If the transmission is automatic, have it power flushed, and be
prepared
to replace one or two main seals. If it's manual, have the trans oil
changed.
Likewise the differential oil and power steering fluid, and preferably
the
brake fluid as well.
--







http://freevision.org/michael/index.html

 

What's this about syn oil causing leaks?

They couldn't design the car to run on synthetics because they weren't
available. I could find as many websites in agreement with your statement as
disagree.

Ed

 

I've tried Synthetics in 2 of my cars, in both it caused leaks. 2000 Volvo
S80-T6 and in a 2000 GranPrix GTP. In both it seamed as if every seal in the
things were leaking (streching it a bit, but that's how it appeared), when
switched back to regular oil, not a drop anywhere on the GP, on my Volvo I
had to re-do the seals on the breather box because they continued to leak.

Why they leaked, I do not know. What I do know is I won't be going back to
synthetic in any of my cars unless that's what it came with from the
factory.

-Brian

 

A lot of the older rubber seals do not hold up to the synthetic oils, they
turn into black goo. This happened to the aircraft industry when Mobil
brought out a synthetic oil for airplanes. They had aircraft loosing all
their oil in flight through the seals in the propellers and engines.

Allen

 

Ok. Synthetic vs Regular. A touchy subject indeed.

Anything else?

 

George,
Michael mentions a using a good oil filter. More specifically, use the
exact oil filter from Volvo, or get your oil filter made by Mann, sold by
the case from www.ipdusa.com in your neck of the woods (Portland, OR). I
have no affiliation with ipd, but many of us have found this Volvo parts
supplier to be great with helping Volvo home mechanics. Don't use the oil
filters from your neighborhood generic parts franchise. The Volvo engines
are built to last, but expect to be well maintained well. The Volvo/Mann
brand oil filter is a cheap insurance for this.

Group, Any thoughts about traditional oil vs. switching to synthetic on an
engine already at 100,000 miles? Just kidding...
George, at this point stick with the traditional 10w-30 oil as recommended
in the owner's manual. It will still be pumping 10 years from now.

 

Step one: replace all of the Copper and Tin fuses with the bullet
stainless steel kind. Corrosion of the fuses is the number one cause of
hassles.
Step two: 1980 is K-jetronic. Acquire a spare fuel pump relay, put it
in the glove compartment. They fail without warning and are extremely
easy to replace if you have one on hand. (Yes they are pricey, but a
junkyard one works just as well provided that you test that it still works)

Pushing 100K, you might want to also want to replace the timing belt
tensioner, and the brushes are probably worn down on the alternator so
you may want to have the brush/regulator package replaced so that you
can ignore it for another 100K miles. Neither is particularly
expensive, and they may go for another 50-80K, but why find out on the
roadside.

Bill

 

There are several issues here. The age of the oil seals as I
mentioned,
the kind of rubber used (I ran my 1986 Honda Civic Si on full syhtetic
for
almost two decades with no problems, then just a leaking distributor
O-ring
and 'weeping' head gasket at 128k miles and 17 years age), and, finally,
whether or not the seals are really sound, or are being stabilized by
old
gummy oil residue. In that last case, it's just the high detergent
factor
of synthetic oil that does them in.

In short, with the exception of the early years of the 5 cylinder
engine (with narrow, easily blocked oil passages in the head), and turbo
engines run hard, it isn't a great idea to switch a Volvo engine to
synthetic oil. It can work, but the risks don't seem to out-weigh
the benefits, especially for the low-stress "red block" 4 cyl engines
found in the 240 and 740/940 series.


--







http://freevision.org/michael/index.html

 

Volvo now recommends synthetic oil and fills up first time with synthetic
,but yes old seals will most likely leak with any oil .Remember nowdays they
have seal expanders in the synthetic oil as it was an issue when Noah was a
kid .

 

If you manage to get past the Amsoil adverts ,you will find synthetic oil
(the real stuff not the oils ain't just oils )con job , are really brilliant
..Check it out .

BP MOBIL AND SUCH PREFORM WELL

 

Thanks Bill and Michael and everyone else. She's at Daisywagan getting
looked at right now...
Michael - As far as the fuses can the ceramic fuses be replaced with
steel ones matching the amp rating. Or do i need to get a new fuse
box, is this pricey for a mechanic to do?

 

I don't think I'm the Michael you asked, but I'm here, so...
I *think* the steel fuses are a simple swap-in. Don't consider
that urgent, though, unless you have electrical problems. If your
climate is reasonably dry you can just clean the contacts on the
existing fuses. We live where the old fuses should be giving us
trouble, but they haven't, not at all. We have an '88 240DL.
--







http://freevision.org/michael/index.html

 

I wouldn't considered Seattle dry. But I get your point nonetheless, I
wait and see. Run now she's fine but I'll keep an eye out, thanks!

g

 

Hardly an issue with a modern RWD Volvo. My '89 owner's manual recommends
synthetic oils for both the V6 and the turbo motors.