Volvo RWD 200 Forum

Hey old girls (and you know who you are!),

I had to take a Lincoln Towncar to Myrtle Beach today and the only way that I could get home was to tow the 245 on a dolly behind the Lincoln, then tow the dolly home with the 245.

After all of the talk about the transmission erupting in a flaming ball while towing without disconnecting the driveshaft, I waited until we had a full day of rain so that the likelyhood of starting a forest fire would be diminished.

After four hours and 193 miles I pulled into the driveway in Myrtle Beach, fired the 245 up and backed it off of the dolly. Three and one-half hours later I pulled into my drive in Charlotte without even the first whiff of smoke coming from the transmission. This, BTW, is the car that has used only an external Hayden Transmission cooler and an Over Drive solenoid bypass for the past four years so it should have (if all of the negatives are to be believed) had a serious meltdown in transit.

So, for all of you faint of heart, I would recommend disconnecting the driveshaft so you can worry about other things. For the rest, just drive or tow the darn things and fix the things that break with new parts.

Regards,
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Will Dallas, www.willdallas.us, www.willdallas.org, www.willdallas.com, www.dallasprecision.com 86 245 DL 222K miles, 93 940 260K miles, 88 765 GLE 152K miles, 88 780 246K miles, 93 Buick LaSabre 119,000 miles

I don't know about the flaming ball but high-speed towing can be tough w/ the propshaft left attached. If I have to do it I run the engine to keep pressure up.
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240s: 2 drivers and some parts cars

Put it on "neutral".

regards,
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Will Dallas, www.willdallas.us, www.willdallas.org, www.willdallas.com, www.dallasprecision.com 86 245 DL 222K miles, 93 940 260K miles, 88 765 GLE 152K miles, 88 780 246K miles, 93 Buick LaSabre 119,000 miles

I believe in the rather safe than "toast" approach so call me an ol' lady if you like. The fact is that you ran the transmission for 193 miles with the output shaft bearings not being lubricated under pressure as they were designed to do... make sure you report back when your transmission fails! All you saved was a half hour of your time... don't mean to be harsh, but the risk to "savings" ratio sounds pretty upside down to me.

By the way, I'm all for the OD bypass, I did the grind a channel in the solenoid three years ago, no problems, no issues. On the external trans cooler only, well, you are giving up fuel efficiency and potentially contributing to early seal failure... I'm talking slow failures over a couple 100K miles.

jorrell
ps. glad to hear you got the car back home without immediate incident!
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92 245 250K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Hi Jorrell,

I couldn't resist being a bit sarcastic, my apologies. This car has towed, and been towed many times for many miles and many hours. All of my other Volvos were towed home by it at one time or another as well as Volvos for others and the occassional Honda. At 250,000+ miles there is not a hint of tranny failure or a reduction in mileage (20mpg towing at 60 and 24+ on the road at 60+).

It isn't the admonitions against towing with the drive shaft connected that bothers me most about this site, it is more that I always see the same problems crop up with the same short term solutions given by the same folks. Now if you are a classic car restorer, I can see the point to not making permanent repairs to these cars, but, if you are like most people that drive them, it is imperative that the non-Volvo parts (and that is almost everything except the motor block and the coach work)be kept updated with the best repair parts available. These are often not Volvo OEM parts either.

So, tow with the wheels down and shaft unhooked if that is what lights your fire (or not :>)) and I will continue to treat the Toyota parts as Toyotas, the Ford Parts as FOrds, and the German parts as replaceable with Jap parts

Regards,
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Will Dallas, www.willdallas.us, www.willdallas.org, www.willdallas.com, www.dallasprecision.com 86 245 DL 222K miles, 93 940 260K miles, 88 765 GLE 152K miles, 88 780 246K miles, 93 Buick LaSabre 119,000 miles

Yes, I love this forum but understand your frustration about the anorak aspects of the technical advice. Several times I've asked specific questions and spelled out exactly what I do and do not want to know to no avail.

I asked recently about visual evaluation of a timing belt ("can you tell from inspection if the belt should be changed") and said that I was fully aware of the risks of not changing it and did not need to be told that all unknown belts should be changed. Of course 1/2 of the responses were "just change it anyway".

I live in the country and use my 240s hard: rough roads, hauling anything that will fit, maintenance as required with whatever parts that will do the job.

All that said, if I'm towing 3-400+ miles w/ rear wheels down and want to go as fast as possible I drop the propshaft. But if it's cold/ rainy/ miserable/ etc I don't bother. I did have a problem once - pushed all the ATF out of a seal but the trans or the seal could have been bad beforehand.
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240s: 2 drivers and some parts cars

Right you are Will,

And drive it like you hate it.

Live life as if this day is your last on this side.


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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

When using a dolly, I just tow the vehicle backwards if it has an auto transmission with the rear wheels on the dolly. Seems simple enough to me.