Volvo RWD Forum

I'm in the odd position of quite possibly needing to drive my car from New York to California. At least, I need to get to SF, which is my home, and I've taken a liking to my 1990 240, which I had originally intended to sell at the end of this summer.

So I have an offer to transport 900 lbs worth of records between the coasts, in exchange for $350, which under normal circumstances would almost cover gas between NY and CA. But, can my Volvo safely take this load? Will it kill my engine, drop my speed, decrease my gas mileage? Are there any ways to find quantitative answers to these questions? The car has about 170K on it. It's been reasonably well maintained, but enough things have gone wrong in the few months I've owned it that I am a little wary...

Thanks again, bricksters...

That's border line for that drive. How is your Overheating issue?
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

i think you will be fine....i mean come on...i have seen 245's loaded to the hilt with camping gear and a dozen kids before....and for that matter, 3 fat donut loving, beer guzzling, mayonase chomping midwesterners would easily tip the 900lb mark....nobody says ..."hey only 2 of you chubby bastards can ride in a volvo" If fat people could kill volvos...there would be very few on America's highways. I would however make sure that your overdrive button is functional so that you can turn it off when climbing the rockies.

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are, that's funny. Mayonaise chomping...

You forgot Crisco sweating, Chocolate butter stick eating....... : )
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

My sister and mother-in-law easily weigh 900 lbs. together and the Bricks don't seem to have a problem hauling their fat arses around town...

In all seriousness, 5 adult passengers would probably clock in at around 900 lbs., so I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Another idea would be to put the records in one of those small u-haul trailers and simply tow them...the 240 can tow, believe it or not, up to 3,000 lbs.

Make sure the tires and shocks are good as others have mentioned. However, for 3 hundred bucks I'm not sure it's worth all the trouble. Just rent a u-haul truck and drive it across the country. You'll save a lot of wear and tear. Trust me I did the same move from Texas to NYC and it was not fun. The Volvo was not too pleased either.

If possible, spread the weight forward. Rear seat, rear floor foot wells, even the front passenger seat and foot well, if available.

In my pre-Volvo days, I moved about 2000 pounds of concrete flower bed edging blocks in a 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop. 390 CID V-8, spread the weight as above, and just barely avoided grinding the rear tires in their well. Much shorter trip than your intended.

Check the other posts, and get ready all that you can. Be sure the brakes are in tip-top shape, and keep in mind that braking distance (and accelerating distance) will be much longer. If you can, do a cooland and tranny flush, too.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

If you look in the owner's manual under specifications, the capacity is listed as 948 pounds. South Beach? Atkins?

Seriously it is border-line so things like tires and shocks should be in like-new shape for safety. And you won't want to have that downshift cable on the transmission hang up on you during that trip; at 20mph you'll miss a semester or something. Speaking of tranny, how long have you run since it was last flushed?
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

All right.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. It seems like the board is pretty split on this issue, with about half saying "go for it!," and the other half saying that it *could* be done but probably shouldn't. Since I try to avoid mayonnaise chomping as much as possible, I've decided that given the age of the car and my measly maintenance skills, it's probably just not a good idea to carry that much weight. If need be I could tow it instead.

In answer to a few other questions- as soon as I get to California, I'll flush whatever fluids are left to be flushed: transmission fluid and differential fluid (?), I think. I'll also fix/replace that downshift cable. I'm a little afraid of doing it here and goofing something up, then being stranded just before the semester starts. Hope all goes well, just imagine me, stuck in the middle of the country, jetting along at 20mph for 2000 miles, stampeding cows and bicyclists passing me on either side.

As for the overheating issue....as far as I can tell, both the thermostat and the temp. comp. board went bad at the same time. Replacing the thermostat fixed half the problem, the other half went away when I finally bypassed that board.


P:)

My son-in-law just had the same experience you described in your post about the truck pulling in front of you. He's commuting with my 84 244. I checked it out last weekend; had him drive a ways (of course, like yours, it is working now) to rule out the 4th gear busted solenoid wire symptom. He confirmed it was sticking in a much lower gear than 4th.

I pulled the end of the downshift cable and tied it high near the firewall and patiently dripped Mobil 1 into the end of it while working it down the cable. It sure seems smooth, and there are no scars on the sheathing I can spot, and no further panicked calls from him worried he has an ill effect on transmissions. Not time enough to tell, but it might be a good shot for you before you begin that trip load or not.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore