Folks,

Here goes. I got the fabulous 1990 240 DL li'l red wagon in August 2004.

Now, seven years later, into the garage for the front suspension rebuild.

Yes, yes, say it. BAD kittysgreyvolvo! Bad! Bad! Bad!

So new parts ....
- New strut mounts - I have both Meyle and got Volvo OEM from Tasca since after market got me with the URO/APA mounts from fcpgroton. The APA/URO failed after ten years and 40k miles.
- Volvo OEM left and right rear (large) control arm bushes. I was stupid and bought the left and right ones. One of the sided rear control arm bushes has less than the other. I'll guess the N. American market driver side Volvo OEM rear large control arm bushy as less rubber matter for less vibration transmission.
- Volvo OEM small front control arm bushes.

Here where we get sort of special ....
- Two orange de Carbon strut cartridges out of a 1984-5 pink and pull salvage yard 240 Turbo (sedan or wagon? These de Carbons are replacements and were not original to the chassis. I forget the date code, yet they resist compression and rebounded about as fast as a set of the Bilstein Touring struts I installed into my 1992 240 GL last year.
- Front 23 mm stabilizer bar off that same or another 240 Turbo with new bushes and steel retaining hardware.
- I have a set of rear Boge shocks from another 240 Turbo wagon. An 83-83. These Boge shocks are huge and have a spring assembly around the shock exterior. The gas charge is still in there and no signs of pneumatic fluid leaking out. The bush material at the top and bottom anchors is well oxidized and cruchy. I have some krappy rear Volvo 240 yunyard pulled KYB-GR2 shocks. May use the bushes from there on these rear boge shocks.

And new from Tasca to support the de Carbons ....
- A new pair of the accordion strut cartridge boots (and upper washers they hang from) to seal out that nasty owld road grime
- A new pair of the Bilstein gland nuts used on the Bilstein HDs for Volvo 240. You may see my prior posts and images about these.

I've neglected car of this beast save for immediate care matters.

This Volvo was in a front end collision six years prior to my ownership. Both front fenders and hood are replacements. The passenger side A-pillar as a weld at the upper left (N. American passenger side) windshield corner. It had a rear impact at the same time, so, you can tell all is not quite right.

The rear suspension, particuarly the trailing arm bushes, are clickity and shot and getting shottier over time. Rear axle crabwalk is barely there yet I drive the wee li'l red wagon beastie like a li'l owld man.

May pull the drive shaft and clean and lube the mid section splines with some NLGI-2 Amsoil wheel bearing grease. U-joints good and no carrier bearing noise at all. The flex joint looks okay.

The B230 engine has a slight excessively varying compression between the cylinders. It is a noisy engine. When you start it cold, the engine hits about 1500 RPM or so from dead stop as the oil light goes off. My brickboard research on this cold start engine racing yields no solution. All usual suspect inspected. No Bosch LH-jet or EZK codes, ever, on this 1990 Volvo 240. (Chassis was assembled in very late 1989.)

Floor-pan rust behind passenger seat and rear of one rocker panel.

I have three Volvo 240s. Entering into mind is an idea to sell it if I cure the most ailing issues to a Volvo 240 literate person. Or I'll remain saddled with it. Can a single guy without any family and friends make use of three Volvo 240s like I own? More is not always better.

I'll also service the ....
- Crank pulley as it is failing and squealing. I have several junkyard pulls that'll work fine. Some are like new.
- Front timing cover plate gasket. (Oh, these gaskets NEVER fail on B230 even with free and clear flame trap, huh? =^)
- If not already, jam some more grease into the front wheel bearings caps.
- Rear tail gate washer fluid squirt-er is disconnected from the washer fluid line.

And a few more odd's n' ends.

Welp, just letting you know and psyching myself up.

I have been so slow on these last three Volvo 240s I own now in serving karp to the hilt, and then installing some sort of Frankenstein ad-hoc stereo and servicing the AC, or removing it. All prior four 240, all 1970s models, I treated directly after purchase with alacrity and zeal.

Nothing is very fun anymore.

Welp, as an outcome, I'll be in the U.S. city that is the land of RWD Volvo - Portland, OR, I'll guess. I'll join the Oregon Volvo Tuners. Hopefully get me a West Coast City job. Been chasing that since 1991, me and my two self-paid for stupid CSU (Cally State U) diplomas.

So, please wish me well. If the damn thing falls on me and kills me, the Girl Scouts get everything. I have that closet phobia thing a bit. Don't deal as well now as I did two decades ago.

So, well, please wish me well and here we go.

Or, please call me a son of a bitch and I'll reply with, "Sir, no truer words were spoken of me, ever."

cheers,

Buttermilk MacDuff and his Volvos 240 three
(Like Marvel's Thor and his compatriots the Warrior Three.)

A.K.A. Benny Hill's Fred Scuttle
--
May the good Norse gods shine merrily on the 3800 pound Swedish steel above me.
--
Owld Volvo MacDuff - Prolonging the Expository
--
Auld, owld, old things ....
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Helluva .sig.
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Only car make and model I've ever owned: Volvo 240.
Currently owned, beloved, operating, and getting better all the time(!):
1990 240 (245) DL (B230, M47 II. No bigger heart a Volvo 245 has.)
1991 240 (244) (B230, M47 II, Moonroof. Grey Market from Germany. Beloved.)
1992 240 (244) GL (B230, M47 II, L-jet 3.1, Moonroof. Turbo 240 exhaust? Why?)
RIP, yet beloved:
1975 244 DL (B20, M40. OHV B20 FOREVER! Maroon vroom-vroom! 0-60 in 3 days!)
1976 242 DL (B21, M46, Moonroof - an SRO? Wrecked near Skywalker Ranch!)
1979 245 DL (B21, M46. Cheesy mustard yellow and a rod knock in Marin County.)
1979 242 GT (B21, M46, Moonroof - an SRO? Grey Market from Holland. Beloved.)
--
Pioneer SX-1500T, Pioneer SX-3700, Allied 390 or 360, and all need rehabbing.
Hopes for the awesome Pioneer SX-9000, so long as the location has good stations.
Dynaco Dynakit PAS 3 needing the full rehab shabile. 5751, 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7?
Not so vintage Technics SA-290. Two EQs. And seven pairs of speakers.
--
Five plants: Two cacti, one ponytail palm plant, and two pothos.
--
No pets, never married, no gal pal, and no children.
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Adobe: The NEW technology company monopoly. FrameMaker forever! (I hate Adobe.)
--

Hello Kitty!

I have done a bit of suspension work and all I have to say is... I hope you air tools as it goes much faster and smoother or at least an electric impact wrench.

Good luck and be safe,

Travis

I wish you well.
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Happy Motoring! 92' and 93' 240's past cars "74 140, '75 140, '86 240, '87 240 wagon, '02 S60.

Uncle 1990Volvo240 and Uncle leugim,

Thank you both greatly and kindly. I get that trepidation before doing such repairs.

So, yesterday:
- Scooted the red, if wobbly, 1990 Volvo 245 DL in the garage. After filling the Craftsman 3-ton SUV jack I bought used a few years ago, I chocked the rear tires, remove the plastic belly pan, raised the front using the trolley floor jack, and settled the wee red beastie on to a set of six-tonne-a-piece jack stands with a pair of three-tonne-a-piece under the longitudinal unibody frame tubes either side of the transmission/drive shaft well. All is solid.
- Remove front tires, of course!
- After himming and hawing and some gyratin', loosened both gland nuts several turns.

So, today:
- Rent spring compressor and electric impact wrench.
- Loosen the strut cartridge piston to strut mount bearing nut (the BIG nut!)
- Remove bolt retaining the inner fender brake line mount
- Remove connection between stabilizer bar and control arm.
- Loosen control arm bushing assembly hardware yet not remove it so that I can lower the strut assembly
- Compress spring, remove strut mount and strut, inspect tube interior, test fit de Carbon monotube high pressure struts (I have the Volvo strut cartridge shims you place in the strut tube under the cartridge if the cartridge body height is less than the strut tube interior somewheres).
- Reassemble the strut assembly (use some red threadlocker on the ring nut or gland nut to strut tube thread and torque.
- Resecure strut assembly to inner fender
- Remove both control arm assemblies and dis-assemble. I'll leave the ball joints on the strut tubes, of course, these are fine.

My fear is the gland nut seizing due to age and corrosion. With proper wrenches, giant channel locks, chain wrenches, I've had these thing so siezed you had to remove the assembly and take it to a machinist and even that is no guarantee you can resue the strut, so a trip to the yunkyard in midsummer St. Loogey, Misery (St. Louis, MO) to acquire a less rusty strut assembly.

Sort of like the four ball joint to strut tube bolts seized or breaking during disassembley (ly?).

Stuff of 240 nightmares.

The machinist I use is closed over the weekend, so I'll be loitering and packing as I shall relocate back to civilization (Portland, Seattle), job or no jobby-job in a few months. Should have left in 2010.

Thank you for the well wishes.

I'll post back.

cheers,

dud macdud.

Hi,

I quickly read over your post and the one thing I would do differently is use blue thread locker instead of the red, because if you do need to disassemble again sometime in the future...

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck,

Travis

Thank you 1990Volvo240.

Welp, from A to Z rentals, yet another upstanding Slumkane, WA retail store front that has yet not gone out of business rented me a faulty electric impact wrench and a set of spring compressors in poor condition.

The electric impact wrench case was cracked, and when plugging it in, it delivered almost nary a turn (or impact). Caveat emptor, yes?

If I rent a tool, must I test it each time before renting it to verify operation? The electric impact wrench was severely shorted and the smoke had escaped at least as recently as the last renter of this tool? Caveat emptor, each and every time you rent a tool?

I returned it the defective 1/2" impact wrench to Shitkane Valley's own A to Z rental. While there, I was directed to an A to Z Rentals competitor. From the competitor, I rented a 3/4" electric impact wrench for twice the daily fee.

From A to Z Rentals we have the same MacPherson strut spring compressors I've used now three times in the last three years (maybe two). I had to service the tool, cleaning it and relubing the thread. They work fine, as they are still compressing the first spring (passenger side) compressed for the job.

And then it turns to shit.

The orange de Carbon strut cartridges do not fit the strut tubes on on the made in late august 1989 yet branded a 1990 model year 240 DL wagon.

Funny, from experience, the 240 Turbo strut cartridges should fit a non-turbo strut cartridge just fine.

Five years of constant aggravation suffering the insufferable white trash shit hole haven and destination known as Spokane, WA came up and out. Two years, five months of self funded unemployment as the prior employer asked me to resign for no reason (though by then I hated the town of KrapKane, WA and the shit hole employer known as Purcell Systems). Heck, Purcell Systems has its fourth technical writer job opening since being asked to resign on 13 Jan 2010.

I then wielded a two foot long steel pipe I normally use as a handle extender over various ratchets and wrenches as heavily applied to the passenger side fender and the roof over the B- and C- pillar.

....

With the need of a 600$ exhaust for this car, the shitty white trash apartment lease ending in September, and more details I'll:

- Use the Meyle strut mounts.
- Reassemble as is. I do not want to invest 160$ in struts and all the subsequent work on a vehicle with poorly repaired front end damage.
- Best offer to some Krapkane, WA buyer, or junk it.

My patience with this owld Volvo crap, the fact I never drive these cars anywhere, nor with anyone, as there is no where to go except away from Shitkane WA, the corrupt white trash craphole it is, may lead me to my end with these cars.

IF I had some friends and more importantly a gal-pal atypical of the pierced, tattooed, and meth fueled Sodom and Gomorrah that is Slumkane, WA, well, that'd help.

Three self paid for post college diplomas. This is where I am.

Folks, stay away from Spokane, WA. I cannot, can't, cannot urge you enough to warn all you care for of this corrupt dung heap. Nice weather. The most rotten people I'd ever known. A cultureless, f*ckless, opportuneless dung heap run by Crapzaga University graduates that never needed to actually work.

They get the Protestant Work Ethic do it for them. Well, Scotland is bazillion in debt, so much for Scottish and Prebytarian-Church of Scotland Thrift, eh?

Hell, at least in St. Louis most women hitting on me were married and affluent. I don't do adultery, though.

Canada is not in debt, at least. A secular nation with deep Anglican roots without a cross on the flag.

I reassemble as is with the Meyle strut mounts and sell it best offer. Body work is my least capable skill unless rust repair in some unseen area.

Sold as is, of course.

Perhaps in a few weeks I'll champion the RWD Volvo cause again. Maybe. I was reminded how the Swedish Railway during Nazi Germany allowed Nazi military transports during the Nazi-Communist Soviet war in WWII.

Why I don't drive German cars. All German car brands, save for Audi (a new 20th century VW brand), were a foundation to the Nazi war machine cause.

Now I reside in a failing Wiemar Republic redux. "God bless America."

Oh the humanity.

cheers,

Angry Displeased and Condemning MacDuff.
--
Lose my temper. Dare me.
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End of report.

Audi is an acronym for something like Auto Union Deutsche Industrie (exact wording not
clear) but is a remnant of the OLD Auto Union which also brought you DKW and VW.
Sorry, Audi is NOT a new brand.
Never been to Spokane. Guess it is just as well....
Lead on, MacDuff.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma

I'm sorry to hear of your car and employment woes. This is not the forum for life advice, but can I suggest that paring your fleet of 240s down to a single, solid example would simplify your life and your finances? You sound like a man who has nothing to keep you in a bad place/situation other than the trappings of material possesion.

Good luck.

"You sound like a man who has nothing to keep you in a bad place/situation other than the trappings of material possession."

Yeah, indeed.

Apologies for all of that. I see the dents today and the carpal tunnel pain and well, it's all back together. I'm replacing the front crank seal. For once, no leaking timing cover gasket.

The material possessions are trapping my head.

Oh, joy, a job interview in a place worse than Slumkane, WA - Redding, CA, in like eight hours. I'll demure, perhaps. Of the winterview is another exercise in winterviewing.

I'll be relocating back to Vancouver, WA or Hillsboro, OR in less than three months. Vancouver, WA has a super-swell high rise concrete public bibliotecha.

The great thing is, that since I so despise Krapkane, WA, well, I never truly unpacked. I don't have much.

Well, about ten tons of Volvo 240. I'll leave it with the OVT! (Oregon Volvo Tuners!)

A new fender and hood, hopefully off another red 240, and it'll be swell.

So, please forgive me for doing that. I've asked the poor 1990 Volvo 240 DL li'l red wagon (I guess the manitou inside?). No answer.

Why must everything be a choice of the lesser of ills, evils, discomfort, and such. I'd like to go towards something good as a change for a change.

cheers,

dud.
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dented eight times. right fender, hood, and over the right b-pillar.