What I did today.....

Three months into being a Volvo owner, I mustered enough courage to go after the much dreaded flame trap. There seems to be much mysticism floating around this subject in various Volvo boards. Someone described the task to be better left only for "contortionists & children with freakishly strong fingers". So, I was a little spooked going into this.

Phase 1 - Removal

After finding 'just the right spot' between the intake manifold, I started pulling on the flame trap assembly. I was hoping that it would just go 'pop', and I would have the whole thing in my hand. Yeah, right! I couldn't even get my fingers around the thing. So, the first thing was to clear some space. Removing the big hose from the trap did the trick, I could get my hand around it. I really didn't know where to grab, so I just pulled on it, and the whole thing with came loose. Okay fine, I only wanted the lid but whatever works. I just removed small hose from the manifold and I had completed phase one.


Phase 2 - Cleaning up

Now I had this oily device in my hand, and I decided to proceed with tearing it apart. The hose and the tube came loose as they were supposed to, and inside was that little troublemaker. To my surprise, only a few of the holes seemed to be plugged. However, the trap wouldn't come out of the lid, until I started twisting on it with a small screwdriver. I used WD40 & even smaller screwdriver to poke the holes open, and I cleaned up all the components. No problems here, what's all this nonsense about this being a difficult job??

Phase 3 - Putting everythin back together

After assembling the trap, it was time to plug it back in. Very quickly I realized that trying to cram snugly fitting rubber pieces back in place using only your fingertips is NOT easy! After a good while of cussing I got the bottom part of the assembly to slip back in on the engine. Great! Now all I had to do was attach the hoses. The big hose first.. of course, I forgot which direction the pipes were pointing in the first place, so I had to start trying to twist the lid to get the hoses to meet. Looks like the "right" way is big hose pointing to the left side of the car, and small to the right. Now the small hose... what did I say about the snugly fitting rubber hoses? After 10 minutes of frustration, I yanked the big hose out, pulled out the lid and just connected the small hose first. The big one went in easily after it was pointing the right direction. And DING, the thing was back in! 10 more minutes of tinkering with the thingy on the manifold (COMPLETELY blocked), I was done!


Epilogue:

Overall time spent ~ 60 minutes. A REAL pain in the ass to do the first time, but the second time should be just a breeze. Also a nice way to get a back pain, leaning over the engine. I also learned to appreciate my small hands. As an advice, for anyone else planning on doing it themselves, IT'S NOT AS BAD AS YOU'D THINK!-D Reserve 2 hours for it, figuring in all the time spent trying to find a way to slip your hand in.


Next weekend; new sparkplugs! You guys think I should invest in a torque wrench for this, I have no clue how tight those suckers should be put...



-M.R.

one more thing. . .i found it's a LOT easier to get at everything if you remove the distributor cap and set it aside. that way you can get under the intake manifold from the front

Well done, the job and the post. As I am the product of a long-past education system, it is good to see writing that has good grammar and is therefore easily understood. You Done Good.

You also reaped some good tips. Here's one I didn't see. I prepare the hose that attaches to the engine by (1) making a slight champfer on the ID using a sharp knife, and (2) smearing a drop or two of ATF on the inside. These two make the assembled unit soooo much easier to slip onto that tube that you can't see. (3) use Volvo parts to be sure you get hoses that are of oil resistant material. (4) Order from Abercrombie and Fitch, or maybe it's the San Diego Zoo, a pair of the trained chipmunks they use to put that @#$% thing in there in the first place.

Wait 'til you try a 1988 240 w/B230F. They finally heard the howl from the shops and re-did the thing so's the cup/trap/hoses sits almost above the intake manifold. Soooo easy.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

PS The brass ferrule takes a 3/332 inch drill.

you might also want to check the little nipple in the intake manifold for the small hose to the flametrap. It tends to get plugged solid. A small drill bit works to clean it out or for the safer way take the nipple out of the intake so you don't drop anything into your intake.

Good for you on that flame trap job! I've replaced a lot of spark plugs wothout a torque wrench but I started on cast iron heads where it is harder to mess up the threads. I'd recommend a torque wrench with a short (2-3")extension and the Bentley manual says 15-22 ft lb torque. I put a small amount of anti-seize on the threads and smear the plug and boot with a little silicone grease (Sylglide). Your next plug job will go much easier! I also like to hold the plug with a small, 6", rubber hose pushed on the end. This makes it easier to direct the plug and, if you get cross-threaded, the hose will slip and warn you. Oh, the gap is .028-.032 but you probably know that.

If you use antiseize, back off the torque about 40% to around 11-12 ft-lb. The antiseize acts as a lubricant and as a result one can over-torque the plug if not careful. The best antiseize is nickel-based.

I couldn't reach the flame trap with my hands, so I used a curved piece of coat hanger to pop the flame trap housing out of the breather box. Then just pull off the small hose from housing and pull the whole thing out from under the manifold using the large hose that's still connected (the one that runs to the intake hose).

Re-installing was similar. Plug the big hose on the housing and snake it under the manifold. Stick the small hose on the housing. Poke the housing down into the breather box using the coat hanger. Connect big hose and small hose to manifold and intake respectively. I probably took 30 min. to do everything, but the only part I had to clean was the housing because I replaced the flame trap with a new one.

PS: Just make the spark plugs snug. I use a standard 3/8" ratchet.

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Aha! Coathangers.. now that's brilliant! Yet again we have proven that the thing that separates homo sapiens from other primates is it's ability to adapt & utilize tools. I'll have to remember that the next time, that makes perfect sense.


-M.R.