I bet this sounds like it makes no sense, but try turning your hazard flashers on and off a few times. I can't recall the specifics, but the turn signal circuit runs through that switch. Flipping it on and off cleans the contacts, and gives you about a 50% chance of solving weird turn signal issues.
EvanR wrote: I bet this sounds like it makes no sense, but try turning your hazard flashers on and off a few times. I can't recall the specifics, but the turn signal circuit runs through that switch. Flipping it on and off cleans the contacts, and gives you about a 50% chance of solving weird turn signal issues.
I tried this at lunch time- miraculously, the left indicator now works! 
Good to know I can still get one right every once in a while!
Now pop that switch out of the dash, unplug it, and hose it out with some spray contact cleaner. You can disassemble it to get it really clean, but there are lots of fiddly bits to reassemble, so it's probably not worth the hassle.
(Aerosol isopropyl alcohol works almost as well, if you don't have contact cleaner.)
Hasn't been much to update...until now. Unfortunately. The S.K. was running flawlessly, doing everything I needed it to do, until yesterday. Luckily, the failure wasn't catastrophic- the A/C quit working on a 100-mile round trip.
Of course, it was 90 degrees yesterday. 
When I got home, I checked the compressor- seized. So, it needs a new compressor. I'll probably just get the kit- compressor, expansion valve, and drier- and replace the condenser while I'm at it.
Somehow, when the compressor died, it blew the A/C fuse as well, which also controls the power window relay...so my windows wouldn't work! I stole a fuse from the back up lamps so I could get home with the windows down, at least- and then replaced all the fuses (which are the same stupid ceramic dealies the Mercedes uses) and cleaned all the contacts last night. There was a new set of sunvisor clips in the glovebox I'd bought a few weeks ago, so I replaced them as well.
And then, figuring I wouldn't have A/C anyway, decided to drive my convertible to work today. 
So, some updates since last time...
I decided to take the A/C to a shop and have it repaired. And spent over half again what I paid for the entire car, simply to have cold air blowing on my face. I'm such a wuss.
The left blinker situation got worse, and eventually the left blinker would not work at all, no matter how much I cycled the hazard lights switch. Oddly, too, when the left blinker wasn't blinking, the relay was clicking, and a rhythmic static noise could be heard through the stereo speakers.
Last night I removed, disassembled, and thoroughly cleaned the hazard switch, and then lightly greased the internals with dielectric grease. Put it all back together....and the left blinker still wouldn't work (but the right one still did). Frustrated, I shorted the wires coming into the switch that allow the turn signals to "pass through" and then the left blinker worked! I put the switch back together, and it still worked.
Then, this morning- they didn't work- BUT- cycling the hazard switch DID "wake up" the left blinker again. IDK WTF is going on here...but a new switch is either $80 or NLA, both of which are unacceptable options at this point.
The left blinker seems to be permanently NFW now, but I did get new seat foams for the driver's seat, so today I put them in.
The work scene:
Seat removed. Traces of the 25-year old, disintegrating foam. What a mess.
The seat warmers were disintegrated, too. So I disconnected and removed them. They were not comfortable to sit on, and the heater works so damn well in this thing I don't think I'll need seat warmers in...Maryland.
More disitnegrated foam.
New foams are in! And the seats are...SO MUCH better!! I actually can't wait to drive to work tomorrow. My back might not be in pain by the time I get there....
Still haven't solved the blinker issue. Tried removing and cleaning the emergency flasher switch, and that didn't help. I even swapped the flasher switch from another car with working turn signals. No help. Something else is afoot...I just wish I knew what.
Hazards work, right turn signal works, left turn signal makes the clicking noise but dash light and front and rear blinker lights do not light up or flash. And sometimes the radio gets a static-y clicking when the left turn signal is actuated.
So, long time no update....
About a month ago, driving home from work, a noise that sounded a lot like a squeaking brake pad started coming from the front end. It became more and more persistent and troublesome, though, to the point where it was somewhat terrifying. I was only a couple of miles from home, so I decided to just creep home slowly and carefully. And the car made it.
With the front end up in the air, it became readily apparent what the problem was. The front right wheel bearing was toast. Not only that, but the bearing WELDED ITSELF TO THE SPINDLE! The castle nut wouldn't come off, so the hub and rotor wouldn't come off, either. It was the most spectacularly-failed front wheel bearing I'd ever seen. I'm amazed the car made it home like that. It was metal-on metal.
Time being somewhat of a commodity, I went on ebay and bought a whole front spindle/ knee assembly from a junkyard. This past weekend I swapped the whole thing over- and replaced the caliper on that side, the front brake shoes, the bearings on the other side, ball joints, both brake rotors...pretty much anything that was worn or needed to come off anyway.
Based on what I found on the driver's side, I'm pretty sure I figured out why the wheel bearing failed. The driver's side castle nut was torqued onto the spindle. Meaning the bearing was preloaded before it ever hit the ground. 
I'm sure it was only a matter of time before that side would have failed, too.
Got everything back together Saturday night, and on Sunday, while bleeding the brakes, I noticed the rear brake pads were pretty well worn, too. A local store had them in stock, so the 240 now wears brand new pads at all four corners.
And, I'm happy to report, S.K. is roadworthy once again.
Been busy at work on some other projects, and Mrs. VCH had been using S.K. as a mommy mobile while her 'Burban was in the shop for ball joints. Which means my daily was then the $750 1983 Mercedes 240D. Hey, it has a sunroof!
With the Burban back, I decided to try to fix up the S.K. and take care of all the little niggling stuff that's wrong with it. Right now, that list is:
- Dash lights completely out
- Odometer broken
- Left turn signal clicks, but lights do not flash
The dash came apart easily enough, and I removed the turn signal switch- having already chased the problem with the indicator through the hazard switch and all the bulbs. Turns out, the switch was all gummy inside, and the contacts were making *just* enough to make the relay click, but not enough to make the indicators flash. A new switch being $120, I drilled out the rivets on the old one, cleaned out the innards, and then drilled and tapped the old rivet holes for #4 screws to put the thing back together again. Happily, it now works!
I plan on putting that $120 towards a nice anniversary weekend for Mrs. VCH (this weekend, actually).
The dash lights were _ALL_ burned out, so I ordered new ones of those, and a new set of odometer gears.
After all that is done, I just need to make the radio play out of more than 1 speaker, and the S.K. will be pretty much perfect. 
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
The odometer is probably the little gear that eats itself, and if that's already been replaced, there's a chunk of old gear stuck in the mechanism in there. I replaced the gear on mine, and then about 50 miles later the odometer started being intermittent. It would work for 1/2 mile, then not work for 10. A more thorough cleaning of the gearing inside the odometer fixed it.
In reply to mck1117 :
Yes, the instruction with the gears (which came today) said to clean out the odometer cluster VERY well, to remove all traces of debris.
Finally got the dash all put back together this weekend. New odometer gears, new dahs lights...got the radio playing out of 3 speakers, which is way better than 1.
Aired up all the tires (they'd gone down to 30 psi due to the cold and normal losses- I think the last time I checked them was a few months ago) and changed the oil. Gave her the old "once over" and all seems good...knock on wood.
Drove my toddler to swim lessons in in on Saturday- she loves "Daddy's Volvo". And drove it in to work today. Compared to the diesel Mercedes it feels like a race car. "What? You mean I can accelerate going _up_hill, now? WHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"
Nice 245. Those little brackets you cut off of the rear calipers do have a very logical purpose, true to Volvo's MO. If you notice just aft of those brackets, bolted onto the body are large stamped steel "crash triangles." In a heavy rear impact the rear crumple zone of the unibody will deform to absorb energy, but then it is intentionally stopped against the caliper brackets. What that does is transfer the impact energy into the rear axle and then on into the 4-link arms and forward into the body. The caliper brackets combined with the triangles prevent the fuel tank from getting crushed against the rear axle. Go 240!
Duder said:Nice 245. Those little brackets you cut off of the rear calipers do have a very logical purpose, true to Volvo's MO. If you notice just aft of those brackets, bolted onto the body are large stamped steel "crash triangles." In a heavy rear impact the rear crumple zone of the unibody will deform to absorb energy, but then it is intentionally stopped against the caliper brackets. What that does is transfer the impact energy into the rear axle and then on into the 4-link arms and forward into the body. The caliper brackets combined with the triangles prevent the fuel tank from getting crushed against the rear axle. Go 240!
Woah that's pretty trick.
The "repaired" turn signal lasted about 2 weeks. Back to not blinking again. So I did what I should have done the first time, apparently- plunk down $150 at Rock Auto and bought the new switch. It took about 10 minutes to swap out; familiarity with the steering column from the first repair paid dividends.
Fixed a nagging vacuum leak in the engine, and cleaned the contacts on the interior lights so they illuminate when the doors are opened now. Oh, and towed another Volvo home:
can't see the pic?
In reply to onemanarmy :
It's a link to Facebook. I've shared it elsewhere and it seems to work. Do you have a firewall?
I can see it! That looks really rusty but awesome.
Is that a P1800? Two door wagons are weird but cool.
Played catch up on this post. Nice 240, glad you are sorting it out. What plans for the new wagon? A friend of mine had a brick Volvo, sold it with well over 400,000 miles. As a side note, took my newly purchased '08 S60 2.5T AWD, for a 450 mile trip this past weekend. It will happily hum at well above the 65 MPH limit. Got about 25 MPG to boot. Mine needs the front struts replaced, which hopefully get done this week.
The0retical said:Is that a P1800? Two door wagons are weird but cool.
1800ES. The P1800 was the Jensen-bodied early 1800 coupes. Volvo only made the 1800ES in 1972 and 73- and a total of 8077 were made.
You know how you spend $150 to fix a problem, and think you've finally got it licked, and then it comes back to bite you in the ass again? Yeah. That. The left turn signal quit working- with the brand new $150 switch! On a hunch, I took off just the top cover of the steering column and, while the blinker switch was on, touched the top connection. The blinker started working!
I think the connection was simply loose, possibly this whole time. It didn't seem all that loose when I swapped the switch, but I removed the spade connector, tightened it up with a pair of pliers, put it back on, and the blinker now works. I left the top cover off the column while I've been driving it this week, just in case, but so far it seems to be holding up.
Of course, when I put he cover back on, that'll be the day the blinker quits working again. Guaranteed. 
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
A few of the spade connectors on my car have wiggled themselves loose too. I had to crush the ones to the tail lights a little bit so that they stayed on.
So, wow, it's been like 5 months since I've posted an update here....
A few months back I started up SK, put it in gear, and pressed the gas. The car moved forward about a foot, then stalled. Repeated cranking efforts were unsuccessful in getting the engine to fire back up. After a few minutes worth of troubleshooting I narrowed the problem down to lack of spark. Not having much diagnostic capability for old 240's beyond that, I loaded up the parts cannon and started firing. When this proved unsuccessful, I punted and had the car towed to my local mechanic.
Every few weeks I'd call him and inquire about the Volvo. I've taken cars to this mechanic before, and he's usually pretty good about getting stuff fixed quickly, but this had him stumped. Finally, he called me and said he was going to try replacing the computer with a known good used one. I told him, sure, I'd spring for the $75 for the computer. Still no luck.
I was about to give in and have the car towed back to my place, when last night he called me. The Volvo was running! Here's what happened:
A fellow named 'Art' lives a few miles from this garage. Art is a Volvo brick fan. One day, Art happened to drive past the shop and saw my car. He went inside to inquire about it, and the shop owner told them it was mine and what the trouble was. Art then goes home to his VAST Volvo parts horde, returns to the shop, and produces a used, but functional, ignition module- incidentally, one of the first parts I'd replaced. He installs it.
The 240 Starts. Right. Up.
Art left his card with the mechanic, didn't charge him for the module, and leaves.
When I went to pick up the car yesterday, the shop owner tells me this story and we have a few laughs. I go out to the shop and talk to the other mechanic who works there and this other guy who was in the shop. The other guy, it turns out, is a local plumber who just goes down to the shop to shoot the breeze when he's not working. He knows Art- he's his next door neighbor. He tells me Art likes Natty Bo beer and has like 6 of the old 240's sitting around his house.
Looks like I'll be buying some Natty Bo and going to pay someone a visit...
Drove the 240 to work today. It's nice to have her back in the stable.
You'll need to log in to post.
