Volvo 240 and Volvo 480 cars at gites south brittany.

Zeb' 850 is getting spoilt!

2012-01-29T11:24:00.000+01:00

Since the CV boots job, my other parts arrived.
Accelerator cable has been fitted. Quite an easy job too:

There it is all fitted. The difference is amazing, we just hadn't realised how bad it had become.
Fuel Filter done too. I am very lucky to have a friend nearby with a 4 poster in his hanger:

That'll be him putting my car up.

& a nice shiny new filter & strap in place.
Brake pipes, fluid bleed, & power steering fluid to do.... Phew!

CV Boots!

2012-01-15T10:28:00.001+01:00

Finally, those boots have been replaced! I did try myself, but broke most of my DIY tools on the 35mm hub nut which just did not want to move. I bought a new ratchet, a 700mm breaker bar & a 36mm impact socket & then read that a 3/4" drive bar is reccomended, I purchased a 1/2" one to fit my sockets.....
So I found a local (ish) mobile mechanic, who quoted 2hrs work to do the boots, & fuel filter.
I am so pleased I went for it. With my tools there is no way I'd have done it. Both shafts were well and truly seized into the hub. The mec' used a massive set of pullers, and even stripped the thread on them whilst doing the second side! I did'nt have te right tool to split a ball joint either. My one would not go into the limited space, so that would have been another stumbling point for me. New front pads & discs were fitted whilst it was 'stripped down' too.
I also learned from the mec', that one brake hose needs replacing, power steering pump is noisier than it should be. Flush and re-new fluid needed. Also he suspected that the throttle cable is sticking too.
Fuel filter was not done, as the 'strap' that holds it in place has corroded and is going to break if any more attempts to remove are made.... So I shall do that once I have a replacement.
Oh well, a little progress has been made....

Latest News

2011-10-27T14:57:00.002+02:00

A quiet time with the cars really. 240 has had a bit of a noisy bearing in the alternator for some time now. I helped a friend clearing his land a few weeks ago. He has a lot of various spares for 240's and as I left he gave me a second hand alternator! Bargain. It is still in my boot mind!
Elaine came home the other week in the 850. I noticed a little trail of liquid as she reversed into park. The culprit ( having initially thought water pump) was simply the expansion chamber cap had split. Looking this up revealed that grey caps are notorious for doing this and were replaced with a better design identifiable by the green colour. A trip to the scrappy and one green one was found and a couple of 'greys' as back up!
Bad news was that whilst cleaning up I found a layer of grease on both inner wheel arch liners!
This, I tracked to be from the CV joints. Both boots have split. Just age related perishing.
I have new ones ready to go.......
The 850 is, as I type on the Ferry to Plymouth. Apparently 'he' purred along the 150 miles this morning . CV boots to be fitted upon return.
PS: Zeb's trip to UK via Calais went well. A thousand miles in 5 days towing the van. He ran like clockwork!

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Location:Le Bois Nouvel,Nivillac,France

Zeb 850 now has to work hard!

2011-09-10T19:10:00.001+02:00

Since last posting, we decided that 'away time' needed to be a little more comfy than our trusty trailer tent! Zeb 850 has, though to work harder. He now tugs a caravan. This is an Axxor Morea dutch built van of 1996, so the same age as Zeb. Fairly light at 1000kgs max, so poses Zeb little problems. We are very happy to be back, after a break of 5 or so years into the world of Caravans.We have already been away for a long weekend to 'test' things, all of which went well.Next trip will be to the UK, when we shall be towing the van via Calais. Images are 'clicky'.

Finally a few pics after the work!

2011-08-22T15:16:00.000+02:00

'Clickable pics'

A little update....

2011-06-15T21:04:00.001+02:00

Well, the fact that I have not updated for some time must mean that all is going well? In fact yes both cars are behaving very well.
I went to an all marques classic car meet in Nantes last Sunday with Tank 240.
An excellent turn out it was too. Only one other Volvo there which was a friend from the French forum.
One thing that was apparent on seeing other red cars there. Tank 240 's red has faded! After a wash it looks good..... from a distance! Close up there is a 'haze' giving a pink-ish hue. Very common with red cars.
Some photo's were put up on one of the forums I use and I have been 'ribbed' about Tank losing 'his' shine!
I am now addressing this! Quite a lot of work is involved, so I am working 1 panel at a time.
So far I have done the front wings and bonnet . Should have started with the roof, but it is huge, so I put it off lol.
The method I am using is - Wash, rinse, dry, clay, polish and finish with a wax. So far the red is coming back to a good deep shine.

850 Work at La Belle Vilaine

2011-05-05T22:14:00.001+02:00

I have had a PCV kit waiting to be fitted to Zeb' the 850 for too long now. This kit includes a replacement oil trap/separator all the needed pipes and a flame trap. The trap can be binned as they are not required & cause more problems as they easily clog up. On taking my old stuff off, the flame trap was still there, which leads me to believe that this work has never been carried out on Zeb.

Ready to start:

Injector rail and injectors removed.

Air intake manifold wedged out of the way, what a job getting to the bolts was!

New oil trap in place. Then it was a case of fitting the new pipes and then replacing the manifold, injector rail and a few other bits that had to come off.
This is one job that I would not like to have to do again!

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Tank as of today!

2011-04-14T22:11:00.001+02:00

Woohoo, go Tank!

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Volvo 850 door!

2011-03-31T09:17:00.000+02:00

One of the advisories on the Contrôle Technique was that the drivers door did not stay open, infact on opening & closing it made two loud 'crack' noises! I thought I'd look into this before the wind blew the door shut on Elaine's legs one day!
This is what I found, having removed the door jam:

The backing plate had completely sheared. The next day I went off to the scrappy & found a donor car:

Not a lot left on this car, but it did have the needed door stay. These 'brackets' quite often break over time, usually the drvers side being the one to give, as that gets most use. The donor car was a left hand drive model, so hopefully with the one I needed being from its passenger side, it should not be too worn.
Here is the part removed:

Fitted:

And with all the trim back in place:

Normality has been restored. The door is now 'sprung-loaded' & holds in three places as it should.

Tank 240 had a day out last Friday................

2011-03-09T10:18:00.001+01:00

I had to 'nip' down to Poitiers on Friday - it was not un-eventful. Tank loaded & a little trailer full too. Return trip was loaded too after swopping some stuff over.

Distance was 160 miles each way on the fab' frenchy un-congested (in the main) roads.

Setting off in glorius sunshine about 1115hrs Tank soon settled in to a steady 70mph on the quatre-voie (dual carriageway - or 'four lanes'). I drove for about 2 hours befoe stopping in an 'aire' to have my pic-nic. Incredibly just 2 hours south & folks were sitting outside enjoying the sun. I had about 30 miles to run & a good hour to our 'rendezvous' time. All going well then?

Well I set off & then pulled in for fuel, not needed really but thought it'd save stopping on the return.

Shortly after fuelling, I noticed the temp guage was down at the bottom...... then saw the rev counter jumping about.............. then at a roundabout no indicators..........then GPS told me I was speeding in a 50kph when my speedo said I was doing 50? So I pulled over & stopped to have a check around. I was 16 miles away from my destination.

I could not find anything obviously wrong, fuses all okay, no loose wires... So tried to start up............... nothing, not even dash lights! Tanks was dead!

Fortuenately I was in an industrial area by now. I slung my jump leads over my shoulder & asked in a factory place if someone could try to jump start me.
We tried this, but still could'nt get Tank to fire up. He nearly did.......

Anyway the chap said that there is a garage just across the way & he kindly offered to get the mec' to come over to 'help'.

The mec' arrived & I explained what had happened. Straight away he said, "It's your starter motor" How he worked that out I'll never know. Anyway, he got a big screwdriver & shorted the starter across it's terminals with the ignition on! Sparks flew & the motor (at least I think it was the starter) began to spin & whir. He again said yep it your starter alright. I politely suggested I thought he was wrong, but if he kept trying to do what he was doing he would probably kill it for me. He seemed a little 'back footed'. I suggested he tested the battery & then got a battery pack & then check the charge. I also told him that 240 starters are very long lived in general. He said that 'you can't just go sticking a battery pack on it when you don't know what's up'. I was starting to dislike this berk' by now.

So he got his tester.......... 11.3v. "There I said battery is dead" reply, "No 11.3 is not to so bad" Now I did dislike this berk! lol. I asked him to put his battery pack on, I wanted to prove that the starter was good. It was & Tank fired up immediately! Mr Mec' was sort of squirming by now. So I put his tester on the my battery after he dis-connected the pack. 7.8 volts & no change if I revved him up.

He said he'd tow me to the garage & he'd look in to it. By now I'd decided to ring my insurers, I was wishng I'd done in the first place.
I sort of thanked him & didn't offer him a few euro's for his 'efforts'.

Here we are at the side of the road, after the 'mec' had 'tried to kill my starter':

Insurers gave the 40 mins average call out time. So I waited. During the wait my oppo arrived to swap our loads over as planned (well nearly as planned)

Breakdown arrived & after me explaining the faults, he put Tank on the back of his truck & hitched the trailer up. We went to an auto-electrician about 5 miles back up the road.

Here we are, having just been un-loaded:

I had a chat with the chaps. They tested my battery & condemed it. They also reckoned a 55A hour was a little to small. I'd marked it with the month & year I fitted it (11/05). They said I'd had my monies worth! Out came a brand spanking 70A hour & it was dropped into place. Then they pulled the regulator out of the alternator (now I'd fitted this only 18 months or so back - it was a scan-tech). I was expecting it to be okay, but one brush was about 3/4's, the other was about 1/4! They replaced it (I'm not sure what make it is). Once fitted Tank was fired up & a test at the battery on tick-over with head lamps on showed 14.4 volts. Woohoo!

My credit card was then walloped for 171 euros

Once I'd recovered I set of for home. The return journey was un-eventful!

On a slightly brighter note, 'Zeb' - Volvo 850 went in for his Contrôle Technique (French version of MOT) on Saturday & passed 1st time! Only a couple of minor advisories, the worst of which was that the exhaust pipe is extremely rusty.

Tank, The 240

2011-02-12T18:09:00.000+01:00

Just had to take a 'snap' of this the other day. Click on the image to enlarge.

A Short Update

2011-01-22T13:23:00.000+01:00

Tank has covered about 200 miles locally since being 'repaired'. I have to say (touching wood) that all is well in ' 240 land '!

The only other work completed since is an oil change on both the Tank 240 & Zeb 850. Although 10k miles is the normal change interval on both, I tend to do them between 5k & 6k. Infact Tank has been given 6k oil changes all his 'life', which is probably why the engine is still very good given it's mileage. Only 1.4k to go before 200,000 comes up on the oddometer!

Tank 240 Lives!

2011-01-09T19:05:00.000+01:00

I finally won the battle against the handbrake springs! Disc, calliper & wheel back on. Out for a test drive &..............................TANK LIVES Woohoo!

2011-01-08T16:57:00.000+01:00

Right, having been 'in battle' with this job since 23/12 I made some progress yesterday. I went to the shops & got a carbide burr attachment & a set of pullers. The pullers had only 'outwards' feet, but I decided that I may be able to remove the 3-legs & turn them around to make suitable for this job.

Pullers first, but soon found that the gap in which the legs sat was smidge too small & the pullers would'nt grip. Just kept popping off with the slightest pressure.

So out with the burr Well that merely tickled the flippin' thing. By now I was getting a tad wicked off & the option of that (daunting) axle swop loomed ever closer.

Next I decided 'do or die' not a lot to lose, so out came my trusty club hammer. I hooked my little claw hammer in behind the jammed race (as per my pic in earlier posts), carboard behind for protection & I began to wack the handle with my club hammer. 3, 6, 9, & 12 O'clock. Third time 'around the clock' & it had moved, all be it a smidge.

So now can I get the pullers in?

Well yes, after having it pull out about 20 or so times, I eventually got it to lock in place & used my wrench as a 'bar' for the puller to press on:

And here just before it came out:

The axle tube looked quite good, a few 'marks' but nothing that looked overly serious. I flushed it out with spray brake cleaner. Then a smear of grease & then I put in the 'old off-side' 1/2 shaft (regreased) & it seems to spin smoothly. Shortly after this heavy rain stopped play, light was fading too. So that is where I am up to right now, the weather is still against me. I shall probably run Tank like this, locally. But more than likely I'll nip back to the yard & get the near-side 1/2 shaft from the 'donor car' & fit that, just so as I have a shaft that has been 'going the right way', if that makes sense! Phew.

I think Tanks 240 maybe dead!

2011-01-04T18:27:00.000+01:00

After replacing the inner seal due to the leak & putting in a replacement 1/2 shaft after suspecting the bearing to be worn. I found after a very short test drive that the grumbling bearing noise was still there.

So I raised the other side & sure enough, it was rumbling badly. So I was unfortunate enough to have one side leaking & the other dry!

Today I pulled the N/S 1/2 shaft & found:
Note the rollers that just fell out!

I then found that the outer casing of that bearing had apparently heat welded itself into the axle:
I have tried to shift that piece, but it appears to be 'well stuck'. I fear that even if I can get it free there will be damage to the axle itself. So short of replacing the whole axle, I'm fast running out of ideas on this one.

Visit to 240's in 'The Yard'

2010-12-29T13:01:00.000+01:00

Well I popped down to the yard in St Nazaire on Monday. There was only 2 240 models left, both of which were 'well stripped'! Last time I visited they had around 10 of the beasts lying around. Maybe time to search for a 'new yard'!
Anyway of the two I chose a saloon model as it has less on the clock (although that's no guarantee of true mileage). This option soon failed as the disc was truly seized on!
So I moved onto a D24 Estate model. The disc here looked as if it had some sort of copper slip grease applied where it sat against the hub. It still needed some persuasion with a hammer to shift mind! Once off it revealed a nicely grease up & free spinning bearing. I removed the handbrake shoes & put the springs in my tool box as spares. Next was to released the 4 bolts that hold the 1/2 shaft in. I then found that the shaft was in very tightly. I guess this means the bearing was a good snug fit. It would'nt simply pull out as mine did, so I put the disc back on, the wrong way round & then put the wheel nuts on loosly. So I now had a crude slide hammer. Two tugs & I had the blighter!

I also picked up a GLT style radiator grill & a set of horns whilst I was there. Could have picked up quite a few more bits & bobs too. Very tempting!
Anyway I cannot do anymore until the inner seal arrives. I doubt it will be here before new year.
Have a good one to all!

Volvo 240 'woes'!

2010-12-26T17:34:00.001+01:00

The other evening a few miles from home 'Tank' 240 began making a horrid graunching noise which appeared to be from the rear. I was out in the sticks in the pitch black. A quick look using the light on my mobile phone revealed this:

First thoughts were that I have a leak of brake fluid as well as the 'noise'. I decided to 'press on'home at a slow pace, allowing cars to pass when needed. We made it home.
The next morning I removed the wheel. The brake lines were dry, as were the calliper, pads & disc. Not a brake leak then.
The fluid was black & gooey. Oil then! Onto the Volvo forum for advice. Thoughts came to the inner seal for the wheel bearing was letting by diff-oil that had diluted the wheel bearing grease. This in turn had caused damage to the bearing & that would be the noise. "Just replace the bearing & you'll be off again', said one chap. I began to read various articles on volvo 240 rear wheel bearing replacement proceedures and very quickly realised it was not going be straight forward. Various pullers & tools are needed & getting the new bearing to sit correctly appears to be critical.
The best suggestion put forward, from my view was to remove the 1/2-shaft & replace it with one from a yard complete with it's bearing. Now this is a very similar idea to that I followed a couple of years when I had a front bearing seize.
That was solved with a replacement strut complete with bearing from the 'yard'.
So next work was to remove & hang the calliper out of the way, remove the disc & the handbrake springs & shoes. Then to undo the 4 hub bolts & pull the 1/2 shaft out:

The bearing is the 'blue' bit on the 3rd pic.
This leaves the (suspected) leaking inner seal within the axle. It is thin metal covered in rubber, with a spring around its circumference which keeps it tight against the axle 'tube'.
Getting to this point was not too bad. Then advise was that there will be a carrier in front of the seal which needs to be removed without damage (if re-using)before the inner seal is pulled. Also the seal would be best removed with a seal hook, not something I own. So I went to find the carrier, but no could'nt see it. Back on the forum & others by now, had seen the thread & confirmed that there is no carrier. One chap had carried out the proceedure three times. That was good enough for me!
So onto removing the seal. I 'made' a seal hook using the 'nail-puller' part of a small hammer, with some doubled up corrugated cardboard to protect where the bearing sits:

The pic is a mock up after the job & ideally I needed three hands, but hopefully you get the idea.
So that is everything removed from my car. Next job is to obtain the replacement 1/2 shaft from the yard & then to refit it all, re-fill the differential gear-box & HOPE that the seal was the culprit.

Volvo 240 Battery latest.

2010-12-15T17:45:00.003+01:00

Well the battery has had a very good test! Yesterday morning I needed to be at my daughters house fairly early & back indoors before Elaine left for work. So 0715 ish out I went into a balmy -6 degrees. De-ice Tank, then fire up. Started first time no hesitation. Drive to daughters, switch off. Load up & re-start Tank. Well, Tank had other ideas, he was going no-where. Cranking like a gooden, but no start!

'Tank just does'nt do that' I thought to myself. Crank him over again, spins strongly, no start! Up with the bonnet, quick scan around and all appears as it should. So I try to start again, engine cranks & cranks, but no start! So I begin stirring the old grey-matter. Is the fuel pump buzzing? Open passenger door switch ignition on, no buzz what so ever. Ah, fuse 6 (fuel pump fuse) a common fail when using inferior plastic fuses is that they cannot cope with the heat as they age, and so melt, I recalled reading. Open the fuse box & yep indeed the fuse had melted. I whipped it out, had a quick clean up & slipped in a replacement. Then we're off, phew!

So I now have a set of Volvo ceramic fuses on order! Plus, I have confirmed that there is some time left in the old battery for sure!

Tanks 240's Battery

2010-12-12T18:34:00.001+01:00

Well, all I've done so far is give the 'tired' battery a good boost with my charger & top up the cells. Good news is that it took a full charge with the charger cutting out automatically once the battery was 'full'. I've had 'dead' one's in the past that never get to the point where the charger switches off, meaning they were 'really dead'!
Anyway that was Friday & I've not touched the car since, will see if it's held the charge tomorrow!

Volvo 850 gets new drop links.

2010-12-11T18:46:00.000+01:00

Well it was about time I got around to fitting these. I've had them since September after all!

Not too bad a job either & should remove the annoying cloncking over rough ground at slow speeds.
Before photo, quite mankey I thought!Click on images to enlarge

New one ready to go on:

And finally fitted:

Not test driven yet, fingers crossed!

Time for a new battery I feel.....

2010-12-08T11:25:00.002+01:00

All still fairly quiet here in 'volvo world'. Good news really I guess.

Tank 240 made a 250 mile round trip the other day to Lucon in the Vendee region & back. Totally un-eventful & clocked over 198,000 miles on the return journey.

Had a minor snag on the 850, the glove box light stayed on & flatened the battery. This is due to the glove box lock failing some time ago. Now it is shut with a strip of sticky velcro. The velcro has moved slightly over the months & the door no longer de-activates the courtesy lamp within the glove box. Anyway the 850 has stolen the battery from Tank. The lamp issue has been solved, I've placed a blanking plate over the button, so the lamp stays off for the time being.

Tank is starting, all be it sluggishly with the tired battery. So I reckon a replacement is called for.

New Volvo Pics page!

2010-11-14T19:06:00.005+01:00

Hi, I had a couple of pics sent to me by Olivier who is the current owner of 'Rocket' my 'old' Volvo 480 Turbo. These are more up to date & since he has refurbished the front spoiler. When I sold it to him the spoiler was very tatty! Cracked & 'bodged' with araldite.
Anyway I have added a page with his photo's & a couple of 'Tank' the 240. I shall add some more from time to time, so be sure to keep on visiting!
The photo's page is not quite set out as I'd wish just yet but I'll work on that!
To view this page click on the link below the heading 'Pages' over on the right.

Volvo 850

2010-11-04T09:29:00.008+01:00

Next 'job' (never ending) was to replace the engine 'top mount' bush on the 850. Quite a common fail point on these models. Special tools are normally required to press bushes out, although some folks do use sockets, wood & a strong vice to drift them out & in.
I cheated by using a poly-bush. These cost a little bit more, but their ease of use & longevity outweighs that in my opinion.
The old bush is simply cut out, by passing a hack-saw blade through the bush & re-attatching it to the saw frame. Cut two nicks in the (metal usually) hard plastic of the bush & it will fall out (hopefully).
The new poly bush is in two halfs & can be slipped into place easily. Then a bit of lube on the metal tube & that too will slide into the hole made up by the two parts of poly-bush. You can then bolt the supports through the new bush. Great!.
A couple of pics of old & new. Click on pics for full size.

Worn out old mount.

Cutting out the old.

New bush in place.
Full explanation & more pics have been sent to The Volvo Owners Club, hopefully for inclusion in the club magazine sometime.

More 240 'work' at Gite South Brittany

2010-10-06T13:00:00.003+02:00

Once again a long time since updating here. I am certainly having to do less since the departure of the 480!
The latest work completed has been to change the fuel filter on the 240. This was a fairly straight forward process, made all that much easier due to it's location. It is fixed to the firewall under the bonnet. No need to scrabble about under the car. The title of this post is a link to a 'how to replace a 240 fuel filter' that I posted on the Volvo forum. (If it will not work it will, most likely be because you are not registered on the forum).

That said, I have ready to fit.......... a fuel filter for the 850! Yep, it is situated under the car next to the fuel tank! Also it has 'quick release' connections! So it's been down there for an unknown amount of time & quick release connections are expected to work......... time will tell!

Also on the list for 850 are front suspension drop links, front brake hoses & the infamous engine top mount. All ready to go, just got to get my act in order!

Volvo 240 latest

2010-09-03T14:27:00.002+02:00

Well Simon & I replaced the engine mounts together. Not without a minor snag. On raising the engine, I lifted it a tad too far & pushed the clutch fluid reservoir to one side. This resulted in poor old Simon taking a face full of clutch fluidas he was working below. Luckily no damage done. Just pushed the reservoir back in place & topped up the fluid, phew!

The following week Tank went off to my mechanic. A week later I collected 'him' & what a transformation! Now drives like a new car! New front springs & shocks, front suspension bushes too. Also as previously mentioned a full waxoyl type treatment under the floor pan. The rust had a plate welded over, after being cleaned & neutralised. I've since Waxoyled from above & plugged the holes with chemical metal. Following that 2 coats of hammerite were applied. I think that will give Tank a few more years of life! The rust was superficial after all.

850 has been to the same mechanic for an assessment. Not too bad either. Needs two front brake hoses, front suspension drop links, engine top mount & advised to replace fuel filter - will be doing all this soon, including the fuel filter on 'Tank'.

Towbar Fitted!

2010-07-21T19:29:00.002+02:00

As the title says the tow bar is now fitted. Not too much grief, apart from a stiff neck! I was a bit worried about the wiring, but as a mate was coming over to visit (who also bought loads of parts over for 'Tank' 240), I decided to ask for his help. He had a quick look & immediately consigned the 'scotch-locks' supplied with the kit to the bin! About an hour later, he'd soldered all the connections & all is working well. 'Tested it last weekend with a 115 mile each way tow, with my trailer tent.

So next on the agenda is more 240 work. Simon bought over new Volvo engine mounts & he is 'chomping at the bit' to fit them whilst he is here. Hopefully we'll do them tomorrow. Then 'Tank' will be away for a few days to have new front shock absorbers, new front springs, new front suspension bushes (all Volvo parts), a jet blast off underneath followed by a coat of Waxoyl! Oh a smidgin' of welding too. After that 'Tank' should be fairly 'tip-top' for a car of 21yrs. Controle Technique (Frenchy MOT) is due by Sept, so time will tell!

850 Update.

2010-06-05T18:33:00.002+02:00

Hadn't realised how long since last writing! The disc & pad change went well on the 850. Since then Zeb (850) had to come home on a truck! Complete 'shut down' whilst Elaine was a few miles from home. After a bit of investigation, I narrowed the culprits down to either fuel pump relay or the fuel pump itself! The relays are around £40 & the fuel pump kit around £230, or if you buy just the pump to fit into the old housing arangement around the £100 mark. So hoping it was the relay I 'bridged' terminals 15 & 87 with a paper clip................ but still nothing. So dead pump then.
Next day I set of to a breakers yard in St Nazaire, they had 4 850's, but all the pumps had been removed. I took 2 relays though for 5€. Disheartened that I was in for some 'deep wallet surgery', I remembered a small yard I'd been to on an industrial estate on the out skirts of St Lypard. I managed to find it & they told me they had 'a Volvo' at the back. They let me go for a look & on finding it I was chuffed to see that it was an 850 & it had the pump in place! So I removed it complete & took the relay. Both were mine for 40€.
Onto the next day & I fitted the pump & tested it by bridging the terminals again. Zeb fired up first turn of the key! Bingo! I then put in a relay & all was & still is fine.
Oil & filter changes have been done of both Zeb & Tank (240).
Next on the list is to fit a towbar to Zeb. I've have it in my shed, where it's been for about month now waiting!

Volvo 850 'throws me a challenge'!

2010-04-02T17:35:00.003+02:00

Well, I had plans for brake pads & discs to be bought over by a chap staying in one of my gites this summer. One disc is about as thin as is acceptable, but thought I was going to 'make it'.

However Elaine came home to tell me that she had the handbrake lever fully up & the car rolled back still! Not good. I tried adjusting the setting, as in moving the handbrake shoes closer to the built-in drum on the back of the disc to no avail. Apparently when the shoes age, the friction material breaks away from the shoe itself. I suspect that is exactly what has happened.

I've made yet another purchase from a French online shop - same place that I bought the brake pads for 'Tank' ( 240 )from .

I ordered yesterday & have today recieved a text & e-mail confirming that the bits have been sent. Hoping they arrive tomorrow so as to be fitted over the weekend...........

Not original parts, Bendix Discs & hand-brake shoes, along with Bosch pads.
I have aready WD40'd the calliper bolts, lets hope they aren't seized!

Rolling Resto' work continues on Tank - Volvo 240.

2010-03-05T16:00:00.003+01:00

A couple of weeks back I made a trip of 90 odd miles to visit a mechanic who comes with 'high praise. The plan was for him to have a look at some small holes in my 240's floor pan. On phoning, he said that rust has a horrible habit of being a lot worse than it looks. Something we all know, but hope for it not to be.

Anyway I went up & Steve (mechanic) said he'd have a good look right round the car & give me his opinion. He spent about an hour!

His verdict was that the rust was nothing whatsoever to worry about. In fact having put the Kurust on to stop it, he reckoned I could leave & just apply fresh Kurust once a year. Anyhow, as it's a simple job for a welder it's going to be done. He found the following:
Clutch slave cylinder was weeping fluid.
Another brake hose has swollen (new pipes all round were on order at this time).
2 Outer anti-roll bar bushes 'shot'.
2 Front lower arm rear bushes 'shot'.
Minor play in steering - Adjustment of inner track rod joints needed along with a Steering column lower bush.
He went onto say that he thought it was a 'minter' for it's age & he'd buy it for his business if I wanted to sell! "Keep yer mits off", I said!

Anyway he has left it with me to decide how much or little I want to do myself & the rest he'll do, along with 2 front road springs & 2 front shock inserts that I'd asked him to do.

I can supply the parts for him to fit, as I get the discounted stuff & have a friend willing to bring the parts over in July to save on P&P.

So all in all a very worthwhile visit.

Since this, I've replaced the remaining 'old' brake hose's & have bled the system.

Last weekend was spent sorting some rust behind the rear bumper. Something that is not visible without removing the bumper (which is a pain). A chap on the Volvo forum bought this up & has posted a pic of his crumbling rear sill & subsequent repair. Mine was no where near as bad, but whilst the bumper was off I ground away what rust was their and then Kurusted it. Next to strengthen it I put some fibreglass matting & resin on, then applied two coats of Red Hammerite paint. That should keep 'Tin-worm' at bay for three or four years.....

This morning I replaced the leaking clutch slave cylinder that Steve found. Not too difficult. Had to bleed the system afterwards. Used my Gunson's Brake Bleed Kit. The old fluid was black, so well overdue I guess.

Oh, Steve offered to jetwash all the salt & crud off & spray a coat of Waxoyl on the underside for me at the cost of one hours labour too - think I'll take him up on that one.

So the remaining work will be done by Steve in late July / early August & at the end of it I reckon I should have a very much up together old beast given the on going stuff that I've done over the last few years.

Ages since last post!

2010-02-03T17:36:00.003+01:00

Must be good news then! Well, on the whole yes. Zeb the 850 is fine, has been to Derby & back in the 'before Christmas bout of snow'. He behaved superbly. All I did was to carry out an oil change before the trip.

Tank the 240, well I heard the rear brakes 'rubbing' about a week ago. So ordered a set of brake pads, all round. As usual, cheaper from UK, but with the changes in postal rates, £30 P&P put the price well over a set from here. So they were fitted by myself. Whilst doing so I noticed that one of the brake hoses on F/N/S had swollen. Not good. I managed to get one pipe locally for 22€ (£7.50 from my usual supplier) & fitted it, then bled that side to keep me going. Have ordered the rest that I need to make a full new set all round. Thinking that if one is 'going home' the rest must be due. I reckon on about £60-£70 for the whole lot, job done. I did have a quote, as I was toying with the idea of garaging it, but at 254.22€ they can 'forget it'!

I managed to get to another meeting with the French group a couple of weeks back. This time at Pornic:
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A few pics, which may work - I 'lifted' these from the French forum, as I forgot my camera.If not & you to view, maybe copy & paste into your browser. If that fails, well........at least I tried.

This time I introduced them to Jacobs Crackers, Cheddar & Branston Pickle LOL!

Of to St Malo this Sunday............

Volvo 850 wheel arch rain guard repair.

2009-11-21T13:21:00.002+01:00

When I bought the 850, the 'seller' pointed out that he suffered a 'dink' in a supermarket car park. This caused a bit of damage to the front off-side bumper & spoiler. He did a 'self-repair including the re-spray part. He made a very job of it too.
It wasn't until, one day when I had the wheels off that I noticed that the wheel-arch rain guard on that side was well & truly cracked, leaving the spoiler quite 'wobbly' & obviously allowing water spray into places it should not go.
So last Saturday I put that side up safely on an axle stand, then I used the jack to carefully raise the bumper/spoiler into its correct position thus pushing the cracks back together.
Then it was out with the fibre-glass & resin repair kit (what horrid messy stuff that is)to seal the cracks.
Once that had 'gone off' I painted the area with black 'plastidip' - a rubberised paint to put on plastic surfaces & the jobs a gooden!

Volvo Meeting!

2009-11-10T11:25:00.008+01:00

Well I eventually managed to fit in a Volvo meeting with the chaps on a French volvo forum I use regularly. It was great to put some faces to the names that regularly 'take the mick' out of my attmepts at written French!

It started at 0930hrs on Sunday on the quay in the commercial port in Brest. 140 miles each way. Setting off at 0700 hrs I was on time!

9 cars, 10 folks. Coffee & croissants, followed by pain au chocolat & McVities digestives (supplied by yours truly).

A good look around all the cars & technical questions answered. I then handed out a number of old Volvo Driver mags that I'd collected over the years. Also managed to sell a spare part I had.

1130 &am, and out came Oysters, white wine, cheese & bread!

Around 1300, after a photo shoot, they all hopped into their & announced thaty were off to a restaurant! By this time I'd eaten too much bread & cheese so gracefully declined!

Cheers.

Shiney 240

2009-11-02T18:23:00.003+01:00

All is well in my sad old world of Volvo cars. No 'work' has been needed of late. Nothing of note anyway. I 'won' a nearside rear light for Tank ( 240 ) having put bids on both. I really needed the off-side one as one of the studs holding it in is broken. So it hangs by only one fixing. Quite secure but allows rain water to pass. Luckily it drops into the off side spare wheel well (which is empty - spare is in the n/s one) and flows out of the drain hole!
Just yesterday I managed to 'aquire' two rear lights via The Volvo Owners Club. A member & friend happened to spot a 'very nice' 240 estate in his local breakers & asked if it was for sale. It had been taken in under the scrapage scheme. As all the forms had been completed it cannot go back on the road. Some parts can be salvaged though, so £20 secured me the two lights. Bargain!
The only other thing I've done is to give Tank a couple of coats of Collonite 476 polish. A recommended polish on many 'car cleaning' forums. thought I'd give it go.
Results here (clicky to enlarge)

Wipers fixed! Woohoo!

2009-09-26T14:20:00.002+02:00

Well the trip was well worthwhile. 100 miles each way, which Tank took in his stride. We clocked over 191,000 miles en-route too!
I arrived at Mikes around 1130 in glorious sunshine, deep in quiet rural mid-brittany. We spent about 1&1/2 hrs sorting the car out. Much easier with another 240 alongside to 'crib' from.
It was a bit fiddly, making a loop with a 'twist' in it & getting it over the pulley whilst squishing myself down in the passenger footwell, with Mike flat out across the two front seats holding things in place until I'd fixed them. Who knows what a passer by would have thought seeing a car deep in the woods with two blokes in the position we were in!!!
Tensioning the wire, once fitted was a real pain due to lack of room. I had to hold the tension screw with a screwdriver bit locked into a mini-mole clamp, whilst tightening the nut with an 8mm spanner, again whilst folding myself up like origami into the footwell!
Any, the deed is done, and in time to retire to Mike's converted bus for some french bread & cheeses, bliss!

Return of Zeb!

2009-09-24T09:19:00.005+02:00

Well, as expected 'Zeb' made it home without a 'sniff'. About 1200 miles over a weekend - a good test! A very enjoyable, if exhausting time was had too. We now hope that the advertising pays off. I made a video clip of one of our dogs, Gracie loving the 'Dash & Splash' event:

On the car front, I've to repair a crack in the front off-side inner-wing on Zeb'(Volvo 850). This is a result of a car backing into him in UK before we owned him. Previous keeper had repaired & re-sprayed the bumper, but didn't do the inner wing. Not a major issue, but I guess it is supposed to be water tight. I've got one of those horrible messy glass fibre repair kits for the job. After that I'll put a layer of 'plastidip' paint in black to cover it.

'Tank' (Volvo 240) is fine. On Monday I finally got around to fitting my replacement windscreen wiper motor. This one 'parks' as it should, so no more guessing when to switch them off & intemittent sweep works too. Job done then? Erm, no. On the last stage, re-connecting the wiper drive rod to the motor spindle the opposite end of the rod collapsed! Try as I might I cannot work out how to re-connect it. It is just a series of pulleys & wire loops......... just! Ha! Anyway luckily a friend with a 240 is over in France right now, so I'm off to his place tomorrow, so that we can look at his to use as a 'model' to get mine right. Hoping it stays bright & sunny!

Volvo 850 has left the country!

2009-09-13T17:47:00.003+02:00

Just to prove my cambelt change was a gooden............. 'Zeb' (as 850 is now known) made the long drive to Calais on Friday. Laden with 3 dogs, top box full of camping gear & wife, Elaine & daughter, Cheryl sharing the driving shifts. They headed for the Calais-Dover ferry, before crossing the channel to continue to Paddock Wood (Kent), the location of this years 'Paws-in-the-Park (google it) event.
Zeb mile-munched his way there with no problems.
The idea of the trip was three-fold. A break (although working) for wifey & daughter. A chance for our dog, Gracie to try 'dash & splash' for the first time & to compete in the agility. Our other dog, Ficelle has gone to try 'dash & splash' but decided it is for 'wimps' & gracefully refused to enter into the spirit of things. Cheryls dog, Daisy has attended also, she has attended the 'try agility' bit as she is a youngster & like Ficelle refused the dash & splash! Finally they have a stand to promote our 'dog friendly holiday gites'. Lots of photo's & info on our gites & the area along with leaflets. At the end of day one, over 200 leaflets had been taken & two bookings had been made! Looks like a worthwhile event for us! I think we'll all be going next year, along with Haiyla, our pup, who's passport is not yet 'full', hence me being 'billy-no-mates' at home! Mind you, I've just been for a swim in the nearby river with Haiyla, so things aren't that bad!

Volvo 850 Cambelt Change

2009-08-27T19:54:00.003+02:00

Started this job last Sunday in the baking hot sun. Everything came to 'bits' with no problems (makes a nice change from the 480 which always had something seized). Got to the points of fitting the new belt.............. 3 hours later I still hadn't managed it! I decided to wriggle it free from behind the crank pulley & offer it up against the old (why did'nt I do that before)to find it was way too short. Old was a 148 tooth & the supplied replacement was a 144 tooth (which is for 10 valve models not 20 valve like mine).
To cut a long story short, the correct belt arrived about midday today, I've just finished fitting it along with the auxilliary belt. Test drive done, 15 or so miles & all appears fine. Phew, always scares me doing cambelts......... that first time 'start' after the work, even though I'd spun the engine (plugs out) to check for knocks etc.
Still thats it, for another 80,000 miles - so that'll be at 225,000 miles then!LOL.

Latest work at gites south brittany touring

2009-08-18T13:49:00.005+02:00

Well, look how long it since I lasted updated! Must mean things are behaving car-wise! Also shows how much work the old 480 gave me LOL.

Whilst mentioning the 480, Rocket is doing fine. He has been polished to inifinity! Now shines like a new pin. He's had new rear shocks, pop-up lights have been repaired (new motors)& the cam-belt pulleys are to be replaced as one is 'squealing'. He has had a temp' repair to a 'port' in the cooling system using ptfe tape due to a hole in the port which allowed all the coolant to flow out & left Olivier (new owner)stranded. Oh and a new battery too! 480's lovely cars but they do keep you busy!

Volvo 240 & Volvo 850 are behaving very well. I have made a dog guard for the 850 (tailgate guard to be exact). This is so that, at dog agility shows I can leave the tailgate open, but keep the dogs safe, secure & cool:

Click on images to enlarge.

Next project is cam-belt & auxiliary belt change on the 850 ! Gulp! I've purchased genuine belts at a greatly reduced price via a chap on the Volvo Owners Club forum who works at a main dealer & offers discounts to members. I've never done a cambelt on a double over head cam engine.............. so wish me luck! Infact I've only ever done the cambelts on my 240 & the 480..................

I had a quote to do the work here, the garages insisted on doing all the pulleys & the water pump too. Belts & Braces! Quote was 608.97€!

Having spoken (via a friend) to a Volvo mechanic, the advice is to only change the belts so long as everything is quiet, nothing is leaking and that mileage is not 'inter-galactic'. Well my 145,000 miles is not considered 'inter-galactic' for an 850, so just the belts it is for now for £50 delivered. What a saving!

Volvo Servicing.

2009-06-26T18:20:00.003+02:00

At last I've been able to carry out some of the servicing. Yes that means I've had a 'proper tinker' with the Volvo 850 at last! You knew I wouldn't be able to hold off for long didn't you?
Elaine complained that the 850 was a little 'sluggish' & had started to 'hiccup' a bit when accelerating. So good timing with the purchase of dizzy-cap, rotor & plugs then!
The fitting of these parts on Wednesday morning has solved the problem. In fact looking at the state of the old cap & rotor, it was surprising it was running at all! Well overdue. Still have the oil & filter to do.
240 has had plugs, dizzy-cap, rotor & oil + filter change. Also I eventually managed to remove the fuel injectors & replace the seals on them. Two on each injector & over time they perish allowing an air-leak. All sorted now.
Air filters were replaced yesterday, as they arrived separately from the other items due to the previously mentioned small glitch with my order.

Volvo Update.

2009-06-23T13:25:00.002+02:00

Well, not much to report this time. Both the 240 & 850 are behaving. So I have treated them both to new 'service items'. As in spark plugs, dizzy-caps & rotors, oil filters, air filters & oil. I've not done all of the replacements just yet. 850 is proving hard to get 'a hold of' due to Elaine always being out in 'him'!
'Tank' (240) just needs the oil & filter change. Air filters are en-route due to a glitch in the delivery - they forgot to put both of them in my parcel!
Used a different company to normal this time as I decided to go 'Volvo' for the parts. So all are genuine bits, but from a discount supplier. This was the company that supplied the 'euro' headlamps for '850'.
I've not really tried anything too tasking, so far on 850 so when I start I shall be learning!
Today we have some new arrivals in the gites. This chap is a fellow Volvo Club member. He has been to the Best Kept Volvo show at Thoresby Hall en-route. There he met up with my brother Dave, who was showing his Volvo 480 'Celebration'. Dave found me a replacement windscreen wiper motor for 'Tank'. This motor should be arriving today with the guests! Quick delivery, puchased on Sunday, arrives Tuesday!

'The Rocket has left the Building'

2009-05-23T16:55:00.002+02:00

Well it was a sad day yesterday, Rocket my Volvo 480 Turbo Auto went off to a new owner. I just couldn't justify keeping 3 cars insured & don't really need 3 if I'm honest. So I set about the difficult task of selling a right hand drive, but French registered car here in France.
I had a fair few nice comments about Rocket on the French Volvo forums but most posts ended "if only it was a left hooker'...............
Then a young lad contacted me saying that he already had a RHD 480 that he had collected from Chepstow & had restored it. He was interested in mine, but being a student played the 'strapped for cash card'.
Anyway we have been in touch on a regular basis since the end of Feb' & seeing as I was not getting any firm interest at all in the 480 we came to a deal. Olivier had promised to restore my 480 in a rolling-restoration type affair. Also promised to keep me informed & post a project thread about the restoration on Volvo-480.org.
So yesterday saw Rocket leave my home for the last time, to embark on a 350+ mile drive to his new home. Needless to say he performed faultlessly & Olivier is chuffed to nuts with his new purchase.This must be the longest drive the car has done since before I bought him in 2002!
He's already begun with a few tiddly bits & has already made a detailed post of his plans on the 480 site.
I really pleased that my car has gone to a place where 'he' will be looked after & used fo many years to come. What a stroke of luck, as I'd feared I was going to have drive him to the scrapper.

Volvo 850 Controle Technique

2009-05-10T18:50:00.003+02:00

We have a full Controle Technique (MOT) as of yesterday. Phew, just scraped in as it had to be completed by 11/05/09.

I'd been waiting for my LHD spec headlamps to arrive. Typically they arrived just before we set off for a long weekend in Jersey. So fitting had to wait till we got back. Then Elaine was out at work during the week.............. So I finally fitted them on Friday. I managed to do the alignment by parking facing the house wall. Then marked the position of the main & dipped beams with tape on the wall. After fitting the new lamps I adjusted the main beam to the same marks. The dipped beam is obviously different to UK spec lamps, so I just used the dipped beam mark to give me the height & set them that way. A bit hit & miss but obviously worked.

Tyres sourced in Jersey, no problems.

Seized brake calliper AOK now.

So two years till next test.

4000 + miles have been covered in the 850 since I bought it in Feb, touching wood - no problems so far................

Latest on Volvo 240 & 850, not forgetting Volvo 480

2009-04-10T10:18:00.002+02:00

Well, the flippin scrap yard let me down! 70 mile round trip for nowt! Got there and their one and only 850 Volvo was a phase 1. When I tried to complain, it was agreed that I had told them phase 2, but followed by the 'gallic shrug' & "but its is an 850". Say's it all really. .

So I have finally sourced a brand new set via Brookhouse Volvo parts. A company I've never used but, who always come with high praise via the Volvo forums. They should be here around 22/04/09. Just trying to find the measurements to set up the headlamps, by pointing the car at a wall & measuring distance from it & height of the beam etc

Tyres are sorted. I shall be getting those in Jersey in a week or so when we pop over to attend a dog agility show. Price is about 1/2 that of here.

Brake calliper - I've had the pads out & have got the pistons in the calliper moving again. All back together & the disc is cleaning up nicely. We've covered about 600 miles since & reckon on about another 600-800 before the re-test. I'm just hoping I've done enough for them to pass it.

Volvo 240 is all back together again (& still dry). I must say it is incredibly peaceful to drive with the soundproofing & carpets re-installed!

Tracking has been adjusted & my steering wheel is no longer 'off-set' so that was worthwhile. Still have'nt ventured on any long trips since the wheel-bearing failure. I'm going to make sure all the grease is still present & 'double check' them (again!) before I do make a longish trip. Paranoid now me! I definately learnt about wheel-bearings 'the hard way'!

Volvo 480. Still with me right now. I have a university student who seems very interested, due to the cars rarity over here (they never sold 480 Turbo with the auto option). He has just finished his exams & is now in Martinique doing a work experience type thing for a few weeks. He is hoping the car will still be here when he returns, so fingers crossed. The difficulty in the sale is that the car is right hand drive. I've had lots of 'if only it was left hand drive' comments from the French forums. Oh well, that's about all for now.

Volvo update.

2009-03-27T16:32:00.002+01:00

For once I've been wanting it to rain & it has'nt! Typical. Well until yesterday & today that is. Had a drizzly day yesterday & quite a downpour today. Been out in the 240 on the wet roads to throw some 'wet' up from underneath. Last checked at lunchtime & all appears dry. Good news. Just need to see if I can remember where all the bits of soundproofing, carpets and trim go. I'll be glad to have it together again as it's flippin noisy right now! I've decided that I need to have my tracking done again. It was last done a couple of years ago afte I replaced the track rod ends. Since I've replaced the suspension leg after wheel bearing 'saga' the car does tend to 'drift' a bit. I thought that as I had'nt touched the 'business' end of the track rods it would be okay. Apparently it is good practice to have tracking checked after any work in the suspension area.
Volvo 850 is still fine. Completely re-registered now. I've sourced a set of LHD headlamps after much searching on the web. I eventually set about phoning scrap yards in our region. 12th phone call hit the jackpot about an hours drive away. So they are on hold for me to collect tomorrow afternoon all being well.
Just need to sort a seized brake calliper & maybe replace rear discs & pads, oh and sort the tyre out that failed MOT due to the wall being too perished.

The Rain Came to see my Volvo 240!

2009-03-09T19:37:00.002+01:00

Yep it rained towards the end of last week. I found a little trickle of water flowing down the bulkhead behind the pedals in the drivers footwell. The point of entry is at a hole where a thick electic cable enters the cabin. I guess its for the rear lights. This cable has a rubber grommit to seal it where it comes through the bulkhead. It is the grommit that is letting by. I guess is has been doing so for sometime, as it must have taken a while for that small a trickle to fill the well in the floorpan enough to flow over to other parts of the car. Luckily there is no sign of rust on the floor pan. Infact it looks amazingly clean & almost 'factory fresh'.
I've sealed the grommit with some silicone (auto-type) & since quite a downfall a few nights ago all is dry. I'm going to leave it for a few more downpours before I re-fit everything to be sure. It was a real pain removing all the trim & carpets, one that I do not relish having to do a second time!
Onto the 'new' Volvo 850 (touches wood) this, so far seems to have been a good 'buy'. A lot of car for very little money! We have covered well over a 1000 miles in the month that we've had it & no problems at all. Having bought it almost 'over the phone & with only e-mail pic's to go on, we have come out with what appears to be a good motor.
Well ahead now with the re-registering process. I have received the log book from DVLA. Which has been copied & the copy has been sent to Volvo France in order to get my certificate of EU compliance. Today I went to the tax office in Vannes & obtained an import certificate. On Wednesday I have the Control technique booked (Frenchy MOT). So it will a week or so to get the Cert' from Volvo, then off to the Prefecture in Vannes to pay a 'one off' road tax & then they'll issue me with a Carte-Grise (French log book). The final step is to get a set of French plates made up & fit them! Oh got to pop into my insurance agent with the new info to get my insurance upgraded from a provisional policy to full as well.
"Simples"

Wet 240 now!

2009-03-03T17:26:00.002+01:00

Well where are we up to............ still got three Volvo cars.
The other day I found that the 240 was sopping wet inside, under the carpet trays. So I've ripped the insides out! Looks like its ready for a banger race track inside now. Just have the drivers seat in place. All carpets & centre console have gone. Sounds like a real 'tank' inside now.
Waiting for some rain to see where abouts the water is entering.
Found the rear off-side footwell soaked & also drivers footwell.
All the carpets and soundproofing have been dried out & silicone is ready to seal up the source once located.

Volvo 850

2009-02-14T18:26:00.000+01:00

....................and here is the new 'beastie'

Volvo 240 is rolling!

2009-02-14T18:06:00.002+01:00

The HGV place said 'no can do', the 'replacement' leg has been condemned!

So I ended up finding a scrap yard in St Nazaire (about an hour away) that had some Volvo 240 models with the needed suspension leg. So I went off & came back with a gooden', complete with bearing, shock, spring & solid splash plate So a complete 'bolt on repair'!
All fitted last week. But still had to await the arrival of my brake pipe spanner.

So in the meantime I went 'mad' and nipped back to England & bought a Volvo 850 GLT Estate! I collected it from Derby after flying to East Midlands & drove it down to Pompey for an overnight ferry to St Malo, then drove the couple of hours to here.

The brake pipe spanner arrived today, so I finally got that side back together again. I then set about the other side, to check the bearing. Infact I intended replacing it, but having got it apart, it looked to be fine apart from needing re-packing with fresh grease. So that's what I did!

Been out for a spin & all seems to be working. Hurrah! Brakes do feel a little 'spongy' though, so I reckon I'll get my Gunsons 'bleeder' out & flush the brakes through again just to be safe.

Phew what a saga this has been

Volvo 240 Wheelbearing

2009-02-02T16:15:00.003+01:00

Well I'm still battling with this one, would you beleive.
After receiving the replacement piece I found it had a 'flat' on the threaded part of the suspension arm. This means that the large nut which holds the shock absorber in place will not screw in. Bugga!
I've had many suggestions, but nothing so far has worked.
Also I began to strip down the existing leg, but when I tried the spring compressors I have, the springs just seemed to distort & made lots of unhealthy sounding 'twanging noises'. They did compress in the middle, but the ends did not seem to come away from the cups in order to undo them & pull the compressed springs off. Maybe that I did'nt compress them far enough, but to me it looked like the springs were going to detatch from the compressors. I decided that I'd like to keep all my fingers, and my head for that matter so I gracefully admitted defeat.
Today I've left both the old & replacement suspension legs at a garage which carries out work on HGVs. They THINK that they MAY be able to swap the spring & shock over for me. When asked about the 'flat' I got a few 'gallic shrugs' followed by "leave it with us".
Now awaiting a phone call with me fingers crossed.

Continuing saga of Volvo 240 Wheelbearing

2009-01-13T09:11:00.003+01:00

So after lots of wiggling of the stub, hitting it with a hammer & patiently picking bits of smashed up bearing out with a thin pair of pliers, the hub is off! Progress? Well no not really as it revealed another piece that had seized to the stub axle preventing the inner bearing from coming off.

So out with the angle grinder to cut it off was the next plan. This worked, but being 'ham-fisted' I did 'nick' the stub with my grinder disc (DOH!). That said if you look at the pic below, as well as my 'nick', you will see heat damage marks, 'pitting' around the stub where the bit had 'welded' itself on. I've been advised that this will have weakened the axle & the pitting will just mash up a new bearing in double-quick time. So things get worse! New stub-axle needed then!

So I think I've sourced a new stub & it may have a good hub & bearing on it (fingers crossed), from Anglesey! Mine for the price of P&P. Can't really argue with that as it means I've got the bearing I purchased here to put on the nearside, before the current one gives out!

The Volvo 480 is 'hanging in there', as they say. Still leaking after 6 years of trying to seal it! Idling probs seem to have been solved, save for the the odd blip here and there. Trouble now is that it's averaging 23.3 mpg!
Have decided that the 480 is going this year. Replacement is going to be a 940 estate all being well. I'll be going back to the UK to find one too, seeing as it'll be about 1/10th of the price of the same over here. Re-registering is painless & driving a 'right-hooker' here poses no real worries.

Another Volvo update!

2009-01-06T18:13:00.005+01:00

I've broken my 240.
Between christmas & New Year we drove to Holland & back, 1100miles in all over a three day period.
Having got home feeling well chuffed with the old banger as it had run faultlessly during the trip, I nipped out to the shop.
About 2 miles from home the front off-side wheel bearing disintegrated. No prior warning either! Talk about wobbly wheel syndrome, it felt like a blow out!
I managed to get it home, by nipping up the hub bolt, fitting a new split pin & driving back very 'gingerly'!
I later began stripping it down in readiness for a replacement & this is what I found.

Right now I'm struggling to remove it as the debris is jamming it, or part of it has welded itself with the heat, to the hub.
I've tried a set of three-legged pullers but no joy with that method so far.
My next plan of action to to try & break out the old bearing with a cold-chisel.
I'm hoping that will work, as it'll be a real shame to lose the car through something like this.

I sourced the new bearing through a French online parts shop, having been reccommended a particular make, which my usual supplier does not have. Price was 55€ delivered. I did pop into the Volvo garage in Redon for a quote & they wanted, would you beleive 204€ !!

Amazingly they also had a Volvo 240 Estate on their forecourt (you would'nt see that in the UK). It was a D6 model which was never available in UK. The asking price for this old oil burner? 5500€!!
You'd be lucky to £500 for it in UK!

Volvo 480, gets worse, if it can..............

2008-11-30T16:44:00.002+01:00

Well getting nowhere fast here. Not managed to get any more codes out of the diagnostic box yet, needs more cleaning I think.
The mileage had slipped back down to 25.2 by Friday. Yesterday I had a look at the plugs &......... no signs of sooting up. So that's a step in the right direction.
I cleaned up all of the connections on all sensors I could find using contact cleaner, then added a smear of vaseline.
Then cleaned the throttle body again using carb' cleaner.
Then reset the MAF metre to 450 Ohms (from factory setting of 386 which I made sure it was at after replacing the Lambda Sensor.
Went for a 20 mile run on dual-carriageway where I sat at 70 mph using the turbo as little as poss.
Result 23.7 mpg!!!!!
So maf is back at factory setting & I've all, but given up.
Compression test is about all thats left in my mind. That said, it seems to 'pull' like a steam train when you 'boot it' & uses hardly any oil between changes that I do at 6k & not the 10k reccomendations.
I guess a compression tester would be a handy gadget to have in any case.
Short of that I'll have to do a 'Basil Fawlty' & give it a damn good thrashing with a big stick!

Volvo 480 update

2008-11-24T15:55:00.003+01:00

So, the mileage dropped again to 25.2 'humph'!
But, someone asked me if I had dis-connected the battery since changing the sensor. Well I did during the work, which was all of 20 mins I guess. Apparently the ecu needs at least an hour to 'forget' (re-set) any fault codes (why the consumption went up straight after the change I do
not know).
I read up via the 480-Europe web-site & found an old post relating to a diagnostic box which can give fault codes (I thought that that the only way to retreive these codes was by plugging in a lap-top to the engines management system, for which you'd need the correct program on your lap-top from Volvo). I had a hunt about & found this little gadget, why no-one pointed me in its direction before again, I do not know. Once I'd worked out how to use it I got the code relating to 'Oxygen Sensor', so assuming it still works after all these years, it confirms that I'm on the right track.

After this I cleaned up the throttle body & throttle position sensor switch with some carb' cleaner spray & contact cleaner on the electric connectors.
I then dis-connected the battery & left it overnight to be sure of clearing the fault code.

Sunday morning saw me out for a spin, did a mixture of country lanes, main-roads & dual carriageway, with 2 stops (bread & petrol). Once back home the computer was reading 28.5, having been up to 28.8. I hope it will climb up to 30-ish, but then again my better half doe's have a 'lead boot'so that may be wishful thinking!

This morning we've only been out for two short trips say, 3 miles each. Barely enough to warm it up. Mileage dropped to 27.4 which, I guess is to be expected. Tick-over has remained stable.
So now it's a case of wait & see, once again.

Volvo 480, same old snag.................

2008-11-15T17:37:00.002+01:00

Well if this is getting monotonous for you now now, I'm sorry!
Same old symptoms returned over a week or so ago. I checked the turbo pipes once again, in particular the one I think I 'nudged' the other week, and found nothing un-toward. So my thoughts returned to the Lambda Sensor in the cat' converter.
As you may recall I tested mine a few weeks ago & the readings showed that it was 'switching' but was not to the manufacturers expectations. General concensus was that it 'should' be okay. Reading up on these things (the web's a wonderful thing!) they have a life expectancy of 100k miles & although may continue to work after they can become sluggish in operation, mine has done 145k & nothing in the full history to say it had ever been changed. This can lead to the ecu not getting the info it needs to correct any running issues, which in turn can lead to rich running & sooty plugs! Could I be onto something here............... at last?
A tell-tale is that the Lambda probe will be sooted up itself, so the gasses cannot get right inside it so it will not be able to analyse as much gas as it may need.
So decision was to replace the sensor, nearly went for a universal one, but found that these, if the wires are not correctly joined can cause more snags than they are worth, so went for a Bosch 'direct fit' one - which is as original.
Fitted it today using my mates 'new' 4 poster lift - what a godsend!
The old sensor came out with amazing ease, I was expecting to have to battle with it. It was absolutely covered in soot too!
New one fitted & we're off. A quick 10 mile or so test run. MPG on the onboard computer rose from 25.2 (yep that's all we've had of late) to 26.9. So a step in the right direction. Just hoping that this sensor does'nt simply soot up again!
If it does, I really don't know what would to look at next.
Maybe I'll just give up & drive it to somewhere out of the way......................... like, say
Market Harborough & dump it on some un-suspecting chaps driveway.
Only joking!!!

Volvo 240 Controle Technique (MOT)

2008-10-25T18:33:00.005+02:00

Well, the 240 went in for its two yearly Controle Technique yesterday morning. By midday I had a new 'ticket' stamped onto my log-book. Fantastic!
Just had a couple of advisory points:

1) Front break flexi-hoses begining to perish.
2) Slight play in steering rack.
3) Steering rack rubber gaiters slightly perished.
4) Front shock absorbers protection corroded.

Not bad I thought for a 20 year old car.

I was expecting a fail on steering rack & on front wishbone bushes. Had even gone as far as sourcing replacements. The racks are done on an exchange basis but a mate with loads of 240 in bits said he'd do an exchange for me & would also press in some bushes into some spare wishbones leaving me a 'bolt on' replacement.
Will have to chat with him to see if he thinks I should do them in any case. 20 years is about all you get from theses bits, any more is a bonus. Also as the MOT chap said I've got two years now to do any work.

I got a bargain from 'fleabay' yesterday. I put a last minute bid on a set of rear brake discs for the Volvo 480. Motaquip make, the same as the ones I bought for the front. They had one bid of £10 for the pair. I put a bid on at just under £13 & won. Delivered price to my brother in UK worked out to £20.49p. About 1/2 the price of one Volvo original disc! Can't be bad.

Volvo 480 is running roughly again!

2008-10-14T17:47:00.002+02:00

Hi all.
Well, once again the rough running syndrome returned & plugs fouled up. This car certainly makes me work to keep it running satisfactorily!
General consensus on the 480europe forum is that I'm looking for an air-leak...... STILL! I must have been looking for various blumin' air-leaks for the best part of 3 years now!
After re-cleaning the plugs I went on the hunt. Checking then re-checking every flipin' pipe I could locate.
Eventually I found myself back in the favourite area of the turbo-intake. Whilst checking the pipe I replaced last year I nudged the pipe 'one above' & tick over suddenly settled to a nice 'purr'. So I nipped up the jubilee clips & went for a spin. The car went like a rocket, as it should. Back home & tick-over was a still at a gentle purr.
So once again we are 'on-test' (not holding my breath). If the dreaded syndrome returns I'll go straight for that pipe & see what I find.

Vovlo 480 Controle Technique (M.O.T.)

2008-09-24T12:52:00.004+02:00

The 480 went in for its Frenchy MOT the other week & went straight through! Of course I was'nt surprised at all.............. much!
Seriously I was chuffed to bits. Means, in theory that we are okay for another 2 years of 480 trials and tribulations!
The tester chappie did notify me of a few 'advisory' points though.

1) Minor corrosion on the rear brake pipes. - Had a look and it is minor. This will be sorted by a wire brushing to clear the corrosion then a liberal smear of grease over the effected area.

2) Rear brake discs nearly worn-out. This I was aware of & is something that I'm not looking forward to doing after tackling the fronts! I'm searching on Ebay.fr for a set this time.

3) Minor leak in power steering system. Was'nt aware of this & it must be minor as I've only once added a tiny amount........... There are various products available to seal these systems.

4) Dipped headlights too low!

5) Oil leak - engine. Already aware, not too worried as it is again, minor. I may add a sealant at the next oil change.

6) Minor play f/n/s balljoint.

7) Play in f/n/s wheel-bearing. Now this job requires for the bearing to be pressed out, then new one pressed in. So not an option for the average home mechanic. So far I've simply loosened the nut in the centre of the wheel & then nipped it up to just over the specified tourque. The movement has gone, so that should 'buy' me a little time. This 'quick fix' was another gem from The Volvo Club forum. If it fails again I'll have to see if I can remove it & then take to a machine shop & see if they'll press in a new one for me.

Overall, not too bad for a 17yr old car with 144k miles I reckon.

Volvo 240 is next! Due by end of Oct!

'Braided Hose Repair'

2008-09-11T10:43:00.005+02:00

Hi All

I received a request for photo's of the location of the braided hose I replaced on the Volvo 480.

At last, here they are: (click on phot's to enlarge)

The one that is most likely to be perished is the one below the throttle body. You should see my finger pointing it out.

The other one to the left of the rocker cover, you will see I've simply sealed with duct tape as a successful 'bodge job'.

There are other braided hoses in the F/O/S wing which connect to the carbon canister, these can perish and also cause erratic idling. To view these you will need to 'pop-out' the F/O/S indicator & day-run lights & use a torch to view. Oh and hope they are okay as they must be a real pain to replace!

Volvo 480 update.

2008-08-15T19:10:00.002+02:00

I've replaced that little bit of braided pipe now, all 3" of it. Popped into Ouest-Injection in Redon and asked for a piece, showing the old perished bit. The chap soon returned & gave me the new piece free! Reckoned it wasn't worth the trouble of working out the price

I've fitted new brake discs & pads on the front end, the discs were a bargain 'fleabay' job. Pads were 'dropped off' by the chap who came over in January & replaced my rear axle bushes & rear springs. He was over finalising the purchase of his land & ruin. So he bought over about 4 oil filters, air-filters, the pads & a replacement radio-cassette for the 240! A handy chap to know.

Finally today I replaced the 480' HT Leads. These were a last minute decision & purchased from german & swedish car parts. The erratic-idle problem does seem to have been solved
(touches wood). Also I've replaced air-filters on both cars.
So next 'on the cards' is oil changes - a real pain on the 480 as it is so low. It's difficult to get a container under to catch the dirty oil. But, this maybe a tad easier from now on! My mate, Gordon has just finished installing mechanics car-lift in one of his hangers & has offered me use 'as & when'. He's had his 3-Ton Mitsubishi Shogun up on it, so reckon it'll cope with my cars.

Volvo 480 erratic idle (again) at gites south brittany.

2008-07-20T13:33:00.002+02:00

I think I may have solved this pproblem! Something that I've been trying to do for many many months. Every few weeks the plugs have 'sooted' up causing an erratic idle & lack of power.
I put this down to an air leak & had found quite a few over time & made repairs. Tried all types of plugs also, but the blessed problem always returned.
Today after a search on the Volvo Owners Club forum (which has been off line for some time) I learned of a little braided rubber pipe, about 2" long on the rear of the throttle body which is known to perish. Mine has a whacking great hole in it where it bends. I've made a temp repair & all is smooth. I had to adjust the idle setting as once warm it was ticking over much too quickly - something I had previoulsy adjusted when attempting to solve this in the past.
Lets hope it is THE cause.
Need to pop into a Volvo garage to buy a replacement next.

Air- Intake Manifold Gasket Volvo 240

2008-06-24T08:42:00.002+02:00

So my gasket arrived last week & I fitted it on Thursday.
All went swimingly well & I took a few photos along the way in order to prepare a write-up.
This morning I received notification, from the Volvo forum that my 'how-to' has been accepted.
Below is the link to the write-up.
(If it does not link direct, then copy & paste into your browser)

http://www.rwdvolvos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=422

Return of the noise!- Volvo 240.

2008-06-13T16:00:00.005+02:00

Well I knew it was too simple a fix to be true! Yes the noise has returned & I guess that in the back of my mind I did expect it. The gasket is starting to break up after 20 years in service - assuming it is the original.

My usual source of information about all things Volvo - The Volvo Owners Club forum has closed and will remain so for the foreseable future. I'm not fully aware of the 'ins & outs' but someone within the club has upset some members somehow & has resulted in this valuable source being closed.

However since this some club members have set up their own forums. Now there is one for the front-wheel drive Volvo cars & one for the rear-wheel drive models. Many of the folk there are familiar to me from the old VOC forum. One chap in particular is the guy who came over from North Wales & stayed in one of my holiday gites & whilst here carried out some difficult repairs with me.

I have been told that replacing this gasket is within the capabilities of the average DIY mechanic! That'll be me then! I have a replacement gasket on order at £11.75 inc delivery.

I have also been told that as this is quite a common failure as these cars age a step by step 'How To' with photographs is required for the new web-site! So no prizes for guessing who's been voluteered for that!

Lets hope it does not become a 'How Not to'.

For those interested the new site can be found here: http://www.rwdvolvos.org/

Volvo 240 woes at gites south brittany

2008-06-09T16:55:00.003+02:00

Well the 240 developed an awful piercing squealing noise last week. Only occured when coming off of the throttle, say running upto a junction or changing gear. Power on & all went quiet.

First suggestions from 'the Volvo people' was to check all the belts in case they were loose & slipping. I found that the power steering belt was very loose, but it was not the culprit.

Next suggestion was clutch release bearing sticking. So put car up on stands, go into 'contortionist mode' & squirt a bit of oil onto the bearing. Test & still singing awfully.

So then I made myself a stethoscope out of a bit of pipe & a plastic bottle with its end cut off. With this I worked out that the noise was coming from the region of No4 injector. Not knowing if an injector can make an odd noise or not I whipped it out, cleaned it with a bit of petrol, cleaned the surround & re-fitted it. Result, still singing - no change.

Still convinced that the noise was in this area I wondered if it could be the air-intake manifold letting by. So a quick spray with some oil, test & no noise for two or three 'rev-ups' then it returned. Re-try the same & same result. So, a leaky air-intake manifold gasket then. Now the thought of removing the manifold to replace the gasket, filled me with dread. So thought I'd try just nipping the nuts up. The two at the 'leaky end' were extremely loose, infact they took a full turn before they even began to bite. The remainder of them all took upto half a turn. Then a quick 're-test' followed by a quick spin & all was perfect again & my wallet stopped trembling!

Oh I forgot to say on the last post, if you click on the piccies of the cars you can see them
'full size' , thanks.

Time to post again!

2008-05-28T19:12:00.003+02:00

Seems like ages since I wrote anything here!

My cars were behaving themselves, till last Saturday when Elaine went out & broke down in the rain on her way home. She was about 18 miles from home in the 480, having 'nursed' the car off of the motorway. The problem was one of the many turbo pipes 'blowing off' yet again. Simple but fiddly to repair & all is well again now. Wish I could get the flipping things to stay put for good though!

Whilst the cars were behaving, I noticed that the paintwork on both was looking a little faded, more so on the 480. So I ordered a valeting kit from a company called Bilt-Hamber. They supplied their own brand of Auto-Wash, Auto-Clay & Auto-Balm. The clay is exactly as it sounds. You use a plant mist sprayer to wet the car, then glide a piece of the clay over the paint work. This lifts all the old wax, the build up of road grime & any imperfections. Result is a perfectly smooth surface ready to take on a new coat of wax. It is something widely used by car valeters & now I know why.

We have guest in the gite again (these are the kind soles that bought my brake discs over). Next guests arrive on Tuesday.

Volvo 480 Electric Windows

2008-04-19T17:29:00.002+02:00

I received my 'bargain' window motor from ebay the other day. 99p well spent, although was about £4 with p&p to my brother in Derby. My parents bought it over last week when they visited. They intended to bring the discs as well but as they weighed in at 10kg they put too much of a restriction on the baggage.
Anyway I've just fitted ithe window motor & it seems to be working well.
Next on the list - well the brake discs & pads when they arrive. Should be here in May as one of our gite customers who is returning for a second visit in May has kindly offered to bring them over for me.
Also the drivers door will not stay open, so has a habit of 'taking you out at the knees'! I had a quick look at this today also & discovered that the 'trombone shaped spring' has snapped. So will be hunting for one of those soon.

Boat update, No Volvo stuff!!!

2008-04-02T20:05:00.003+02:00

Hi all. Nowt to report on the Volvo front this time as both cars are behaving well. A rare treat indeed!
Yesterday our boat was lifted back into the river. After which Gordon & I had a gentle motor down to La Roche Bernard and our pontoon, which we should have until Oct 1st. Piccies of the lift should be below.

Update from Gites South Brittany Volvo Blog.

2008-03-24T19:54:00.002+01:00

Since my last entry, the 480 has been behaving itself impeccably. Something that has been rare of late!
I've started preparing parts for the next jobs on my list. I purchased an electric motor for one of the windows, as after my gallant attempt to repairs the originals, one has decided to 'jam up' again. I had a quick look on 'fleabay' & decided to take a chance on a new motor, well second hand. I made the highest bid and won it for 99 pence. Got to be worth a go at that price I thought.
Then I looked some more & found a set of discs (front) on auction. So I had a go for those & won again, getting the pair for £9.99 I think. Delivered price was £19.99 - to my brother in the UK. The cheapest I could find elsewhere were £25 each, so again a bit of a bargain. The pair I bought are manufactured by Motaquip, who are a well known maker of 'copy parts' so should be okay. I had a 'stab' at a set of discs for the rear as well, but lost on those by a measley 50 pence. Oh well 2 out 3 ain't bad.
I've replaced discs & pads before on the 240 - it was fairly straight forward. However the set up on the 480 is a bit more complex with the ABS 'gubbins' to get around. Also the discs are secured with a 'hex-screw' which is notorious for seizing in place. I'll get a new set of those from the 'mainstealer' I think, before I start.
Wish me luck.

Wehey- Cambelt done! Volvo 480

2008-03-15T14:10:00.003+01:00

Boy am I chuffed. Spent the best part of the last two days on this job. I have to say that I had been putting it off as I knew that if I fitted the belt incorrectly I'd be into all sorts of complications.
So I took my time & followed instructions. It was'nt an easy job, well not for me anyway.
Once finished I fired it up (with my eyes closed!) & it ran perfectly. WooHoo!
Went for a 'test' and got as far as outside of my neighbours when it 'died'. Fearing the worst I pushed it back in to my drive, had quick look and found that one of the turbo pipes had blown off! PHEW!
Quickly re-secured it (I'd moved a few of them whilst doing the cam so must have loosened the one that blew).
After that went for a 10-12 mile 'blat' and all seems good.
Also replaced the auxilliary drive belt, seemed daft not to whilst it was in bits.
Both of the old belts had started to break up, so was a good time to replace them. 140,880K & rising!
Next on the list? Brake discs & pads I reckon.

480 Rolling again!

2008-03-10T17:15:00.002+01:00

Well the 480 is out and about again. My new radiator arrived last Thursday, not bad considering I only made the order on the Tuesday.
All fitted and tested and so far so good!
What a job though. On the Volvo 240 it is a case of drain the coolant, undo two bolts & three pipes and out comes the rad. Not so on the 480. It needed most of the front of the car 'removed'. This included the 'droop snoop' front piece. The side & day running lamps, the driving lamps most of the head light fitments, the main air intake hose, the battery and tray & the intercooler. Glad that's out of the way!
Still got the dreaded cambelt to do though, wish me luck.

480 Headaches!

2008-03-04T20:08:00.003+01:00

Well the 480 strikes again, this time its the radiator. It failed rather spectacularly last Saturday. Luckily Elaine had just arrived home when she noticed the temp' was a bit high - had not got to the warning light stage though. I lifted the bonnet to find anti-freeze had been sprayed everywhere by the electric fan. DOH!
So far I've got a new one on order. Need to wait for deleivery now. Including postage from UK I'm saving £70 on the price of one overhere. You do not get 'copies' here, such as Halfords Parts. The French tend to leave anothers 'market' to the other, which means Mainstealers ot 'nowt' for major parts.
So is Elaine without a car, no. Good ol' Gordon hs stepped in & has lent her one of his Mitsubishi 4X4s. This is his old UK spec Shogun 3000 V6 Auto guzzler. Lets hope she doesn't get to like it too much eh?
The 480 seems to be going through a period of problems at the moment, reminds me of the 240 which had a 6 month spree of faults early last year. Must be the age!

Volvo 480 Latest

2008-02-26T14:28:00.000+01:00

Having checked out that dreaded turbo pipe on the 480 the other day, I found that my temp' repair had decided to give up. It had begun to leak air around the join I had made. Still we got over 3000 miles out of it!
I replaced it with the 'new' one on Sunday, so should be able to 'forget about it now..........

Spark Plugs, I ended up with a set of NGKs in the end. To cut a long story short, the online shop that could supply the Volvo originals didn't 'like' my French bank card. The only option was to phone the order through. Tried a couple of times (they never replied) then realised it was an 0800 job so was probably being charged at international premium rate from when it connected. They did not respond to e-mails............
So I returned to good old www.gsfcarparts.com . I phoned then to tell them that their recommended plugs for the 480 did not last very long and asked if they could supply an alternative. They had none listed, but the lady said they would look into it and ring me back. A couple of hours later, having spoken to her Volvo parts chappy she suggested NGK ZGR5B at £2.62 each. Cheaper than the Volvo set & supposedly as good, if not better! What great service!
They are now fitted - now will see if they are an improvement.

Cambelt is still on my list! Trouble is getting Elaine out of the car for a long enough time!

Volvo 480 update.

2008-02-16T16:07:00.003+01:00

Elaine (better half) is on half-term holiday now. Time for me to get on with a few things on the 480. Apparently the dreaded erratic idle 'syndrome' is just starting to 'rear its ugly head' again. Perhaps my temp' repair on the turbo intake pipe is begining to fail. I've got a replacement now so no worries. I'm quite pleased, though that the temp'job has lasted so long.

Today I set about a repair job on the electric windows. Passenger side had 'stuck' & drivers side has been very sluggish. Getting to the point where Elaine is worried to open it, incase it fails to close after!

Having stripped out all of the internal trim, I managed to get the passenger side one going simply by tapping the motor with a light hammer whilst pressing the button. Nothing serious then. So a liberal spraying of the motor with WD40. I thought I was going to have to remove the motors, which is very fiddly. However once I got to the motors I saw that they have a small plastic plug in them. I eased these out, then squirted the WD40 directly into them in situ. Then added a good spray into the runners within the doors & on the lifting wire. Added to that with a spray of Silicone Lubricant into the glass runners & so far so good. Passenger side okay & drivers side has returned to its normal speed.

I have left the door trims off, so as I can repeat the lubrication in the morning if needed. Oh and also because by the time I had got that far I was nearly frozen solid!

Other jobs listed for the next few days (perhaps!), cambelt, replace spark plugs, Volvo originals this time are on order.

Amazing spot of good fortune at gites south brittany!

2008-02-03T15:16:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a gent in the Volvo Owners Club. This particular chap is a 'font of all knowledge' with regards to the Volvo 240 model range.
He informed me that he was coming over to Brittany and could possibly sort my car out at the same time. He had obviously read my pleas for advice in relation to my 'saggy bottom'.

He suggested that poly-liners were the way to go in relation to the bushes in the trailing arms as this saves having to press the liners out. You 'simply' cut the old perished rubber out & then after cleaning everything up you insert the poly liners. He also said that he had rear springs sat on a shelf, from a customer who had ordered them, but never came to collect so would bring those too.
So, strangely enough he was quickly booked into one of our gîtes!
On the Saturday, we set off to Gordon's house & took over one of his hangers for the day. We fitted the new bushes and springs, everything came to part well despite 19 yrs & 180K of 'crud'. Mind you I had given all the nuts & bolts a good clean with my wire brush on drill, followed by daily doses of WD40 for a week.
Mike (the 240 whizz) took various photos during the work to publish a 'how to' project on the Volvo club forums later.
After we had finished he produced a cam-belt from the boot of his 240 & said, "Right now we'll fit this"
Well we finished around 1900hrs that evening & I have to say a big thank you to Mike for all the help and advice - oh and also for the cam-belt for 480 which he left for me to fit!
The 240 has been 'transformed' in terms of handling. Also it sits so much higher, I just had not realised how saggy my bottom really was!

About time I posted here!

2008-01-16T19:09:00.000+01:00

Well it seems like ages since I've posted here, & I'm sure that all my millions of readers have been hanging on with baited breath.......... so here's what you've all been waiting for!

I've had two comments lately about this 'blog'. The first was an enquiry as to if I still had a saggy bottom! Its a good job I'm not easily offended you know! well the question was, of course about the Volvo 240.

The other comment was this 'The story about the trailing arm bushes particularly enthralled me and helped me to sleep quicker than I've done for ages' Just remember I know who you are & I'm coming to get you, saggy bottom or not!

That second comment was from an old school mate (from primary school days). We have just got back in touch, having last talked about 30 yrs ago - so I'll let him off.

Yes trailing arm bushes (Oi ! Wake up Mark). I've tried a few more garages since last time & still they are saying "No". So my plan is to order them from my usual supplier, even with £30 for postage I'm saving over £100 on Volvo 'mainstealer' prices here! This is including rear springs as well........... to solve my saggy bottom problem!

I'm then going to take over my mates barn to attempt the work - lets just hope I can do the job without leaving Gordon a partially dismantled Volvo to play with!

Touching wood, the 480 is flying about since my repair on that blasted turbo pipe.

Bookings - over the xmas period we took in Ten weeks worth I think, so that was good. Now that folk have gone back to work things have slowed off again. No doubt it will pick up as people turn their minds to their summer hols' again.

Volvo 240 Trailing arm bushes..................

2007-12-13T16:42:00.000+01:00

At my last MOT it was advised that the bushes in the trailing arms on the 240 were showing signs of age and would cause a defined 'clonk' on pulling away in either direction & possibly on gear change if accelerating quickly.

Well the 'clonk' noise has started over the last few months, telling me to get on and sort it.

I have been in contact with the Volvo 240 register keeper (in the Volvo Club) who is a mechanic in a Volvo main dealer & who carry's out repairs to any 'older models' that come in. In short he knows 240s inside out. He has kindly sent me a detailed set of instructions with pictures and arrows pointing out exactly which bolts to remove & in which order, torque specs and all I should need. Brilliant service!

I have to admit that it does look a tad daunting to say the least.

The procedure, starts: 'first loosen wheel nuts, then chock front & raise rear end. Place on jack stands. Then raise the rear axle with a jack on the diff' (no danger there 240s are one of the few cars that can actually be jacked by using the diff as a jacking point - not that I'd fancy trying it!)
Then: 'remove lower bolts on rear shocks. Lower the jack and remove the road springs. Now these springs tend to 'sag' with age causing the rear end to sit low and as mine is doing, so now would be a good time to replace these. All so far, assuming that things undo easily after 19 yrs & 180k sounds straight forward 'ish! Now comes the awkward bit: 'using Volvo tool number xxxx remove bush, then using Volvo tool number yyyy insert new bush etc'. Many people have with good success made up there own tools or have used a drift'. It is this last section that concerns me. I guess the 'drift' method is using something like a socket just smaller than the bush with a piece of wood for protection then 'tapping' it out with a hammer. Great if it works....

I have been offered the use of a mates hanger to do the work. Just need to decide if I can do it. I think I'll need to spray everything up with WD40 a good few times prior to starting. The parts, as ever are cheaper in the UK, bushes are about £5 each as opposed to £20 here! The springs are £33 each. Cant see me doing this before Christmas, so will update once I've finally decided on the 'way forward'

Volvo 240 Caused a headache!

2007-11-29T12:11:00.000+01:00

I noticed, the other day that the ignition light on the 240 was glowing very 'dimly' as I chugged along to get some croissants (hard life I know). On the return journey all seemed fine. Forget about it I thought (stupidly!).
Next day the light is flickering again. So out with the tester, battery showing a healthy 12.4 volts. Fire him up, tester showing 11.3! Gulp, "Me alternators knackered!" Didn't like the thought of that - sent a shiver all the way down to my wallet!
Put , yet another plea for help on the Volvo club forum. The answer this time was to change the 'brush-box'. This contains the brushes for the alternator & the voltage regulator. Other posts said "they're about 30 quid" and one 'jolly sole' said "£130 from Volvo!"
I could get 2 alternators for that price elsewhere!
I contacted Braydon Motor Company who are Volvo restoration & parts specialist, and ordered a brush-box with regulator for £14.99 inc delivery to here in France!
The part arrived yesterday & was easy to fit without the need to remove the alternator. Fired him up & the tester showed a healthy 14.3 volts on tick over.
My only concern was that the old brushes were un-evenly worn, one was right down & the other had, probably a 1/8th of an inch or so left. this is a sign of worn slip-rings on the alternator itself. Which if too worn means re-con or replace it. So its now a case of wait and see how it goes. If the slip rings are themselves worn they will, in turn cause the new brushes to wear out faster than normal. We shall see!

2 Volvo 480 cars together at Gites South Brittany!

2007-11-14T10:10:00.000+01:00

Remember the earlier post about my brother, Dave buying a Volvo 480 'Celebration' from E-bay?
Well he and Sue, his wife came over for a long weekend in the 480. I have to say what a cracker it is! Okay, it has a few 'blemishes' on the paintwork but hey, it is pushing 12 years of age. It really is a gooden'. Dave has quite a few plans for it to bring it up to as near to 'as new condition' as you can get for a car you use daily. For a while he had three cars on the go, he has an old Honda VTEC engined Civic & a two year old Citroen C4 (I think). He decided to get rid of the Citroen as Sue did not like driving it (it had one of these new fangled semi- auto boxes that has a clutch pedal or something).
So he stuck it on E-bay and got his hand 'snapped off' by the folk on there. Even had a dealer from Sussex after it!
Dave also bought a few bits & bobs over for me, well for my 480 to be exact. We now have a boot lid that stays up, instead of hitting your head every time you peer into the boot. Yep, new gas struts. The car is still going well with my temp' repair on the turbo intake. I now have a replacement pipe, which Dave bought over from a scrappy for me, the cost was £15! What a bargain considering the price for a new one is upwards of £80!
Also on these models you should have a plastic seat belt tensioner that brings the belt further forward over your shoulder, for comfort and to make it easier to reach. These are notorious for snapping off, not cheap either. We now have nice news ones fitted, which helps Elaine a great deal with her bad shoulder.
The gites are booked for Christmas now. One for two weeks & one for a week. We have also, over the weekend taken four weeks worth of bookings for September 08!
Lets hope the bookings keep coming in!

Volvo's, drive em' till they stop. Then boot em' back into life!

2007-11-01T17:33:00.000+01:00

Well the new distributor cap did not fix the 480. Instead of going down the 'garage route' I decided to put a post on the forum of the '480 Europe' site, of which I am a member. Usually I call on the Volvo Owners Club people. However the 480 site is specific to that model & just sometimes they come up with that illusive piece of info'.

In this case a very helpful chap suggested I dis-connect the MAF sensor (air-intake) and then try to start the car. If it runs, then you have detected an air leak. Tried and it fired up first time.

Next job, hunt the leak. Had a look here & a poke there.............. then down in the most awful position in the depths of the rear of the engine was the turbo intake pipe hanging off! The jubilee clip with about a centimetre of pipe were still connected, so the pipe had perished at that point & split around its circumference.

Get a new one I thought, then found out that they work out at around £10 an inch. Making this one £80+ at a guess. So thoughts went the repairing the pipe, having tried to just refit it by stretching it a smidge. So using some BARDAHL mastic which remains supple from -60 to +260 degrees I stuck the two bits back together. Once that had gone off I bound the join with aluminium tape , thinking of the heat. Then for added strength I wrapped a few layers of Duct-tape around it, apparently good for pressures up to 4-bar (about 60psi I think).

I fitted it all back together again today & initially it would not fire at all (MAF connected or not).
After much 'head scratching' thought that I must have knocked something whilst taking off or refitting all the pipes. I tried the HT lead from the coil & it snapped as I touched it. Very corroded even though only having done about 22K. Had a spare in my shed, fitted it & still no start. Then checked the multi-plug on the coils ECU, this fell off as I touched it & is very near to where I had been working. So tightened the fitting, re-connected & BINGO we were up & running.

Went for a spin, and the turbo gauge boosted to the middle of the yellow section which is spot on. Tick-over is, so far as smooth as it has been for a long while. PHEW what a saga!

Volvo 480s turn to conk!

2007-10-25T18:59:00.000+02:00

Well, no sooner do I get the 240 up & running again when the 480 decides to break down. This time it is the return of the 'dreaded' lumpy idle and lack of power. So far this time I have cleared out positive crank case ventilation pipes & replaced a plastic valve in that system that had all but disintegrated. Now the car fires when turned over, then dies. It will run eventually but is very lumpy with the revs going from 'almost stalling' to 2500 then back down to almost stalling again. Sounds awful as well. I've checked all the obvious things & have a nice shiny new distributor cap & rotor which I shall try tomorrow, fingers crossed. Can't say as I'm overly hopeful though. I reckon that I've tried just about all that I can, next port of call will have to be a garage. Luckily my better half only has one more day of work before the half term hols start over here, so that gives us a bit of time to sort it out.

Volvo 240 breaks down......

2007-10-05T19:47:00.000+02:00

Well I ask you, had to be towed home by my neighbours tractor & it's a Renault tractor! Humph!
We (Tank & Me) very nearly made it home. I had been to Vannes to collect some teaching material that my wife, Elaine had ordered. I then drove onto the super-market, LeClerc where our daughter Cheryl works to meet up to have lunch together. After a very enjoyable meal I set off for home. In all about a 70 mile round trip. About 3/4 of a mile from home, I braked then dropped the clutch & "TWANG" which was followed by us coming to a stalling halt! Clutch peddle would not move. I hopped out and lifted the bonnet to find that that the clutch slave cylinder had come out of it's housing & was just hanging there. After a walk home my neighbour, Jean-Paul came to the rescue with his tractor and made sure I got we got home safely.
Once home I had a quick look but could not work out exactly what had broken or how to re-fit.
So I took two photos, as posted and asked for help from the Volvo Owners Club. A few hours later I had a number of replies and the general consensus was that the retaining circlip had gone AWOL allowing the cylinder to slide back & become in-operative. I must admit that I was rather relieved by this info' as I assumed I was looking at a new clutch or something equally 'drastic'.
one of the helpful 'club chaps' even sent me an exploded diagram of my clutch components, highlighting the missing circlip. This also had all the part numbers. How good is that?
This morning I phoned our nearest Volvo dealer. Not knowing how to translate the word 'circlip' & not being able to find it in my wife's massive English/French dictionary, I told the chap that I did not know what it was called in French, but explained that it was a part for the clutch system. I then gave the part number I had been supplied with. The helpful gent replied, "Oui Monsieur c'est un circlip". How simple! He had them in stock. I bought two this afternoon for the princely sum of 1 euro 64 cents (just in case one broke - hang the 'expense'!).
Fitted it about 1600hrs & guess what, we're rolling again. Job done & I'm well happy!!

Boat & Volvo latest

2007-10-03T19:36:00.001+02:00

Okay the deed is done, the boat has been lifted out and is now in the chandlers yard. I went round today & we have been placed next to another Love-Love Yacht. Which is the blue one on my main-sites yacht page's first picture - the one we nearly decided to buy & it's still for sale!
I have to say that with the two side by side we definitely made the right choice!
I have bought all of the mooring ropes home to stick in the washing machine. This softens them up & makes them easier to work with.
Some of the halyards & other ropes which go to the top of the mast then back down to various pulleys are looking a little frayed. Can't say as I fancy going up there in a bosun's chair, so may have to look into getting it re-rigged by the yard chappies.
You can see in the piccies a yacht being lifted, mine is on the pontoon to the right of the crane waiting patiently. On the right she is in her wintering place in the yard.

On the Volvo front, Elaine has gone back to work now so the 480 has been kicked back into use. By all accounts it is behaving very well. I really do need to look at the timing belt as it is overdue by 'age' now. However it is only 2/3Rd's through the max mileage. That said I know how catastrophic it would be if it failed!

The 240 began to hic-cup a little this morning so I whipped off the dizzy cap & cleaned up the contacts as well as the rotor. Whilst at it I checked up on the Positive Crankcase Ventilation hoses as these can block up & cause the rocker gasket to let oil by. This can also lead to hic-upping (Is that a word?). PCV was all clear so has not blocked up since I had to clean it out & change the rocker gasket a couple of years ago. The hic-upping appears to be solved as well.

It's a sad time of the year, at La Belle Vilaine Holiday Gites.

2007-10-02T16:47:00.001+02:00

It's a sad time of year. I had my last trip in our boat for this season yesterday. I had to move it from my pontoon in the beautiful medieval port of La Roche Bernard up river to the port of Folleux. It is now on a chandlers pontoon awaiting being lifted out for the winter. It should be jetwashed off straight away & then will be trailered into the yard. Once there I shall be able to carry out some much needed maintenance. The old thing is 34 or so years old now & is starting to show it.
More piccies of my little yacht can be seen here:
www.gitessouthbrittany.com/Yacht.htm

Yes we now have two Volvo 480 cars in the family!

2007-09-30T17:49:00.000+02:00

Well, if you have not guessed from the title of this post Dave got his car. I watched the bidding during the last half an hour or so & the price started to begin to rise. Dave got a bid in well below the 'buy it now price' within the last few seconds.
He went up to Liverpool yesterday to collect it, before enjoying the 'spin' back to Derby. By all accounts it ran very well.
The service history is very comprehensive including all bills & mots & to add to that the chap who has owned it for the last few years is a Volvo trained mechanic!
Just prove it got him home I've posted a piccie here:
(You can click on the image to enlarge)

Volvo 480 'itus' is contagious!

2007-09-25T11:11:00.000+02:00

I spoke to my brother Dave the other day. He lives in Derbyshire. He asked me to look at a post on Ebay (fleabay).
He has found what would appear to be a cracking Volvo 480 Celebration. This model of the Volvo 480 was the 'run-out' of the series.
They come with all the goodies, plus leather, aircon, spoked alloys and a plaque on the dash stating which number Celebration it is. They only made 480 so each one has a plaque stating that the car is number 'X' of 480.
In the piccies it looks to be a 'minter' & comes with full history, only 79k with MOTs to back it up.
Buy it now price on fleabay is £1350, Dave's dropped a bid in of £750.
He's also going to join the Volvo owners club if he gets it, oh dear that'll be two of us in one family!
If he doesn't get this one I've found him another in a garage in Blackburn so I think he is doomed!

A day on the river

2007-09-19T18:01:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, we spent the day on the river with my in-laws. We manged to sail for a short time on the way down to Arzal, before the wind gave up on us & we had to resort to motor.
Once at Arzal we manged to birth alongside the wall then walked along to one of the restaurants for lunch where our daughter,Cheryl met us. She ate a huge bowl of mussels with chips. Excellent value for the amount she was sered with. The rest of us stuck with the Brittany speciality of Gallettes. Washed down with a couple of glasses of Leffe! A quiet motor back to La Roche Bernard after ended a splendid day. The photo shows us just leaving Arzal for the return trip. And yes that's me smiling at the helm!

French Wedding

2007-09-11T10:37:00.000+02:00

Well here we are outside our home. We were invited to a (French) friends daughters wedding last Saturday. A first for us. The Church ceremony was only slightly different to the UK & lasted about an hour or so. After that we all went to the local Community Centre for aperitifs & nibbles & from there onto an auberge for a meal - the first course arrived around 1415 & the last around 1800! Six courses in all! Boy, was I full!

Since my last post we ventured out to sea for a day on our yacht. We had to pass through the Barrage (a sea lock) for the first time which was an experience. Luckily it was not too busy, we had about 9 or 10 boats in all. I have watched the barrage from 'dry land' and have seen around 30 boats of all shapes & sizes battling to fit in. It can be very amusing from a spectators position. I took a few photos whilst in there which I shall upload next time.

Cars are behaving still. The Volvo 240 has been very busy, as Elaine's sister came over for a flying visit to view properties over here, then her parents came over. So with runs to & from Nantes airport & all the running around we have added another 2000k onto the tired old beast!

Volvo 480 update.

2007-08-18T17:45:00.000+02:00

Have just completed the overdue oil & filter change & also have re-newed the Auto Transmission Fluid on the 480.
The car is very low so access underneath is not easy & is very uncomfortable. This time I put the rear wheels on my ramps, then raised the front with my trolley jack and then I plonked it onto my axle-stands. Easy! Why did I not think of it before?
When I bought the ATF, the chap in the shop thought I'd gone mad when I placed 4 litres of the stuff on his counter. He could'nt believe I needed so much. Then I explained that if you strip the transmission down it would take 5.5 litres, but for a quick ATF change it was 3.2-3.4 litres. He asked what car it was. I told him, "Volvo 480 Turbo Auto". However I don't really think he knew what one was. As usual over here in 'local' type garages, if it ain't Renault, Peugeot or Citroen they don't know it!

No more Volvo 'whining'

2007-08-14T18:30:00.000+02:00

Hey, the change of diff' oil seems to have solved the whine noise in the 240. We took a trip out on Sunday, covered over 200 miles in all & it stayed quiet! Good news.

Our day out was to meet up with a group who were trying out their border collies on sheep herding. Elaine & Cheryl wanted to try our two collie/spaniel crosses. The idea of the day was for the pedigrees to get their papers to confirm them as suitable for herding, but other types of dog were welcome to join in. One of our dogs showed potential & the other was not interested!
Whilst there I arranged to meet up with a chap who was selling a trailer. To cut a long story short we came home with a 'bargain' (as far as we are concerned) attached to the tow-bar. No more trailer borrowing - great!

The 480 is running well at the mo'. On the list for it are, oil & filter change (well overdue) ATF change, nearside electric window needs repair as it will not work at the moment and the exhaust pipe has started to clonk the floorpan when going over bumps.-I reckon that will be a perished rubber mount that needs replacing.

The gites are still full, two really fun families in at the moment. One of which are on their second visit. The visitors guest book page on my web-site has been up-dated now. To see it use the link to my main site which is on the left of the page.

Lots going on at La Belle Vilaine

2007-08-05T11:41:00.000+02:00

Hi all.

Had a busy time since my last entry. The boat is fine, had a great day sailing last week. We left early morning from La Roche Bernard & sailed all the way to Pont de Cran which is just south of Redon. The wind was in our favour all the way & we were even cheered (for our sailing effort) by a south bound yacht under power. We had to motor all the way back though!

The Volvo 240 developed a whining noise from the rear end with 'throttle on'. It stopped when 'trailing' the throttle. In an attempt to solve this I drained the differential oil & re-filled it. According to the service history I have this has not been recorded as ever being done. If this is the case it was probably well overdue. All seems quiet so far, but the whine only really got going whilst on a long run, say over 100 miles when things are really warmed up. I have not been that far since the change. If it does not solve it I shall change the gear box oil. My M45 Manual gearbox takes 'Type F' ATF! Strange but true. Also according to Volvo the fluid is good for the life of the car. If that is the case I wonder, why they fitted a drain & refill hole in the box? Anyway again it is something that will do no harm.

It has also developed a groaning noise from the power steering pump when at a stand-still. So all is quite musical! Whining under power, buzzing fuel pump with low fuel & groaning power steering pump. I'm starting to get strange looks from passing folk from time to time! Must get on & sort it all.

Also have been adding to Elaines agility course for our dogs. I built an A-frame component & replaced the top to the table component. Elaine & Cheryl have been busy painting the whole course up. It is starting to look quite proffesional! I'm sure Elaine will soon be replacing the photo's on our main web-site (see link on left)

Gites are full & all guests seem positive. Must get on and update the visitors comments pages on the main site as well.

Shed all but finished...............

2007-07-17T18:54:00.000+02:00

Have been catching up on a bit of work at home & on the boat.
The shed is all but finished, still got a few more shelving units to make for inside. My newly acquired sit & ride mower fits in perfectly & is now easy to get it in due to a recently constructed ramp made from left over bits of wood I had. Anyway you can see my hard work all for your self. My next plan is to move a lot of stuff we have in our spare room into the shed, hoping that we can return the spare room to a usable one again!
The boat is back on a pontoon at last. Not without problems though. When I went out to it I found that the outboard engine was seized, or at least I thought that was the case. No matter how I tried I could not pull the starting cord. Luckily I spotted one of the Port Office motor boats doing a patrol & the chap kindly towed me onto my pontoon. The engine was taken to a repair shop in nearby Arzal. They found that the shaft was completely blocked with mud and rubbish from the bottom of the river. All it needed was a quick strip down & flush through. Now it is as good as ever. Phew! Didn't fancy the cost of a rebuild or replacement. Also the 12 volt system decided to pack up which meant I had no depth sounder, lights or speedo.
I spent about two hours checking things & cleaning earths when I eventually found a wire had become disconnected in the rear locker. Amongst all the other wiring I just did not see it at first. Oh well all fixed now.
Volvo update.............. not a lot right now. 240 is behaving fuel pump still buzzes if fuel is allowed to get below half a tank or so, but this is not a major problem yet. 480 has not moved for a couple of weeks. I went to give it a run about a week ago to find the battery completely flat. So that has been charged but having just checked it it is down to half charge again. The 480 seems to be good at 'eating' batteries. If I need to replace it it will be its 4th in 5 years! There must be a 'drain' from somewhere as it is okay so long as the car is being used.

Shed Loads of work for me at La Belle Vilaine Holiday Gites.

2007-07-05T14:54:00.000+02:00

I have been to put my name down for a pontoon for next summer. The list 'opened' at 0900 hrs on Sun 01/07/07. Elaine & I arrived about 0840hrs & were around 70th in the queue! We found out that some folk that live farther afield had stayed over night in a local B&B and started queing at 0600hrs! That's commitment for you. Anyway we have found out that they anticipate 150 places 'going spare' for next summer so we should be safe.

Latest project has been building a base for a shed. Apparently this is supposed to take around 6 hours to complete. I reckon I've spent about two days in between rain showers. Still it is ready apart from a couple of coats of wood treatment.
Now we await arrival of the shed. Having reserved one, gained permission from the authorities & paying for it. The shop told that they had sold out! We are now waiting for the shop to find another one from another branch for us. However we are battling against the usual laid back (horizontal) French attitude to customer services. Oh well, if the shed does not appear soon I could always hire the base out as a stage for some traditional Breton dancing practice!

Neglected Volvo cars at Gites south Brittany

2007-06-27T17:22:00.000+02:00

Still haven't got around to those repairs needed on either of my Volvo cars!
What am I messing around at I here you say! Well apart from the weather getting in the way I've been too busy keeping on top of the day to day chores. By the time I get everything sorted around the house it's tea time! I must work faster.
My cars have definitely been neglected since Elaine's accident, as have the dogs & my small yacht has not had a visit since mid April! I hate to think what sort of a state it is in, as the gulls do like a boat on a mooring to roost on (& to do worse things on!)
On Thursday I need to visit the Capitainery (Port Office) to put my name down for a pontoon for next summer. A new list is started around this time each year on a first come first served basis. I shall also ask for a pontoon for July & August this year. Pontoons usually become vacant for this period as people with permanent pontoons depart for their various trips. If I am lucky I shall get a permanent pontoon in a few years! Mind you, this winter I intend having it lifted out to dry & to re-new the anti-fouling paint on the hull if needed.
Both of our gites are full, though we do have a few weeks still available for this summer. We have now added a special offer for last minute bookings. Summer dates available at mid-season rates. Which equals a saving of £100 per week booked. If you are tempted then click on the link on the left to visit my main site.

Latest from Gites South Brittany Touring

2007-06-16T17:21:00.000+02:00

Well, it's about time I updated this blog diary. Things have gone a bit 'haywire' over the last few weeks, since my wife Elaine dislocated her right shoulder. We found out today that it has developed into 'frozen shoulder' which is extremely painful & is very slow to heal. So since this catastrophe I have been doing everything for us (did I hear violins then?). I'm slowly getting on top of things now.

Since my last entry, we have had a family in one of the gites for a week with their Border Collie. They enjoyed a hot week & left kind comments in our guest book, which can be viewed on my main web-site via the link on the left. Since they left it has rained a lot to put it mildly! Our latest guests arrived about two hours ago & seem very content. They are from Stubbington in Hampshire which is part of the area I patrolled as a Policeman prior to coming over to France. We shall now have guests here in one or both of the gites until the end of the first week of September. We still have a few weeks going spare if you need a last minute break, again see my main site for details and availability of the gites.

I still have not got around to cleaning the idle valve on the Volvo 480 properly. I have disconnected the electrical connection & cleaned & sprayed it with WD40. The symptoms are still apparent though. I have read up via the web on the cleaning of the valve & it appears to be quite a delicate operation & the chap who gave the info is a trained mechanic & said that it is not a job for the feint hearted! Deep joy! Apparently it is full of very small items which have to be replaced in exactly the right place and in the right order. When dismantling things tend to come apart easily and quickly making it hard to list positions etc.

The Volvo 240 has developed a noisy in-tank fuel pump. A common symptom when these models get to between 15 & 20 years old or 150K - 200K miles. Mine being 18 & with 176K is spot on for this annoying problem. It is fine if I keep it topped up with fuel as the main pump can cope, but when the fuel gets low the in-tank pump needs to pump the fuel up to the main pump which then sends it to the engine. The usual culprit is simply (Ha Ha) the pipe has aged and shrunk and has disconnected from the pump itself. So the pump is just sucking the fuel in then spits it back out into the tank instead of pushing it up to the main pump. I have, so far removed the boot floor & the panel to access the top of the tank. Next job is to remove the cover plate to get into the tank. It is possible that I'll be able to re-fit it & put a stainless steel jubilee clip on to hold it............ Biggest problem is opening the cover as it has rusted over the years (As the Volvo club people said it would be!) & is a bit like a light bulb fitting. Push & turn to release. So far I have hoovered out the loose rust & applied good old WD40. I shall do this daily for a while before trying to remove it. Shall, hopefully update with my findings on my next entry.

Sailing Course in Brittany.

2007-05-15T18:51:00.000+02:00

Hello all.

Well since my last update I have been away for a week to Brest to take a sailing course with The Royal Yachting Association.
I left on Sat 05/05 and drove the 200 miles in my trusty Volvo 240, which I then abandoned in the marina car park to 'join' Cornish Legend a 34 foot yacht that was to be my home for the week.
Had a fantastic time with good winds - force 5 with gusts to force 7 which made the sailing very entertaining.
I came away with a Day Skipper (tidal) certificate which basically says that I am competent to sail small yachts in familiar waters by day. That said the course involved a night sail, navigation, and learning how to identify other vessels by day & night. All in all a perfect course to prepare me for taking our small yacht out of the River Vilaine estuary and beyond. I shall also be able to obtain an International certificate of Competence from the RYA which will keep the Customs chappies happy should we ever be 'boarded' for a stop check!
The course finished on the afternoon of the 10th. Back at Brest the faithful 240 was waiting to carry me home again. It fired up first time and enjoyed the cruise along the N165 back home.

The Volvo 480 has started 'kangarooing' - something that should be quite difficult in an automatic, one would think! Anyway once it is warm, the tick over revs jump slightly as if you are 'blipping' the throttle. If you hook it into drive it 'kangaroos' again as if blipping the throttle on purpose. I have (again) posted this latest problem on The Volvo Club forum but have not had a reply. So I tried the '480 Europe' site forum. These guys have suggested cleaning up the idle valve & if that fails to replace it. Will give it a go soonest!

Latest arrivals at the holiay gites.

2007-05-01T17:00:00.000+02:00

Our latest guests arrived yesterday evening. They have taken both gites for 10 nights and are a group of 8 French actors & actresses. This was a booking via our local Mayors office where our gites are registered. The actors are putting on a play at the local theatre in Nivillac, the commune in which our gites are situated. They arrived with an 'official' from the Mayors office who showed them the way and completed the paperwork in order to credit our gites bank account for the rental.

I have changed the spark plugs in the Volvo 480 again. Last time I fitted a set of BERU 4 electrode plugs. I found that the car ran okay with these but over the last few days Elaine reported that it was smelling very hot after a run. The computer confirmed that the coolant & oil temp were both fine. Levels were okay, so I whipped out the plugs to find that they had been overheating - not sure for how long. They had only covered about 3K miles as well. On the Volvo club forum others confirmed that they had tried the BERU ones and also only got about 3K out of them. Recommendations included, obviously Volvo originals (around £25 a set) and NGK. Before I had this info I had ordered a set from German & Swedish. They now supply Bosch Super Plus plugs which have an extra high temp rating aimed at turbo charged engines. So at £1.25 each I went for it. If these prove to be no longer lasting it will have to be NGK next!

Mileage is still holding out at 28mpg on short trips so reckon that side of things is back to normal. Phew!

The Volvo 240 has been treated to new plugs as well along with the slightly overdue oil & filter change. G&S sent me Super Plus plugs for this one as well. Last time I used Bosch 'standard' plugs and after nearly 10K miles they looked perfect - probably could have got a few more miles out of them, but for a 'fiver' thought 'hang the expense'! Just need to do the oil & filter on the 480 now. I keep putting it off as the car is so low it is a bit of a job getting under it & to position it just right so that my 'draining bath' wil go under. I reckon I need an inspection pit!

Boat Trailer, all but finished.

2007-04-24T08:23:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Dave & I took the trailer down to his place to weld on the hitch. We picked it up in the Lada (See previous entries!) with Daves trailer. En-route we were flagged down by Herve who lives in Caumont, the Hamlet between here & Daves. Herve 'ordered' us into his 'cave' for a beer...... and who were we to refuse.
Later we returned to Daves workshop, but were hungry by then, so had to stop for bacon-butties. Yes REAL bacon which Daves parents had bought over on their last visit. My first real bacon- buttie for nearly 3 years!
After this we did eventually set to & welded a couple of box sections onto the front of the trailer & then bolted on the hitch. I the towed it home and yes it worked! It only needs a coat of paint to smarten it up but it is now operational.

My two Volvo cars are okay at present. The 480 is still averaging 28mpg after fitting the new ignition module. Both are overdue oil & filter changes, which I aim to do every 6K miles. Once again I have ordered filters from the UK at a cheaper price than I can get them for here - even with postage. My fault for not having French cars I suppose.

We had another booking for the Gites the other day. A week in June - another 'out of season' booking which is good for us. Next guests arrive on 30/04/07 - both gites for 11 nights. These are French people, so I am now in the process of connecting a TV aerial in the second gite so that they can pick up French TV.

Trailer & Boat.

2007-04-13T20:30:00.000+02:00

For the last few days my attention has been away from the cars to this old trailer. It was once a four wheeled articulated trailer designed to carry fairly large boats or yachts with a lifting keel. A friend had chopped it in half to make a small trailer for his racing yacht and offered me the 'rest'.

So far I have re-positioned the two main bars in the centre to 'balance' it with weight on the hitch end & greased & re-tightened everything. Then I set about making a lighting board for the rear which you can see in the photo. This was fitted by cutting out two holes to slot it over the two main bars and then by being bolted onto the bracket for the rear roller.

I have purchased the required rear reflective triangles along with lights and a 12N plug to connect to the car but still need to buy a length of the 7-core trailer wire - which I will feed through the main bar down to the rear board.

After this Dave is coming round with his welder to fit a new tow-hitch & we should be sorted.

Total out lay so far? 45 Euros! (for the trailer the boat was purchased last year for 120 euros I think) Another great bargain I reckon.

Why do I need it you ask? Well with our yacht now being out on a river mooring we need to be able to get out to it (and back!) and this should do the trick. Also there are many little tributaries joining the river Vilaine which are two small for our yacht. We plan with this little 'beastie' to have a little fun exploring them.

Tanks 'Big Day out'

2007-04-04T20:29:00.000+02:00

We went to get these wheels. I have been in need of some new tyres for the front of my Volvo 240 for the last few months. Infact at the last MOT here they advised that the fronts only had a few thousand left in them. So thinking that a set of alloy wheels would look nice I decided to put a 'plea' on the anglo-info/brittany web-site. A few days later a chap from Jersey contacted me to say he had 5 alloys from his now scrapped Volvo 245GLE with good Michelin tyres on which I could have for 80 euros! I would struggle to get one Michelin tyre new for that price!
Anyway the problem was getting them here Chris (chap with wheels) first contacted me in December, and he eventually made the trip over last week. He is renovating a place near to Lannion, not far from Roscoff.
So we made a plan to meet last Friday at his place. Good old Dave said he fancied coming, just for the sake of it. We set off around 0900hrs & eventually found Chris' place at about 1245hrs! It was a tad further than we'd expected & we did get lost once or twice!
Once there we loaded the wheels up and went in for a cup of coffee. We began the return trip about an hour later. We had to stop for a bit of petrol & some grub. Dave ate first, then took over the driving whilst I munched mine.
It was about 1745hrs by the time we got back, having clocked up 360 miles! Quite a long old day but think it was worth it for the bargain.

The Bargain Ignition Multi Plug!

2007-04-03T20:31:00.000+02:00

The Ignition module 'bargain' price got even better the other day! Elaine's Dad phoned to say he had been in contact with Lloyds Volvo in Carlisle. To cut a long story short he managed to obtain an ignition module with coil (normal price £112 + Vat) for the grand sum of £30. Postage was £6.19, so how that other company could justify £35 for just the module part I'll never know!

The coil arrived on Saturday & I fitted it on Sunday. So far the mpg is showing 29.4 having been upto 30.2. We have'nt really covered any great distance yet but this is encouraging, given that we have only been getting around 25 - 26 mpg for some time. These cars are not at all economical when you look at modern cars standards.

Moving the Boat at Gites South Brittany.

2007-03-29T19:20:00.000+02:00

On the 1st of April our current contract with our local port (La Roche Bernard) ends. This means that we will no longer be able to keep our little yacht on its pontoon.
There is a three + year waiting list for a permanent place. Luckily we have been given a mooring out in the river until the end of September. After that we will probably take it out of the water for the winter in order to re-new the anti-fouling on the hull and to carry out any other required maintenance.
We had not been looking forward to this manoeuvre as the port office chaps had moved our boat onto another pontoon in quite shallow water. We had just 75cm under the keel and being on the river bank side of the pontoon (this pontoon being parallel with the bank) we didn't have a lot of depth to play as we moved out into the channel. Bearing in mind that we intended to tow a little annex boat to be able to get ashore from the mooring.This was something we had not done before.
I am sure this all sounds quite easy, but as they had towed our boat in forwards and having no room to spin it, this would mean that we would being going out astern with the annex tied to the bow, then would have to negotiate (avoid!) the concrete slip from the sailing club and carry on out astern into the river. Then stop to pull the annex astern of us to be able to tow it across the river to the mooring & then moor up with the annex still attached. Gulp!
Anyway just as we were about to take the plunge, by chance Dave turned up. So we took the chance to get him to motor the annex out behind us. Also with Dave's help we were able to push the yacht back past the yacht berthed astern of us and basically point it (stern first) towards the river. From there it was a simple case of slow astern straight out into the river, before motoring across to our mooring. Mooring itself was easy as we just let Dave take to ropes to the buoys.

As we were making back into port in the annex Elaine said, "Mmm you wouldn't be happy if you left something on board it is a fair old way across". Anyway back into the port, just about to lift the motor off of the annex (you've guessed it) and Elaine said, "Oh er wheres my hand bag?". Yep it was on board! So Dave & I set off back out into the river to get it. I'm glad we did not have to row!