340 specialist?

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LadbrokeOB
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

340 specialist?

Post by LadbrokeOB » 26 Sep 2014 06:24 pm

Are there any known specialists for the 340 in the UK?
1988 1.7 340 Redline

360beast
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by 360beast » 26 Sep 2014 07:44 pm

I believe there's a member on here called Mac who knows a thing or two about them ;)

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bogbasic
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by bogbasic » 26 Sep 2014 11:10 pm

Check this out...

http://www.freewebstore.org/Classic-Swe ... 80904.aspx

... and this bloke breaks quite a few in the west country...

http://www.yell.com/biz/the-hot-water-c ... e-5141837/

... you can find him on ebay as volvotenplus4...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLVO-340-198 ... 233ff0046c

and there's Tom Butterworth up north...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-VOLVO ... 566a0e9a2c

... sorry, a bit mad to just give you a lorra links, but I'm not sure what you mean by specialist because the interest in this series as classic cars is very limited. If you mean specialist repairer, then I don't know of anyone beyond Dai at the top link. Anyhow, hope this helps ^-^
1988 340 1.4 GL, 218k, 5 door (Grey Bess). Gone to CBA.
1991 340 1.7 GL, 64k, 5 door, petrol blue (Deep Blue).
1988 360 2.0 GLE, 140k, 5 door, ocean blue metallic (Blue Bess).
1989 340 1.7 GL, 108k, 3 door (Red Ness).
More info here!

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LadbrokeOB
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: 340 specialist?

Post by LadbrokeOB » 28 Sep 2014 10:49 pm

Thanks for your replies,

I've had a few conversations with Mac and Dai from classic swede in the past with some very sound advice given! But it seems the problem with my volvo is beyond my mechanical ability! I have a really nasty misfire and I realllllly cannot work out why!

So I was pretty much ready to ring someone up and pay them to fix it for me!

Lazy I know.. and I should be doing it myself so that I learn, but honestly don't know where to turn next!
1988 1.7 340 Redline

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bogbasic
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by bogbasic » 28 Sep 2014 11:01 pm

The Renault and Volvo engines on the standard cars were well within the skills-range of yer bog-standard, old-school mechanic who can probably sort it out fairly fast. I too have an occasional misfire on both of mine so I'd be interested to know why. They only do it once per journey, when they do it at all. My 1.4 did the same and it seemed to be blowing blasts of air back out through the inlet manifold... which may have been related to all the petrol which CBA found was leaking from the carb.
1988 340 1.4 GL, 218k, 5 door (Grey Bess). Gone to CBA.
1991 340 1.7 GL, 64k, 5 door, petrol blue (Deep Blue).
1988 360 2.0 GLE, 140k, 5 door, ocean blue metallic (Blue Bess).
1989 340 1.7 GL, 108k, 3 door (Red Ness).
More info here!

classicswede
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by classicswede » 17 Oct 2014 07:34 pm

The are a number of old school engine tuners your direction. You just want to go to someone that is used to real engines rather than plugging an OBD reader in
Dai

Please email me directly on dai@classicswede.co.uk

http://www.classicswede.com

phone/text 07824887160

Web shop http://www.classicswede.co.uk/

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driftking89
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by driftking89 » 23 Oct 2014 11:53 pm

talk to me i play with cars from 1900 all the way to the 90's

Start with you usual places on a missfire which is almost always ignition, so take it you've cleaned rotor arm, cap check plugs and leads are all okay and good spark on all four ?
Volvo 340 2.0 Supercharged drift wagon
Volvo 850R 2.3 Turbo
Toyota Celica 2.0 Import

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LadbrokeOB
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by LadbrokeOB » 04 Nov 2014 05:51 pm

Ok, just to list what i've replaced/done so far.

fitted:
new camshaft seal
new flywheel/crankshaft sensor - old got chewed up by flywheel after bolts came loose and it dropped
new distributor rotor
new distributor cap
new ignition module
new spark plugs
new mechanical fuel pump
new inline fuel filter
new oil filter
new cam-belt checked the timing at the time. all ok
new air filter
new engine oil

rebuilt the carburetor with new float, needle valve, diaphragms and gaskets.
flatted the warped carburetor base as best as I could with wet and dry
I bought and fitted a WEBCON green carb base warpage gasket and insulator block
float height set to specification at 33.8mm

all valve clearances are on the loosest side of the tolerance but all seem ok.
cylinder compressions are lowest on the flywheel-end cylinder, highest at radiator-end cylinder

starts ok, choke works fine, it just wont stop the intermittent misfire and really bogs down on wide open throttle.
it likes to kangaroo down the road when it hits the misfire and I normally need to give it some beans to pull out from junctions!

probably rebuilt the carb about 4 times now just to make triple sure everything was rebuilt correctly and still no joy!
1988 1.7 340 Redline

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mac
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Re: 340 specialist?

Post by mac » 04 Nov 2014 08:15 pm

Hummmm, interesting!

Logic would suggest that such a problem would be related to either the "usual" 1.7 problems of warped carb, porous float, or failed rotor arm - all very common and each could give such symptoms.

As the problem is intermittent I think you can rule out "basic" issues such as general engine condition, timing, valves etc.
and your work so far suggests that the common culprits have been dealt with. Have you changed the plug leads by the way? - old leads can mimic rotor arm failure.

Further possibilities to consider,
Wiring problem affecting voltage supply to Renix,
Coil breakdown giving weak spark,
Intermittent restriction in exhaust system due to internal failure in silencer,

You symptoms suggest to me a weak spark giving poor mixture ignition and flame front progression especially under high engine load conditions.

Mac.
88 5door Redline 1.7 52k - 19 XC60 Momentum Pro D4 AWD 17k
1950 pair of legs that don't work very well.

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LadbrokeOB
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Location: Warwickshire, UK

Re: 340 specialist?

Post by LadbrokeOB » 05 Nov 2014 05:29 pm

Thanks for your reply,

I have changed the spark plug leads just as a matter of course (i thought i'd listed them, my mistake!!)
But I soon changed them back to the originals after I noticed a fracture in one of the leads close to the spark plug insulation pocket.

Is there any specific way to test the voltage supply to the renix? Using a multi-meter or something similar?

The ignition coil is probably only 200 miles old, I could swap the old one back on to see if there are any improvements I guess.

I did do a repair to a hole in the exhaust silencer, took the battery terminals off, earthed the silencer and then welded a patch over the hole for the MOT repair. Is there any chance that the heat involved in the welding has blocked up the exhaust? In the mornings when its cold and the exhaust is throwing out visible fumes, they seem to be expelled pretty well. But to be honest, I wouldn't know what to look for if it was blocked.

Another point i'll make is that when adjusting the mixture screw it doesn't actually do anything to change the tone or speed of the engine until it is screwed all the way in and then the engine will stall.

I was thinking about selling the car, but I just cant bring myself to do it as I wont be beaten by a silly misfire!
Appreciate all your help on this!
1988 1.7 340 Redline

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