Second-time Volvo owner - first time 300-series owner

[sochapter]

Hi guys!

The lack of power in my Volvo was quite simply explained.

Last night I was working on the car and started to change the distributor rotor arm. As I was removing the distributor cap, it just completely shattered in my hands The contactors too were absolutely nackered and the as I examined the cap, it was clear that it was cracked all the way before I took it apart.

The ignition leads seemed like they have never been changed before, I bet if I twisted them, they would snap in half.

My local spare parts dealer didn't have stock for the leads and the cap(funny, because they have 30 pieces of the B14 distributor cap in stock), but I placed an order and if I'm lucky, I'll have these parts today. If I'm not, I'll have them by monday.

I also changed the oil for the engine and diff. Gearbox oil has recently been changed, because it was still clean. I don't think the first owner ever changed the diff oil, because the few drops of the old oil the diff still had in it, had burned very badly and was grease-like.

So, my VW is now built temporarily back together. Thank god I have 2 cars now. Might as well take the VW to a MOT test now so I don't have to worry about it in the spring.

All the best,

Tero

[classicswede]

Funny how they can keep running with things in such poor condition!

[Ride_on]

Plus water pump isn't that reliable either.
....
360 is bomb proof.

You know we are never going to agree here Ride-on, but I've had more 360 (red block) water pumps fail on me than 1.7 (Renault F block) ones, let alone before you get into miles per waterpump or how cheap and available each is (try finding a late 360 water pump overnight when you need to get to work in the morning) and how easy to change.

Fake has required 1 water pump in 85,000 miles. I've only done ~15,000 miles in 360's, but have had to do 2. It's also the worlds simplest fit to the 340.

Yes, the 1.7 install in a 340 to be running right needs to be owned by someone prepared to do a bit of maintenance. There is no magic. There is nothing complicated. There are published OEM available fixes for *all* of the common problems, if you were getting weak spark I can only suggest you didn't follow the green book service schedule for plugs, dizzy cap and arm and leads, or were buying cheap crap to do the service with.

Lol well good to have different view points. To be honest I've only had one, but it was very bad. Alot of 1.7's have various strange difficult to diagnose and fix problems at low milage and young age, in a 360 any type of engine problem is rare.

I reckon someone has changed your 360 water pump for an aftermarket one during a belt change and caused you your problems

[variomaticus_dl]

Hi Tero,

congratulations to this great car.
I also found a redline with roof window and 90000kms 6 weeks ago and I am very happy about it.
It coloured like yours.
The Renault-engine works greatly and the total state is as good as new.
Only the carb needs a fine-tuning. I think that the second systems opens too late.
And the clutch or the cardan shaft jingles in neutral.
I changed the tooth belt and repaired little things.






It is my 4. Volvo 340. First I had a 340 Arctic 1,4 with 5 speed, second my "never will die" white 340 Vario with roof window and crashed engine (my recent project)

and third the grey 340 Vario with rusted Vario pulleys (now organ donor).

In Germany the Volvo300 are unfortunately less popular and so they are very rare. Especially the higer conditioned engines are very expensive in tax because they have no regulatet cat. A friend, a renault mechanic, said that the 1,7 engines never were installed by Renault without it


Very happy to meet you here!

Best regards from Germany Matthias

[sochapter]

Great looking car, variomaticus

Wish I had a sunroof, but as long as I'm gonna be driving the Volvo only in the winter, doesn't matter that much.

The Volvo repair-saga continues:

Monday I finally got a hold of the new rotor arm and distributor cap. Installed them and car ran pretty good, got some power back and all in all felt more responsive. By the way, if the screws which hold the cap are still original when you're replacing the cap, I strongly recommend to buy new ones in advance. It's a real bugger to fit the old screws as they are chisel-head and there's really not too much space.

Last night I took the car to our workshop and adjusted wheel alignment. As I examined the car as it was on the lift, I noticed that there had been a huuuuuge oil leakage from the diff. By the way, it's really not a good idea to blow pressurised air through the breather tube when you are directly beneath the diff... every part, and I do mean every part of me was covered in yummy diff oil

Of course the diff cover had given up to the rust-monster and there was a count of 6 really small holes in the cover. Me and my mate took the cover out (one bolt was to tight in that we had to weld a nut to it so we could get it open ). We managed to weld it up pretty good and put it back to place. When I filled the diff up with oil, two of those fillings started to sweat oil As the clock ticked at 4 am, I made a decision to fill those holes with silicone sealant. Seems to hold the oil.

This morning I rang up my local Volvo dealer to aquire a price for the new cover. Reply was, that Volvo still has the part numbers on the EPC, but none in stock and will not deliver any more.

Guess, if there's not a aftermarket one available, I'll have to go and scavenge my local junkyard for that cover. But I'll have to dig in more if I could find a aftermarket piece.

Below is attached a picture when we got the cover out and discovered the first holes. Many was to be found after taking this pic.

All the best,

Tero