My new car!

Post by **ebdl** » 10 Dec 2005 06:55 pm

Here she is:

One (recently deceased) owner from new, 37,500 miles and a full service history (mostly Volvo). Sadly the old lady retired from driving after putting the dent in the front wing - an altercation with a trolley park - and it currently has no MOT.

I had an MOT booked at Kwik-Fit in Wednesbury but got held up on the drive over from Cambridge because the A14 was closed. Arrived 15 mins late for the test and the b*stards refused to do it. So please boycott Kwik-Fit (or at least that branch).

Just a couple of things to ask about. Car runs fine and cruised very happily at 70mph all the way home (I suspect it may be the first time it's been driven that fast). However, when I was in the traffic jam there was a lumpy idle and a knocking sound from either the engine or the transmission. It also doesn't go into reverse easily (seems to grind the first time I press the accelerator, then lifting off and jiggling the gear stick and reapplying the accelerator it works fine). Once it's in gear (drive or reverse) there don't appear to be any problems. Any advice on the lumpiness/knocking sound and gear selection problems would be appreciated.

Also, what's the opinion on unleaded petrol with these cars - mine's a 1983 with a B14 2E.

Thanks for you help,

Ed

Post by **Ali** » 10 Dec 2005 07:05 pm

Not quite sure about what you mean with the selecting reverse but try pushing the clutch in pop it into first then into reverse, stops the griding everytime

cheers
Ali

Post by **ebdl** » 10 Dec 2005 07:08 pm

Popping the clutch in isn't as easy as you might think... it's a variomatic!

Post by **SteveP** » 10 Dec 2005 07:29 pm

Ed,

Looks good - I've always liked mk2s in that colour too, my dads old car was the same colour. Annoying about the MOT - that takes the p*ss.

Let me know if you still require a front bumper. Looks like you may need the bracket that the bumper attaches to on the wing as well?

Steve

Post by **huskyracer** » 10 Dec 2005 08:20 pm

Nice car mate! Sounds to me like it needs the basic tune up items looked at. all 300 series cars make strange knocks/rattles from the transmission system if they arent idling 100% smooth. check the plugs, air filter, cap, rotor arm and leads, and make sure the pipe to the renix unit is in good condition and isnt blocked or full of oil. then go through the carb adjustments as outlined in the haynes manual, and check carefully for air leaks as in the many posts in the engine section of the forum (running shakey? read first) as for the reverse selection, it sounds like the clutch may be hanging up slightly, check and adjust, again as outlined in the haynes manual. hopefully after a sunday afternoons work, you should have a lovely smooth drive with no grinding noises! as a point of interest, I bought my car from an elderly owner, who didnt use it much or go far in it, after I had driven it for a week, the idle and low speed running started to go pear shaped, and it needed the mixture and idle speed adjusted quite a bit to get it right again, because it had spent most of its life driving round aylesbury at 20 mph getting coked up, and it had been tuned up by home tune like this not long before I got it. it also used to chuck out brown smoke under hard acceleration for the first week or two, must have been all the crap being blown out

Post by **Ronnie** » 10 Dec 2005 08:30 pm

I agree, Kwik-Fit sucks - but only because they fit budget kit and charge too much for their tyres. I use them for their free quotes only, which is just an excuse to get a new car on their ramp and have a good poke about under neath it.

You can't really blame them for the MOT thing though... The MOT system has changed, Your appointment with them was logged with the DVLA and they're not allowed to change it! Can you believe that? They have no flexibility, they can't squeeeze in an extra test, nor start one late. The reasons for this are beyond me. The test stations are linked electronically with big brother in Swansea. MOT's are now logged, you have a legal requirement to notify them of changes of address too in order to keep the log book up to date.

Post by **ebdl** » 10 Dec 2005 08:51 pm

Thanks for the replies... I'll give the car a good going over and then see how it goes.

That MOT system sucks. Maybe I feel slightly less annoyed with the Kwik-Fit chaps now... and their tests are cheap if you book online (30% discount).

Does this mean I'll be unlikely to get a same-day test on Monday? I'd rather like to be able to drive back down to Plymouth.

Ed

Post by **pettaw** » 10 Dec 2005 09:40 pm

These cars have a centrifugal clutch and this can go out of adjustment, but I don't know how to adjust it, but the procedure is a long drawn out one and involves rotating the engine and removing shims from the clutch plate etc etc etc. Hopefully a vario expert will be on soon to explain the procedures.

The clutch, being centrifugal is affected by idle and the idle speed needs to be set correctly for it to engage/disengage properly. Also the vario has a real labyrinth of vacuum hoses under the bonnet cos all the change up routine/low gear hold etc is vacuum operated. So that all needs checking too.

Good thing is that once the adjustments are all done and sorted, it'll be smooth as silk for a long while. Oh and give the vario a present of some new belts the originals have prolly seen better days and you don't want them snapping on you.

Post by **ChrisW** » 10 Dec 2005 09:54 pm

By the way, unleaded is fine with any 300 series (apart from a diesel obviously)

Post by **Carl** » 10 Dec 2005 10:03 pm

My old 340 used to run like a pig with normal unleaded. A bit of additive in with each tank sorted it out though.

As for the new MoT system - it really is stupid. I know a fair bit about it as my dad was an MoT tester up until recently and no one in the trade likes it. In theory its a great idea, but they've set it up in a really bad way, and Siemens who supplied all the computer gubbins have used really out-of-date stuff.

However, a good spinoff of the new system is that you can get your road tax done online, which is pretty handy! No more queuing in the post office at the end of the month!

Post by **ebdl** » 10 Dec 2005 10:49 pm

I've looked over the history (receipts for every service back to '95) and it had new drive belts in 1996 (10k ago) and a new clutch in 2001 (2k ago) so I would hope these would be ok. How quickly do the belts wear out? No evidence of a cambelt change in the last 10 years, so I suppose that should go on the list too.

Incidentally, where does everyone buy their service parts from?

Post by **340GLT** » 10 Dec 2005 10:50 pm

If shes a 1.4 which i'm guessin it is it doesnt have a cam belt!! It has a cam chain. it does have a pulley V belt that could be changed though.
Cheers Adam

Post by **ebdl** » 10 Dec 2005 10:54 pm

No cam belt eh? Do the chains need replacing/servicing (I suppose I will find all this out when the Haynes book of lies arrives, but that'll be a while yet).

Post by **Carl** » 10 Dec 2005 11:19 pm

I used German, Swedish and French or Eurocar parts, and I'm planning a visit to Mr Volvo sometime soon too.

Post by **pettaw** » 11 Dec 2005 06:30 am

One other thing, does the bleeper work? There is a bleeper that tells you if you haven't put the car properly in gear. There is a connector on the gearstick that apparently quite often becomes disconnected. Gear lever position is quite important as you can get grinding if the selector isn't absolutely in the correct position and the buzzer and warning light will help you with that.

Also I don't know whether I'm preaching to the converted or not, but 340 vario's should never be started in park, always start them in neutral. Starting in park, particularly with revs can damage the transmission.