And another CVT 340 newbie

A global place for general discussion (Volvo, V3M or non-Volvo related topics).
Please introduce yourself here, your Volvo 300 hobby...
NO technical support, parts requests or car advertisements here
Post Reply
User avatar
nomead
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 297
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 08:47 am
Location: Turku, Finland

And another CVT 340 newbie

Post by nomead » 21 Sep 2008 07:43 pm

Long story first:

My dad used to drive a Volvo 343 Variomatic in the early 80's but then he changed to a Nissan Micra :(

Fast forward to a few months ago. My wife needs to drive to work and back, 120 km total every day, and she's not really that technically proficient, hence the car needs to be reliable, cheap to maintain and it doesn't matter if it's boring. So she currently drives a Seat Toledo -98 diesel.

This spring I got fed up with going to work by bus, so I got myself an old beater, VW Passat -90... but got soon fed up with it, being totally boring to drive and then there were some running problems related to the carburettor and fuel pump, and the fact that at some point, the engine had been changed and somebody did a bad job at it ... so I started looking for the next car. As winter was coming, I thought that a rear-wheel driven car would be nice. I kind of stumbled upon a couple Volvo 340 that were on sale, which reminded me of the childhood times... then I decided that the next car would have to be a Variomatic equipped 340. Easier said than done, apparently, as there weren't that many on sale that were still in working condition. A couple for-sale ads came and went - they got sold to someone else because I was too slow, or the cars were too far away. So one day, there was an ad for a low-mileage -89 340 DL CVT with very little rust and no fatal flaws. Hmm, really? I decided to act quick, and reserved the car, because the seller was out of the country and couldn't sell it immediately. When the time came, I went by train to check what I was buying, being confident that I'd be able to drive back home (170 km) with it. And... while there were a couple problems with it, the ad was pretty accurate - there were no fatal flaws that prevented running the car in daily use, so I bought it, for 700 euros. A bit more than the other cars on offer were, but they weren't in such good condition. All the seats are still good and all round it's pretty much in original condition. I drove home, and actually got home without problems. Good.

And the obligatory front+side shot of the car:

Image

So, for the problems.

Some previous owner had bumped the right side of the car, there are large dents still on the car, but they've been painted over with well matching paint and rust hasn't come through yet. The damage is large enough that it would be best to replace the right wing and front door rather than try to straighten it out. But to avoid a paint job, I'd have to find them in a matching colour, what my wife calls "Road Camouflage" as it matches the asphalt quite well. :D

Regarding rust, there is actually very little of it that I could find. A couple spots inside the engine bay near the headlights were a bit flaky, but other than that, solid iron all the way.

The inside light (courtesy light?) is missing. This should be just a minor purchase from the local car breaker, if they have any.

The horn switch on the steering wheel isn't working. One of the previous owners installed a big red button in the centre fascia for that purpose, I wonder if that'll pass the MOT though-

Regarding MOT, the next checkup is in March 2009 so I have good time to check and fix most problems before that.

The windscreen has a large crack, and a stone has left a mark right in the centre of the field of view. This will likely fail the MOT and will have to be changed. Luckily it's not a glued on windscreen so it's easy and cheap to change.

The transmission doesn't always want to go to reverse. But I already traced this problem to the idle RPM - it's too high, and has probably been adjusted this way because the idle is a bit uneven and rough at times.

The low gear hold button makes no difference.

The RPM at highway speeds seems a bit high, probably related to the low gear hold. But clutch engage RPM seems to be OK and the transmission works reasonably well otherwise, although I haven't had the opportunity to actually measure the clutch clearance or belt tension yet.

The engine starts quite well when cold and hot (immediately after being stopped), but when it's been stopped for about 20 minutes, and restarted when still warm, it runs really rough and usually dies several times. A couple minutes of running at normal speeds cures this.

The mileometer is broken and stuck at 70626 km. The MOT checks store mileage information, but unfortunately there's a gap in their records. 1998 was 55000 km but the next recorded reading in 2003 is already 70000. It's probably got something between 100 and 120 thousand km on it now.

There's also a strong smell of gasoline around the car after it has been stopped. Probably a leaky hose somewhere, or the fuel tank breather system.

The doors need to be slammed shut quite hard, or else they won't shut all the way. I'll have to inspect the hinges / lock alignment / etc. at some point.

Quite a list, eh? But I'm still happy with my purchase and have decided to keep it for a longer time, unless some fatal flaw develops. Maybe I'll have to buy another CVT model just for the parts at some point.

Weird thing is, it's got an antenna but no radio - no speakers installed and the fascia just has an empty spot.

After fixing all this (whew!) I'll have to get a better set of summer tyres. I like Volvo original steel rims but not the type that I currently have. The winter tyres (which are good enough for at least a couple more winters) are mounted on such rims, but they're quite rusty already. I'd also like to have a proper RPM dial. Getting a complete 2.0 instrument panel would probably be the easiest way to get that, and I'd get a working mileometer at the same time.

I have the Haynes book already, and know some things about car maintenance in general, but at the moment I'm slowly going through the model specific information and digesting all the extra stuff that's on the web. Mostly here at V3M though. I think there will still be some things that I need to ask questions about, but I'll try to figure things out on my own first.

Of course, having found a valuable resource like this forum, I already made my donation 8)

sven360
Posts: 1856
Joined: 20 Nov 2004 11:36 pm
Location: up shitcreek

Post by sven360 » 21 Sep 2008 07:53 pm

Hey oop and welcome.

Those 300's sure have a certain attraction unfortunately it doesn't work on women :cry:

Sounds like you're going to be busy.
Keeper of The Knights' of Bushido-lest we forget

Write it in your heart.
Stand by the code and it will stand by you.

Ask no more and give no less than honesty,courage,loyalty,generosity and fairness.

The code of the West.

User avatar
nomead
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 297
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 08:47 am
Location: Turku, Finland

Re: And another CVT 340 newbie

Post by nomead » 12 Oct 2008 06:57 pm

Update time!
nomead wrote:The inside light (courtesy light?) is missing. This should be just a minor purchase from the local car breaker, if they have any.
Easy to find, and cost 7€.
nomead wrote:The transmission doesn't always want to go to reverse. But I already traced this problem to the idle RPM - it's too high, and has probably been adjusted this way because the idle is a bit uneven and rough at times.
No it wasn't the idle RPM, although it's still a little high - CBA to adjust it properly, it's around 1100 now :) It's just very, very picky on where the gear select lever should be when reversing. It seems to work almost always when I switch into reverse from the "P" position, and it seems to make a horrible crunch about 50% of the time when coming from the "N" position. So I just don't do the latter anymore.

Oh and I checked the CVT green book, the gear selector buzzer only exists on RHD models, so no help there.
nomead wrote:The low gear hold button makes no difference.

The RPM at highway speeds seems a bit high, probably related to the low gear hold. But clutch engage RPM seems to be OK and the transmission works reasonably well otherwise, although I haven't had the opportunity to actually measure the clutch clearance or belt tension yet.
The low gear hold still doesn't work, but at least it's not stuck on. So I'll probably just forget this problem. Doesn't sound too useful anyway... The RPM is fine, now that I have a proper RPM dial. For some reason my multimeter with RPM counter (with clip-on sensor attached to one ignition cord) showed much higher RPM readings than the actual RPM.
nomead wrote:The engine starts quite well when cold and hot (immediately after being stopped), but when it's been stopped for about 20 minutes, and restarted when still warm, it runs really rough and usually dies several times. A couple minutes of running at normal speeds cures this.
Fixed - but long story short... Got a new idle solenoid, found out that the idle jet wasn't the size it should be (new one was 60, old one was 50) - but the Scan-Tech part had a different size solenoid needle inside the jet so they weren't directly interchangeable... And I tried, but it never worked properly. Maybe new solenoid + new jet + idle CO adjustment would have worked, though, but who knows. I ended up cleaning the old solenoid, now it closes properly and all is well. But there are still some breather issues to go through.
nomead wrote:The mileometer is broken and stuck at 70626 km.
Semi-fixed - along with a new instrument cluster. And who cares about the total mileage anyway. All I really wanted is a working trip meter.
nomead wrote:There's also a strong smell of gasoline around the car after it has been stopped. Probably a leaky hose somewhere, or the fuel tank breather system.
The fuel tank itself is leaking at the upper edge. Temporary solution: fill the tank half full at maximum. It'll have to be replaced at some point though.
nomead wrote:The doors need to be slammed shut quite hard, or else they won't shut all the way. I'll have to inspect the hinges / lock alignment / etc. at some point.
The hinges on the driver side front door are well worn and need to be replaced. On the right side though, a rough realignment of the door made it much easier to shut. I followed working methods found on Youtube. There's this video of the Trabant factory, making final adjustments on the car... I just pretty much tried lifting the car by grabbing the open door and repeating until door shuts easily. Success.
nomead wrote:I'd also like to have a proper RPM dial. Getting a complete 2.0 instrument panel would probably be the easiest way to get that, and I'd get a working mileometer at the same time.
Done, but the replacement part has electric problems with missing ground at some points. There were five blown bulbs which seemed strange. I changed the bulbs but still most won't light up. Also the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge won't show a reading. On the other hand, the RPM dial works fine and the new mileometer/ speedo works fine. I'll just have to remove them and install them in the original panel... Hopefully that'll be the end of it.

User avatar
jtbo
Posts: 5805
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 03:50 am
Location: Finland, middle of nowhere
Contact:

Post by jtbo » 12 Oct 2008 07:46 pm

Welcome fellow finn, soon we take over this board and translate everything to finnish :twisted: :lol:

I'm paranoid from those fabric covered fuel hoses, even they look ok, they can be more hole than hose, however 1.4 had perhaps different hoses sm14
Volvo 360GL -88 -under restoration-
Volvo 343DL vario -81 -running- Image
Volvo 240 Diesel -83 -undecided-
Citroen ZX Dturbo -97 -daily- ImageImage

User avatar
nomead
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 297
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 08:47 am
Location: Turku, Finland

Post by nomead » 13 Oct 2008 05:23 am

jtbo wrote:I'm paranoid from those fabric covered fuel hoses, even they look ok, they can be more hole than hose, however 1.4 had perhaps different hoses sm14
Some previous owner did a carb rebuild, and changed all the fuel hoses from under the bonnet, they're not fabric covered anymore. At least I don't see a leak there. There's a strong smell there too after stopping so there may be a small leak hidden somewhere... I guess it would be best to just put new hoses everywhere, as it's probably been several years since the carb job anyway. But there are still some old fuel hoses in the back of the car, and they'll naturally get replaced when I swap the tank.

User avatar
nomead
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 297
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 08:47 am
Location: Turku, Finland

Post by nomead » 13 Oct 2008 05:01 pm

I just had to shoot a quick video of the CVT acceleration, even with the instrument panel still half dead :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7MjGraeffo

Well I have to admit that it's by no means excitingly fast, but that's just limited by the 1.4 lump in front. And it's quick enough in city conditions starting from a traffic light. I always have to lift off slightly when the driver ahead of me is searching for second, then third gear.

User avatar
jtbo
Posts: 5805
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 03:50 am
Location: Finland, middle of nowhere
Contact:

Post by jtbo » 13 Oct 2008 05:57 pm

That is not slow at all for 1.4 CVT, imo :D

Well build 1.4 and bit tuned vario would be just perfect for city driving, bit more low and mid range torque and bit more agressive vario activity would make it nice city rocket :lol:
Volvo 360GL -88 -under restoration-
Volvo 343DL vario -81 -running- Image
Volvo 240 Diesel -83 -undecided-
Citroen ZX Dturbo -97 -daily- ImageImage

User avatar
nomead
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 297
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 08:47 am
Location: Turku, Finland

Re: And another CVT 340 newbie

Post by nomead » 31 Dec 2008 04:04 pm

nomead wrote:My dad used to drive a Volvo 343 Variomatic in the early 80's
Hehe, I spoke to my mom a couple weeks ago and happened to mention what sort of car I drive nowadays. I guess she got the hint, because now she sent me a couple old family photos...

Image

Yup I'm the younger kid in those photos. Must be something between
26-28 years ago, no idea of the exact year, sorry. I had to check from the national registration database, they don't have any information about that plate anymore so that car must have been dead for at least 15 years or something. Too bad.

I also got some earlier pictures of the time when we apparently had a Volvo 142 GL, but I'm such a baby in them :oops:
Volvo 340DL Variomatic -89
Volvo 360GLT -86

User avatar
trabitom99
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 4398
Joined: 06 Jan 2007 02:38 pm
Location: Bonn, Germany

Post by trabitom99 » 31 Dec 2008 05:36 pm

Hey fantasic old pics :) Easy to see where you got the Volvo 300 bug from ...

... and why you're interested in Mk1s too ;)

Tom
343 GL Touring B14.1E CVT (155) 98000kms 1980 (sold)
343 L Junior B14.3E MT4 (155) 229000kms 1981 (scrapped)
343 DLS B19A MT4 (155) 167900kms 1982
360 GL Injection B200F MT5 (231) 348598kms 1988 (scrapped)
360 GLT B200F MT5 (302) 230000kms 1988

User avatar
xtrmjks
Posts: 501
Joined: 26 Feb 2008 07:28 am
Location: midlands

Post by xtrmjks » 31 Dec 2008 05:41 pm

Tervetuloa! Vanhoja kuvia... :lol:
Image

Post Reply