Hi folks, just a quick message to introduce myself.

I'm Mike from Middlesex (only just - in the NW outskirts of London) - after a bit of eBay roulette, I "accidentally" bought a 1989 340GL vario a few weeks ago. All Sam Glover's fault really as I've spent ages looking for a good Volvo 66 but I was inspired by his recent 343 purchase in Practical Classics to have a look at the 300 scene and the rest is history...

Anyway, enough about me. The car's got less than 43k miles on the clock, one old lady owner from new and in very good nick despite not being garaged. The only evidence of any rust is a small repair to the o/s/r sill, everything else is solid and original, even the front valance. The only slight cosmetic niggles are a split seam on the driver's seat backrest and the fact that some of the segments on the LCD display of the original radio aren't working. On the mechanical side, the engine is as sweet as you like but I'm have one or two intermittent issues with the transmission which I'll post about later in the technical forum. In the meantime, here are a few pics of the car after a coolant flush and a quick clean...

Bare stock, very nice. Welcome!

Nice car, welcome to the forum! Keep us updated with your progress ...

Cheers

Tom

Welcome to the crazy world of Vario ownership.

Nice find and in really good condition.

John

Hi mate and welcome.
Looks like you found yourself a nice motor
Cheers Mark.

Thanks guys.

As I mentioned, I'm having a few issues with the operation of the vario. Haven't checked the clearance on the clutch but I suspect that it's due a re-shim (although it still takes up drive at relatively low revs).

However, the main issue is with getting it out of low ratio - much of the time it operates OKish, with the vario changing up when you ease off above 20mph or so but other times it won't. Given that the problem is an intermittent one, I'm guessing that an electrical gremlin is the cause.

Even when it's working "normally", it still doesn't feel quite right (although it's been a good 20 years since a last drove a vario, so perhaps I'm misremembering!). Much to the amusement of my kids, I did the blow test on the vac pipes but I'm not sure what to make of the result - air was coming out of the other pipe, but not much and there was still pressure build up with a pop of air coming back from the pipe I was blowing down, so if a diaphragm is leaking it must only be a small leak. Also, the vac system must be doing something because when all is working "normally", the low ratio hold switch works fine. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid and anyway I've still got a few basic jobs to do like checking the tension of the belts.

Sorry for the ramble - this ought to be in the tech section...

Mike

Have you read this topic? http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... =6&t=12314

There are two parts in each 'bellow' on the primary part of the transmission that can cause a vacuum leak: the diaphragm you mentioned and what the Haynes manual refers to as the 'sealing sleeve' (for lack of a better word). If the variomatic can't build up enough vacuum, any change of gear ratios is only done by the centrifugal weights. You'll notice this especially at low speeds: 30 mph in overdrive would amount to approximately 2,000 rpm or even less, without the vacuum you'd be looking at 3,000 rpm. Even without a rev counter this would be very noticeable.

All the ins and outs for electrical gremlin hunting are described in the link above.

Hello Mike and welcome. I really like the look of your car, and it's nice to see another vario.

There may be some useful stuff on my thread on a similar topic: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... =5&t=13660

Thanks for those two links.

I reckon that the system must still be capable of holding a vacuum even if there is a small leak, because if it wasn't then presumably the low ratio hold switch wouldn't have any effect (and it does seem to work).

Anyway, I'll try bypassing the kickdown and master cylinder switches over the weekend
as I guess one of those is the problem.