New member.....Hey peeps

Post by **mithunman** » 21 Oct 2004 11:27 pm

Hey ppl, ive just joined the forums...

being a student i previously owned a citroen ax, which gave me so many problems and eventually the clutch went which i thort wasnt worth fixing....

my dad owns a volvo 440 and his friend had a 340.
funny enough as my Citroen's clutch went, my dads mate was giving away the 340...so it fell into the hands of an 18yr old

its a volvo 340 DL which i am amazingly proud of despite its ugly faded colour...

i found these forums amazing as i was browsing thru them so i thort id join...

i do have a few questions about the 1986 C plate 340 DL

basically, i found a haynes manual in the garage...and when i was hoovering the car i saw under each seat (passenger and driver) a disconnected wire, i assumed it was for the seatbelt indicator. but thing is the seatbelt indicator worked for the drivers seat anyway???
so i connected the wires together and it made no difference wotsoever!!...does anyone know why this could be???

also i think the car has heated front seats according to the haynes manual but funnily enough there is no buttons to turn on heated seats...does this mean it doesnt have heated seats...?

anyways, nice talking will upload some pictures soon..

Mithun Man

Post by **Duvel78** » 22 Oct 2004 02:48 am

Welcome to the community!

I can check the system for the seatbelts indicator tomorrow.

I think there's a difference between the passenger and driver seat:

driver seat > indicator works continuously (no contactor under the seat)
passenger seat > indicators only works when someone is sitting without the belt (contactor under the seat)

And it stops of course when the seatbelt is fastened.

The wires you have connected are maybe for the heated seats then?

Do you have a control panel near the handbrake?

Post by **5lab** » 22 Oct 2004 08:09 am

nessy apparently has heated seats, but no switch and they never worked.

Post by **mithunman** » 22 Oct 2004 11:56 am

yer it seems that it has a blanking plate near the handbrake where i am assuming the switch for heated seats should go?

hmm yer i might take out the seat wen i got time n play about with it...might even fit a switch in

just for the luxury of heated seats....

im planning on driving from London to Loughborough in the old baby on monday....hopefully she should make it....

Post by **5lab** » 22 Oct 2004 11:58 am

yeah thats the place. i've only ever seen switches on those cars with electric windows as well thou

Did you know that the seats only work (regaurdless of switching) below 14C? it might just be that you've not felt them work cos its not been cold enough?

Post by **mithunman** » 22 Oct 2004 12:21 pm

serious? thats kinda rubbish lol

you maybe right as it hasnt been cold enough, plus the volvo is always warm

i might have to reconfigure that n try n make a switch for it...

do you think it has like a thermostat or something?

thing is my dads 440 has switches. i understand it is newer but ah well....?

Post by **5lab** » 22 Oct 2004 12:30 pm

the 440 only comes on at cirtain temps too. its to stop the elements from burning out.

Post by **mithunman** » 22 Oct 2004 12:35 pm

o i see....

im also thinking of putting alloy wheels on it...do u know wot size wheels are (they are just standard volvo alloy things).....

i was also thinking of lowering it....how much u think it wud cost ? and how much cud it be lowered by?

Post by **5lab** » 22 Oct 2004 12:47 pm

you cant lower the rear without a *lot* of difficulty. lowering the front is easier, just a change of spring/shock as far as i know.

volvo 340 alloys are 13 or 14" rims. 440 alloys are 14 or 15". no other volvo wheels will fit.

Post by **Fuse** » 22 Oct 2004 12:51 pm

You can have made new leaf springs which lowers the car or you can put some kind of blocks between the axle and springs so it drops the car as much as the block is thick.

Post by **Chesh740R** » 22 Oct 2004 01:58 pm

Indeed the 300 series heated seats come on when the temperature drops below a certain level, how it knows this is a mystery, but when the cars first came out, several of the units malfunctioned and actuall caught the cars on fire.

This lead to a lot of owners unplugging the heaters. Most 300 series i've come across theyve been disconnected and even connected in the coldest of weather i've never felt any heat.

Post by **Duvel78** » 22 Oct 2004 07:29 pm

Chesh740R wrote:Indeed the 300 series heated seats come on when the temperature drops below a certain level, how it knows this is a mystery, but when the cars first came out, several of the units malfunctioned and actuall caught the cars on fire.

Fire in a 340 with that system?

Which production year? You have more info about that?

Post by **foggyjames** » 23 Oct 2004 05:23 pm

Before a certain date they were unswitched (themostat only) - same with 240s.

Dude - come to the meet. It's on the 7th, at Gaydon (Aston Martin's history of motoring museum style effort) on the M40.

As for lowering...front isn't too hard, but because of the leaf springs, you can't easily lower the back. You can do the 'block' mod, but that's no good if you ever carry weight in the back, as its no stiffer.

Alloys...I'd get these ones ('Atlas') from an early 400 series car.

They're 14s, and are all over ebay. You'll be able to get a complete set with decent tyres for under £100. You'll need to find the wheelnuts off a 300 with alloys though, as the nuts for the steel wheels will trash the alloys.

cheers

James

Post by **SteveP** » 23 Oct 2004 05:30 pm

Guy at uni has a 340 with them wheels on, looks pretty good... certainly improves any standard 340 looks. Really need to find out who it is and see if they've heard of V3M, might just have to leave a note on their car, not ideal in this weather though!

I just got back from picking up a set of very good condition 14" Anteres alloys with good tyres for £75, absolute bargain - they look like new. The older style 440/480 alloys are even easier to come by.

And ofcourse, you have to come to the meet!

Steve

Post by **5lab** » 23 Oct 2004 05:35 pm

someone on here got a set of them alloys for free, with tyres.. dunno if he's put them on yet, cos we've not had any pics yet (hint hint)