Fuse Panel

As a part of general maintenance it is always a good idea to look at the fuse panel on these old Volvos. The fuses on this 88 245 were looking pretty corroded and old, but no real signs of a water leak or anything that would be sure to cause trouble. I opted to clean…

Tailgate Wiring

For those who live life with a 5th door on their Volvo, the wiring that runs through both hinges on the hatch will eventually always become problematic. You have several things in the hatch that are powered, the 3rd brake light, license plate lights, rear wiper, electric lock, and the rear defrost, and all of…

Rusty Stuff

I removed all the sound proofing off the firewall, and cleaned it up. It was getting wet and led to some rust. It’s not bad at all though. The plan is to cut and sand the rust out and then put rust inhibitor on. Then I will try to get it welded back up, and…

Windshield Wipers

No windshield wipers on your Volvo 240? First test that the wiper motor is getting juice. If you find the electrical portion is working, then pull the wiper motor and disassemble it. Every time I have looked one of the magnets has come unglued from the case. Clean it up, glue the magnet back in…

Clean your flame trap!

Exhaust

When I got a hold of this 1988 245 it had a wicked exhaust leak at the manifold to down-pipe connection. So much so that around the hood was all black from the exhaust leaking under it! We can’t be having that, so I opted for the IPD sport cat back exhaust that I already…

Bumper Cylinder Install

At some point in it’s 29 years of life, someone had a wee fender bender in the 88 245. The Volvo bumper is mounted to the frame with 2 shock absorbing cylinders. The drivers side had been compressed, and no longer served its safety purpose. I just put a good junkyard cylinder on and the…

Headlights, and Under-hood Power Distribution

1986 and later Volvo 240s have 2 relays for the headlight circuit. One, the “headlight relay” is located around the drivers left foot, up on the firewall. This relay provides the high amp power to the “step relay” under the hood, without running that power through the headlight switch which had led to melting of…

Power Steering: Fixed!

While I had the power steering pump, and A/C compressor off I cleaned up the area, and installed new accessory bushings. This will ensure the power steering, and A/C pulleys line up to the crank pulley, and everything is nice and solid. I installed the “new” junkyard rack and pinion, along with new inner and…