Seeking Mechanical Guidance of Wise Volvo Wizard (940, lots of issues)

OutInWestPalm said:

There appears to be absolutely no wear on the wheel or anything on it. In hindisight though, when he rotated the tires, there was a crazy metal grinding noise which gave away the fact that the wheel was from a different vehicle.

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Did the guy that rotated the tires notice the wheel position locating pin?

Nice to see a new face from florida on here!

Anyways, I have a 740 which is basically identical.

For the suspension, it looks to be that your endlink bushings are bad for the sway bar, plus the radius arm bushings below that are not in the best of shape. Way to tell is have someone outside the car watch you get on the brakes hard, if you can see both front wheels move backward under heavy braking, they will need replacement. Good news is upgraded poly ones are about $20

The cut wire in the shifter is either overdrive or neutral safety switch, leaning more towards overdrive considering they are kinda thin.

Coolant can be 1 of 2 things, rust in the block from putting straight water in or BHG. The way I knew is that I had to keep refilling the coolant tank cause the coolant would shoot out the cap regardless of what replacement cap I used.

Power steering leak looks to be a bad rack. I replaced replaced multiple racks. Took me about 30 minutes to pull at a salvage yard. Good news is it is super easy to pull one and replace it. Biggest thing is to check for fluid in the boots, that is a bad rack. I have had good luck with junkyard racks. pin and a 10mm nut and bolt to remove the coupler, 19 and 22mm to remove the PS lines, Forgot what size but the rack comes out with two bolts, both easy to access, and of course removing the outer tie rods.

For the vibration, check driveshaft alignment and / or the driveshaft center support.

EivlEvo said:

You can get bushings and press them in yourself (these pieces can be tricky to get off without heavy duty impact tools fyi) if you have a press, or take them to a shop and have them press the parts in for you to save some money on them doing the whole job. BEFORE you order parts,

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I'd suggest getting new control arms. I've got a 20T press so for me its a moot point, but last 7XX front end I messed with new control arms were $38/side.

I drove a 240 back from Atlanta with a strut on the front completely shot. Whenever I reached 50, the car would reach resonant frequency and the car would shake violently. After replacing just the struts in my driveway, the problem went away for a while, but came back and destroying the strut tube in the process. After that, I replaced not only the struts, but the bearings, hub assembly, and springs. No more gallopin' gertie!

No press needed for radius bushings. There are some extra washers as well that you will need if they have not been done yet. The rear bushings on the radius arms don't go bad nearly as much. Tighten the rear control arm bolts while the suspension is loaded and not in the air.

No I doubt your block was cracked that's what the water looks like after a summer tho

Cooling system 101.

That's rusty water for coolant. SOMEBODY has been adding water instead of coolant. You will never get that reservoir clean again unless you really try, but I suggest you drain the coolant, maybe try some of that flush stuff, and it will probably take a few coolant exchanges before you ever have clean green coolant again.

Seriously what is going Up with the top of the engine. The pooled oil looks like water. Are the oil drain holes plugged?

Hey all, I'm back! I forgot my password and then never got around to getting back on BUT I've come back with news. There is definitely a head gasket leak without a doubt. I just replaced the back rotors and brake pads because they were beginning to rub. There is also a small leak somewhere where the exhaust pipe connects I believe but I couldn't get a good look at it. So, this Tuesday I'm gonna buy a new hsadgasket and do it myself. Then I can drain the oil and coolant at the same time and replace the two.
I was going to ask if there were any good videos on switching a head gasket on a 940, but then I felt like I would tell myself "Google it" if I saw that

I used paper books to learn how to do this stuff back in the day. Now I use pro software subscriptions to read a walk through on a job I am not familiar with. Since I work on so many different cars, it is impossible to have it all memorized: the procedure, capacities, torque specs, etc.

The hardest part about the timing belt job is gonna be getting the crank pulley off. The IPD special tool is VERY VERY nice to have. Then a 3 foot section of pipe on a GOOD breaker bar and an IMPACT 24mm socket.

Then read up on timing the engine correctly. These engines aren't interference (the 8v) and so even if you mess up it won't munch the valves.

Get new bolts and oil them, clean the threads in the block with a thread chaser if you can get your hands on one, and oil the threads and torque em properly.

Also make sure the head doesn't have corrosion or cracks. Have a machine shop resurface it.

ZVOLV said:

I used paper books to learn how to do this stuff back in the day. Now I use pro software subscriptions to read a walk through on a job I am not familiar with. Since I work on so many different cars, it is impossible to have it all memorized: the procedure, capacities, torque specs, etc.

The hardest part about the timing belt job is gonna be getting the crank pulley off. The IPD special tool is VERY VERY nice to have. Then a 3 foot section of pipe on a GOOD breaker bar and an IMPACT 24mm socket.

Then read up on timing the engine correctly. These engines aren't interference (the 8v) and so even if you mess up it won't munch the valves.

Get new bolts and oil them, clean the threads in the block with a thread chaser if you can get your hands on one, and oil the threads and torque em properly.

Also make sure the head doesn't have corrosion or cracks. Have a machine shop resurface it.

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The cylinder heads were actually redone prior to the car sitting for so long

You mean change THE head!?

Just because somebody pulled it doesn't mean they did a good job or reinstalled a good part, whenever work HAS been done it's a red flag when something goes wrong in the same system later on. Bolts vould be stretched or improperly torqued for example. Block or head cpuld be warped and ita wasnt caught. Etc.


I would start with a preasure test. Rent a tool for free and see if you can fid the right fitting which can be difficult.

Or just change the fluids, curb all leaks and monitor the issue.