Volvo Megathread: Bulletproof P2

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Volvo Megathread: Bulletproof P2

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

Francis Baconator posted:

the service bay attempted to diagnose it but didn't have the equipment to work on it

This is hilariously :psyduck:

and I would assume she said it without thinking to give better reason than "the techs can't be arsed to bother"/"it would cost more in parts or to pay a guy to fix than we could possibly sell it for", as opposed to intentionally trying to tell you that you can't possibly fix its problems yourself without sinking some serious cash into Volvo specialty tools.

Find out what codes are causing the CEL. They know what they are, and if they don't have a basic OBDII scan tool at this dealership then :wtc:

. They would have checked just in case the codes are for something retarded easy like a filthy air filter; a car with an unlit CEL = higher asking price.

That engine runs a sepentine, not individual accessory belts, so the squeal will be easier to find with a mechanic's stethoscope (and they should already know what that is too, at least what component is making it, same reason). Turning the A/C on and off won't make a difference (btw, did the A/C work? North Dakota is Satan's freezer, I know, but still) because the pulley is always being turned, what makes it work is the magnetic clutch being on or off, engaging the compressor with the pulley.

That seems like a high price, by $2000 or more, but then most of the s40s and v40s I see advertised are usually from '00 to '02 or '03. Given the "sell your car to us" ads we get from dealers occasionally for our '02 v40 with similar mileage and adjusting for newer, I'd guess the dealer probably paid about $3000 dollars for it. If they won't tell you what the codes and the squeal are, don't pay more than $5000. If they can solve both, try for $7000. How's the alignment, treadwear, etc?

# ? Aug 21, 2010 01:22

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# ? May 27, 2024 17:33

Francis Baconator: Jul 11, 2008; Thanks for the avatar man!

Splizwarf posted:

This is hilariously and I would assume she said it without thinking to give better reason than "the techs can't be arsed to bother"/"it would cost more in parts or to pay a guy to fix than we could possibly sell it for", as opposed to intentionally trying to tell you that you can't possibly fix its problems yourself without sinking some serious cash into Volvo specialty tools.

Find out what codes are causing the CEL. They know what they are, and if they don't have a basic OBDII scan tool at this dealership then . They would have checked just in case the codes are for something retarded easy like a filthy air filter; a car with an unlit CEL = higher asking price.

That engine runs a sepentine, not individual accessory belts, so the squeal will be easier to find with a mechanic's stethoscope (and they should already know what that is too, at least what component is making it, same reason). Turning the A/C on and off won't make a difference (btw, did the A/C work? North Dakota is Satan's freezer, I know, but still) because the pulley is always being turned, what makes it work is the magnetic clutch being on or off, engaging the compressor with the pulley.

That seems like a high price, by $2000 or more, but then most of the s40s and v40s I see advertised are usually from '00 to '02 or '03. Given the "sell your car to us" ads we get from dealers occasionally for our '02 v40 with similar mileage and adjusting for newer, I'd guess the dealer probably paid about $3000 dollars for it. If they won't tell you what the codes and the squeal are, don't pay more than $5000. If they can solve both, try for $7000. How's the alignment, treadwear, etc?

Yeah, I was a little :wtc:

on that but chalked it up to a mix of she didn't have an accurate idea of what was going on or the techs were all "oh gently caress, it's a Volvo, run." It's a drat Subaru dealer, so you'd think they could handle some odd poo poo. Personally, I didn't think there was probably anything wrong with the car they shouldn't have been able to figure out...the strange thing is, it hadn't been cleaned yet, so I figured it hadn't been processed at this point.

Anyway, trust me, if I could run it over to an O'Reilly's or NAPA on a test drive and have them run a diagnostic, I would. I figured that'd be sort of a no-no or counterproductive, since a salesperson would have to come with and if they found it was no big thing, I'd get dicked on the price. I suppose without a real mechanic who knows Volvos present, it's hard to say what that squeal would be or what it might cost.

As far as the price goes, I figured $7,900 was pretty low, according to KBB anyway. They have it listed for a bit over $10k, assuming excellent condition of course. Which, given these problems, the car is not.

The AC worked great, which I was thankful for, because it was a good bit above 90 degrees today and 40% humidity. On the plus side, it has heated seats for our lovely North Dakota winters. The tires seem pretty good and there didn't appear to be any odd wear patterns based on a brief inspection.

# ? Aug 21, 2010 01:38

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

That car is in "Fair" condition:

Kelly Blue Book posted:

Some mechanical or cosmetic defects and needs servicing but is still in reasonable running condition.

That's your squeal and CEL in bold. Which knocks $2000 off the KBB private party "Excellent". On Edmunds, it's "Average", and that knocks $1600 off "Outstanding". I'm confused about what the story is with the dealer, do they want $10,000 and you talked them down to $7900, or they want $7900 and are calling it "Excellent"? If they wanted $7900 originally, talk them down with this; if they wanted $10,000, it looks like I was wrong before (because of the year, I think; '05 began the second generation) and $2000 off their asking price might be an alright deal, since KBB thinks it's worth $11,000 in "Excellent" and Edmunds says $10,255 for "Outstanding".

On the other hand, if I was spending this much on a car you can be drat sure I'd have it gone over by a neutral third party before I signed anything. There are some DTCs that will cost you a lot of money. Some are simple dumb poo poo, so post them for us, okay? I think that if the saleswoman says something like "Nah we don't feel like it" then it's not a no-no to say "Well, I'm going to go pay to get it done." Or "Well, since you don't give a gently caress, how about I give one for you?"

See if it shakes over 53mph under a heavy load (step on it going uphill is good).

e: to clarify, DTCs just indicate where to look and what to look for. One for fuel trim might be for a bad injector, maybe air getting into the exhaust, maybe a bad fuel pump, a spark plug, etc. Because they aren't absolutes, the dealer can't gently caress with you over the price because the codes are known; it's a question of finding out what system the codes are talking about so you can decide if you can/want to fix it yourself or not (you can probably handle everything I listed). They will all take at least some work to fix, and that's why the price isn't going up. DTCs are a visual representation of potential labor before and after they're read. If the dealer hasn't done any work on the car, the codes won't stay cleared if you clear them; if they were going to stay cleared, the shop would have etc because etc.

Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Aug 21, 2010

# ? Aug 21, 2010 05:00

Francis Baconator: Jul 11, 2008; Thanks for the avatar man!

Splizwarf posted:

That car is in "Fair" condition:

That's your squeal and CEL in bold. Which knocks $2000 off the KBB private party "Excellent". On Edmunds, it's "Average", and that knocks $1600 off "Outstanding". I'm confused about what the story is with the dealer, do they want $10,000 and you talked them down to $7900, or they want $7900 and are calling it "Excellent"? If they wanted $7900 originally, talk them down with this; if they wanted $10,000, it looks like I was wrong before (because of the year, I think; '05 began the second generation) and $2000 off their asking price might be an alright deal, since KBB thinks it's worth $11,000 in "Excellent" and Edmunds says $10,255 for "Outstanding".

On the other hand, if I was spending this much on a car you can be drat sure I'd have it gone over by a neutral third party before I signed anything. There are some DTCs that will cost you a lot of money. Some are simple dumb poo poo, so post them for us, okay? I think that if the saleswoman says something like "Nah we don't feel like it" then it's not a no-no to say "Well, I'm going to go pay to get it done." Or "Well, since you don't give a gently caress, how about I give one for you?"

See if it shakes over 53mph under a heavy load (step on it going uphill is good).

e: to clarify, DTCs just indicate where to look and what to look for. One for fuel trim might be for a bad injector, maybe air getting into the exhaust, maybe a bad fuel pump, a spark plug, etc. Because they aren't absolutes, the dealer can't gently caress with you over the price because the codes are known; it's a question of finding out what system the codes are talking about so you can decide if you can/want to fix it yourself or not (you can probably handle everything I listed). They will all take at least some work to fix, and that's why the price isn't going up. DTCs are a visual representation of potential labor before and after they're read. If the dealer hasn't done any work on the car, the codes won't stay cleared if you clear them; if they were going to stay cleared, the shop would have etc because etc.

Good points, all of that. From what I can tell, they're essentially selling it as-is for the asking price of $7,900.00. That higher figure I gave is KBB for dealer retail (which assume excellent condition, which this isn't). It would probably be smart to run it over and see what the OBDII at O'Reilly's down the road says.

The hilarious thing is that it seems to be a nice car for a decent price, though maybe it's actually worth less than their asking (probably given since it's a dealer...they don't want to break even). I'd be trading in a known, running car so I could get this and, theoretically, reduce my debt. Thing is, if the repairs for the CEL are nothing, great, but it'd be sort of stupid to lose my shirt over this. I don't know if any remaining warranty is transferrable, but it'd be worth taking it in to a certified dealer if so.

To be honest, if that squeal is a serpentine belt, tensioner or pulley, it could make my life suck. Either way, it was comfortable and nice to drive - I wouldn't mind owning it. Thing is, it would be a lot easier sell to the missus if it didn't need work.

Also, I did briefly take it on highway speeds with myself, the saleslady and my wife, if that counts as a load and it seemed fine. It just held 3rd or 4th gear before shifting as I got up to speed. I'm kind of critical when it comes to automatics in terms of shifting ever since I've been primarily driving manuals.

# ? Aug 21, 2010 06:23

TecNickal: Aug 31, 2007; Gamecock land

Was at at the Pull A Part today and grabbed a power antenna switch out of a early 90's Volvo 940. What I'm trying to do is add this as a switch in my Ford Taurus. The switch appeared to work like the power antenna setup in a Taurus, where if the circuit isn't complete (aka switch off), the antenna is retracted. But if the switch is on, this completes circuit and antenna goes and stays up. I'm trying to add a switch so the antenna doesn't stay up when I'm using the CD changer, or the tape deck.

I'm trying to confirm what the wiring does. The wiring pigtail I grabbed shows two wires coming out of pin 1, and one wire two.

I'm somewhat color blind, but from what I can tell...
Pin 1: Green/Yellow and a lime green wire crimped together (power)
Pin 2: Red/Black (ground)

The light bulb pigtail I grabbed that mounts behind the switch I'm I'm fine with.

Do I have a correct understanding for this switch wiring setup? Thanks!

# ? Aug 22, 2010 03:45

blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

So does oil always glow under a UV light or is that only when the UV dye you put in your coolant gets into the oil...

# ? Aug 22, 2010 04:36

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

blankooie posted:

So does oil always glow under a UV light or is that only when the UV dye you put in your coolant gets into the oil...

Oil does glow under a UV light, have a beer!

This is why finding an A/C leak with dye kinda sucks in a bay with a leaky engine.

# ? Aug 22, 2010 05:16

blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

Splizwarf posted:

Oil does glow under a UV light, have a beer!

This is why finding an A/C leak with dye kinda sucks in a bay with a leaky engine.

I had to go confirm this on another car, and a unopened quart of oil.. :psyduck:

Well, all this means is that I may or may not have coolant in my oil. Oh well, I got to play with a UV light and realize how disgusting my desk is.

# ? Aug 22, 2010 06:43

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.

A tbricker and Volvo Master Tech Patrick on the left and my good buddy and ex-Volvo tech Zach (ZVOLV) on the right.

We lost a day of work because the aftermarket tranny mount a shop put on used a bolt that was .5" too long and made dropping the cross member impossible without using an obscure metric socket. (a 1" socket wouldn't catch on the nut and a 2" socket would hit the cross member itself so we had to find one between that)

We need fuel lines, a new clutch cable, a dipstick tube, and some various gromets and gaskets. After that, it's removing the old wiring harness, re-routing the battery to the front, and splicing in the new engine management system. This should make the car run. After that, it's making the speedo work by swapping out the rear axle assembly and gauge cluster of the same age.

*~PROGRESS~*

# ? Aug 22, 2010 08:39

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

blankooie posted:

I had to go confirm this on another car, and a unopened quart of oil..

Well, all this means is that I may or may not have coolant in my oil. Oh well, I got to play with a UV light and realize how disgusting my desk is.

I learned a goofy trick a while ago: throw a little of your oil on a hot exhaust manifold.

Sizzles? Coolant.
Pops a little flame? Gas.
Smokes? Just oil.

Pull the dipstick while it's running and run your fingers down it to get enough for this test. Obviously, if you only have teeny trace amounts of whichever in your oil, this won't be effective. But then you probably wouldn't have enough data to want to test in the first place.

Why are you worrying, anyway? What's your symptoms?

# ? Aug 22, 2010 10:45

blankooie: Jul 21, 2009

Splizwarf posted:

I learned a goofy trick a while ago: throw a little of your oil on a hot exhaust manifold.

Sizzles? Coolant.
Pops a little flame? Gas.
Smokes? Just oil.

Pull the dipstick while it's running and run your fingers down it to get enough for this test. Obviously, if you only have teeny trace amounts of whichever in your oil, this won't be effective. But then you probably wouldn't have enough data to want to test in the first place.

Why are you worrying, anyway? What's your symptoms?

Coolant is disappearing every once in a while. I'll check the levels and they will stay the same. Then one day I will start the car and get the "COOLANT LOW STOP ENGINE" message. Have been parking it in the garage and havent seen anything on the floor.

# ? Aug 22, 2010 22:02

SUSE Creamcheese: Apr 11, 2007

Xovaan posted:

*~PROGRESS~*

Glad to see that you're finally digging into it.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 02:31

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

82Daion posted:

Glad to see that you're finally digging into it.

I wish you were closer.

Apparently turbobrickers are mostly failures at life and I got lucky by meeting three in my area that are actually awesome. I'll see if I can steal my girlfriend's brother's camera for a few shots of the progress as we collect the parts and I actually get time off of work. drat you, Starbucks, taking up my precious life! :argh:

seriously never loving work at that soul-sucking company

# ? Aug 23, 2010 08:12

XYLOPAGUS: Aug 23, 2006; --the creator of awesome--

So I've been volunteered to help fix a small problem on a 2005 s40 2.4i. There's whining coming from the belt side of the motor. My (uneducated) guess is either the serpentine belt itself or one of the tensioners.

Does a serpentine belt kit come with tensioners? Anyone got any tips on putsing with serpentine setups on these particular cars?

# ? Aug 23, 2010 15:16

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

XYLOPAGUS posted:

So I've been volunteered to help fix a small problem on a 2005 s40 2.4i. There's whining coming from the belt side of the motor. My (uneducated) guess is either the serpentine belt itself or one of the tensioners.

Does a serpentine belt kit come with tensioners? Anyone got any tips on putsing with serpentine setups on these particular cars?

It's pretty simple and easy to gently caress with; everything's right there and there's room for your hands. If you want to raise the engine, pop the mount off on the belts side and put a cherry-picker hook in the lift point on that side. You can get about 3 inches before you need to worry about the underside engine mounts.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 15:21

NOTinuyasha: Oct 17, 2006; The Great Twist

Does anyone else with an 850 have trouble with weird electrical faults in the rain?

Usually after going through a small puddle my dash will light up like a christmas tree and the power steering will fail, but the car still runs fine headlights/radio work fine, after about 5-20 seconds I'll hear squealing for a second, the lights go away and the power steering reengages.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 17:21

LloydDobler: Oct 15, 2005; You shared it with a dick.

XYLOPAGUS posted:

Does a serpentine belt kit come with tensioners? Anyone got any tips on putsing with serpentine setups on these particular cars?

It's easy, the belt does not come with the tensioner, and there's only one. Another way to get room for your hands is to remove the coolant overflow tank. You don't have to drain coolant or disconnect it, you can just lift it up and flip it over above the motor, opening up a ton of hand room. Depending on the year.

NOTinuyasha posted:

Does anyone else with an 850 have trouble with weird electrical faults in the rain?

Usually after going through a small puddle my dash will light up like a christmas tree and the power steering will fail, but the car still runs fine headlights/radio work fine, after about 5-20 seconds I'll hear squealing for a second, the lights go away and the power steering reengages.

Your belt's getting wet and slipping, so your alternator is shutting down as well as the power steering.

Get a new serpentine belt and tensioner. Also get whatever air guides under your bumper are missing and bolt them back on. They help air flow and keep the engine clean, and also protect your serp belt.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 18:04

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

I was amazed when I found out 740s were supposed to have a belly pan. Like finding out they originally shipped with a unicorn in the passenger seat.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 18:36

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

240's also. 99.9% of them broke off the first time it got below 20 degrees and you hit slush higher than 4" off the ground.

And then they immediately lose their ability to drive through puddles of any depth without spluttering and losing spark.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 19:08

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Well my (99 diesel V70) fuel economy worries were unfounded, without trying & no trip computer, 48mpg Euro, I think that's 40 US? That'll do.

# ? Aug 23, 2010 21:24

the poi: Oct 24, 2004; turbo volvo, wooooo!; Grimey Drawer

blankooie posted:

Coolant is disappearing every once in a while. I'll check the levels and they will stay the same. Then one day I will start the car and get the "COOLANT LOW STOP ENGINE" message. Have been parking it in the garage and havent seen anything on the floor.

Most likely a bad coolant reservoir cap. If it doesn't hold pressure properly, coolant just leaks out of it as vapor, and so your level slowly goes down. Technically will happen with a properly operating cap, it'll just take a really long time.

NOTinuyasha posted:

Does anyone else with an 850 have trouble with weird electrical faults in the rain?

Usually after going through a small puddle my dash will light up like a christmas tree and the power steering will fail, but the car still runs fine headlights/radio work fine, after about 5-20 seconds I'll hear squealing for a second, the lights go away and the power steering reengages.

As above, put your splash pan back on! (and okay maybe it needs a new belt too)

# ? Aug 23, 2010 22:01

NOTinuyasha: Oct 17, 2006; The Great Twist

LloydDobler posted:

Your belt's getting wet and slipping, so your alternator is shutting down as well as the power steering.

Get a new serpentine belt and tensioner. Also get whatever air guides under your bumper are missing and bolt them back on. They help air flow and keep the engine clean, and also protect your serp belt.

Ugh I don't want to do this but whatever. The P.O. kept good service records and the serp belt was replaced like 100k ago so I guess it's due. The air guide should be super cheap to have installed. How can I tell it's gone?

# ? Aug 26, 2010 07:17

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

NOTinuyasha posted:

The air guide should be super cheap to have installed. How can I tell it's gone?

If you open the hood and see the road, it's missing.

# ? Aug 26, 2010 08:20

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

Crossposting from t-bricks:

God I wonder what that poo poo sounds like

# ? Aug 26, 2010 08:49

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

So my '85 240 has developed an interesting habit, it happens maybe once every 20 times I start the car cold, but it will crank and crank with no fuel or even a 'nearly there' cough...

And then if I push the car (in neutral) forward 6 inches, it will start immediately. It seems like if it's really hot out (cold engine though) it tends to need this more often than if it's in the 70's, but it's not that definitive a trend really.

This "fix" seemed like a coincidence the first couple times, but it's become my method for solving this. I can't see anything else wrong with the ignition, and the "won't start" problem happens so rarely I'm really a bit puzzled what the underlying issue might be.

I replaced the starter maybe 5 years (5k miles) ago, and the rotor/distributor cap are a year or two old, and like I said - maybe 19 times out of 20 the thing fires up on the first crank with no problems at all.

I'm still not sold this isn't a random coincidence designed to make me go insane, but does anyone have a rational explanation as to what might be happening here? (Car definitely in neutral, so I don't think the flywheel/starter motor would be revolving at all but...?)

# ? Aug 26, 2010 22:33

LloydDobler: Oct 15, 2005; You shared it with a dick.

Next time you're about to push the car, just sit and wait for the same amount of time, and then try starting again. It might just be the wait that makes it work. In which case it's probably a weak fuel pump or something along those lines.

# ? Aug 26, 2010 22:49

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

Yeah, this car has had fuel delivery issues in the past but I thought I'd gotten them all sorted over the years... I'll definitely try the waiting the same amount of time rather than pushing next chance I get, because random waits have fixed this 240's fuel issues in past problems, but the timeline for the instance when I kind of connected the two seemingly unrelated events went:

1) Wife tries to start the car at 2pm, failure.
2) Wife tries again at 4:30pm, still nothing.
3) I leave work early to come move my stupid car so it doesn't get a ticket on the next day, which is street-cleaning day, try it immediately upon reaching my house - fail.
4) 10 minutes later I come back out in clothes suitable to push the drat thing across the street and/or poke at things in the engine bay, pop the hood, check that everything's attached and looking normal, try it again and still no go.
5) Begin to push the car in a fashion such as to turn it around and move it to the other side of the street, move it 6 inches, suddenly remember I'm old and jesus this is more work than it looks, might as well try it again -- Success on first crank!

And it's done it again maybe 3 times like this, of course I don't immediately push it to begin with because that solution while cute, makes no sense, but last night I skipped from the end of step 3 to pushing it first and boom, ignition.

So I do imagine that there's a fuel pump or line issue involved here somewhere, but the whole retarded "fix" makes me very puzzled.

# ? Aug 27, 2010 00:17

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

Here's a goofy idea: instead of pushing it forward or backwards next time, rock it side to side. It'll slosh the tank but won't move anything in the drivetrain. Also try bumping your relay tray.

# ? Aug 27, 2010 02:28

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

How much of a difference does it make between widths of wheels for handling and grip to the road? 15x7", 16x8", etc.

# ? Aug 30, 2010 22:17

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

Not much - the key factor for handling of course is the width of the contact patch of the tire, not the width of the wheel. I mean, obviously you can eventually get wider tires onto wider wheels, but a 225 on a 15x7 is going to feel pretty much the same as a 225 on a 15x8 wheel, or whatever.

You'll find a lot more noticeable improvement by just going with a slightly larger diameter than stock and a shorter/stiffer sidewall. I run 205/15/50's on mine, and it dramatically improves the road feel and responsiveness over the stock size/profiles. I've had that size on my 240 since about 1992 with good results.

Warning: Monster Truck Syndrome can occur! Hello fender gap!

# ? Aug 30, 2010 23:22

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

Thanks for the clarification of that! I'm guessing the "15" in 205/15/50 is the diameter and the 50 is the height of the tire from the ground to the rim? Second question:

What are some nice wheels under a grand for my 240? Right now I'm running 15" Virgo rims but the back wheels are hella sunk and it looks terrible

# ? Aug 30, 2010 23:42

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

Yep - 205 is the section width of the tire in millimeters, 15 is the diameter of the wheel in inches (hurrah consistency) and 50 is the percentage of the tire width in sidewall height.

(So, 50% of the widest portion of the tire would measure out to be the same sidewall height of these tires.)

205/50R/15 is how it would be listed on the tire - the R denotes they're Radial tires, you will hardly ever see anything aside from R or occasionally D (Diagonally plied - rarely seen on spare tires or some light trucks.) B means Belted and you will pretty much never see those any more.

As for wheel offset/fitment, Lloyd would probably have better answers. I've been running the same set of American Racing Equipment wheels on my progression of 240's since the mid 90's...

Virgos are from the 740 era, yeah? I remember at one point 240 people were using spacers on FWD wheels to avoid that deep set rear wheel look (back when there were hardly any aftermarket options available), but I guess if the wheels were initially meant for RWD offset anyway, spacers are just a bandaid rather than a solution.

I think a slight lip (1" to 1.5" maybe?) certainly helps alleviate that overly deepset rear wheel look.

# ? Aug 31, 2010 00:09

stash: Apr 18, 2007; It's not what you think...; Pillbug

Ether Frenzy posted:

Virgos are from the 740 era, yeah? I remember at one point 240 people were using spacers on FWD wheels to avoid that deep set rear wheel look (back when there were hardly any aftermarket options available), but I guess if the wheels were initially meant for RWD offset anyway, spacers are just a bandaid rather than a solution.

Virgos are the stock 240 turbo wheels. They are 15x6. Dracos are similar looking but have more clearance for the brake calipers, they are stock from 740T and I think they are also 15x6. There were two styles of mesh-type BBS-looking wheels, one available on the 240 SE, which look good. I think they are also 15x6 but I seem to remember one type being 15x7. The Hydra wheels off the 740/940T look pretty good to me on a 240, but some people disagree. They are 16x6.5 and should be widely available. If it was me, I would be looking for used wheels as it seems silly to spend $1000 on brand new wheels for a 20 year old car unless it's a major build-up.

For $1000 I'd think you could find a set of used Volvo Polaris wheels, they are super hot with a super deep dish and IIRC 17x7. Eiker makes, or made, a replica in 17x7.5. For aftermarket I also like the Mille Miglia MM11+, which you could probably still find (used) and are 16x7.

Here are the MM's on a 740T:

Click here for the full 864x648 wheel porn.

# ? Aug 31, 2010 07:46

Splizwarf: Jun 15, 2007; It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

Does anyone have a link to the grand list of Volvo wheels with pictures and names?

A lot of tire/wheel websites have a little of the list, none of them the whole.

# ? Aug 31, 2010 18:35

Knot My President!: Jan 10, 2005

stash posted:

Virgos are the stock 240 turbo wheels. They are 15x6. Dracos are similar looking but have more clearance for the brake calipers, they are stock from 740T and I think they are also 15x6. There were two styles of mesh-type BBS-looking wheels, one available on the 240 SE, which look good. I think they are also 15x6 but I seem to remember one type being 15x7. The Hydra wheels off the 740/940T look pretty good to me on a 240, but some people disagree. They are 16x6.5 and should be widely available. If it was me, I would be looking for used wheels as it seems silly to spend $1000 on brand new wheels for a 20 year old car unless it's a major build-up.

For $1000 I'd think you could find a set of used Volvo Polaris wheels, they are super hot with a super deep dish and IIRC 17x7. Eiker makes, or made, a replica in 17x7.5. For aftermarket I also like the Mille Miglia MM11+, which you could probably still find (used) and are 16x7.

Here are the MM's on a 740T:

Click here for the full 864x648 wheel porn.

I don't mind if they're used or not but that price typically is what people pay for decent used wheels + spacers/adapters.

First things first is getting this engine in my car though. Work! :argh:

# ? Aug 31, 2010 22:03

Ether Frenzy: Dec 22, 2006; Nap Ghost

stash posted:

Virgos are the stock 240 turbo wheels.

Ahh, right. We didn't have the internet the last time (early 90's) I considered those as an option, and I guess as a result we never had the proper name for them -- we always called them the "GT Wheels" when talking about them back then.

There were almost no options for aftermarket then, you'd have to go to the tire store and have a look through their catalog, then you'd order something that allegedly fit your bolt pattern and 3 weeks later they'd show up and look totally different from the picture. And they cost like $120 each!!

I ended up with a set of American Racing 5-stars that are very similar to the Mille Miglia there - just a slightly wider blade on the points. They turned out to work perfectly with my parade of black 240's over the years and I've just kept moving them from car to car.

e: I'm not as old as this post makes me sound, haha.

Ether Frenzy fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Sep 1, 2010

# ? Aug 31, 2010 22:19

mikerock: Oct 29, 2005

I want to do the brakes on my 97 850 AWD and I would like to know the parts and part numbers I'll need. Thanks!

# ? Sep 3, 2010 23:16

TheJeffers: Jan 31, 2007

mikerock posted:

I want to do the brakes on my 97 850 AWD and I would like to know the parts and part numbers I'll need. Thanks!

If all you're looking to do is replace your pads and rotors, just hop over to fcpgroton.com, enter your car's details, and go to the "Brake System" section. Everything you need should be in there.

# ? Sep 3, 2010 23:52

mikerock: Oct 29, 2005

TheJeffers posted:

If all you're looking to do is replace your pads and rotors, just hop over to fcpgroton.com, enter your car's details, and go to the "Brake System" section. Everything you need should be in there.

Just what I was looking for, thanks. Volvospeed has the part number for the pads but not the rotors.

# ? Sep 4, 2010 06:28

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# ? May 27, 2024 17:33

Sviatoslav: Feb 9, 2010

mikerock posted:

Just what I was looking for, thanks. Volvospeed has the part number for the pads but not the rotors.

There's your problem.

# ? Sep 4, 2010 17:24

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