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Just have to throw out some Volvo love... I currently own an 86 240 dl wagon that my parents bought new when I was 4 years old. It does need some work, and currently (for the past 3 years) only gets driven about once every month or two. Oddly enough, I use it for long haul trips (Eugene Oregon to Seattle or San Fran ) but it still gets 30 mpg, original engine and tranny, only had one clutch replacement, has only ever burned out one headlight (though we replaced both) and the center brake light burnt out once. All other marker lights are original 24 year old bulbs. Myself and my brother learned how to drive in this car, and it currently is sitting at 318k miles. Holy poo poo. My work car is a Toyota matrix (2003) and it has a little over 200k on it and is always breaking.
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Apr 16, 2010 09:31
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I figured I would share a bit about my 240 that refuses to die. It's a1986 DL wagon, manual with the fun little overdrive button. My parents bought it new when I was between 3 and 4 years old, now 31. I learned how to drive on this car. My parents drove it until 2007 when they bought a honda element (I guess they love boxy cars). It currently has 338,000 miles on it (original engine). It lives in Oregon with me, and has made multiple trips to Canada, Seattle, LA, and even multiple trips to San Francisco sine I got it, after it had already turned 300k. About a year ago, I changed the transmission fluid over to chevron full synthetic 10W30 motor oil. Gas milage went up, shifts smoother, no leaks, very happy with that. I know that is not smart, just in case there was a problem with seals or anything. The way I saw it, the car is not my daily driver, so I had nothing to lose anyway. I also switched to a synthetic blend on the engine and it has been happy with that as well. Since, as stated, it is not my daily driver...I started having fun with it recently. I replaced the front turn/parking lenses (they were the originals and were horribly cracked) and installed LED SMD bulbs. Looks crisp and also stupid at the same time with the blinkers. I have no delusions that this is making the car look cool. I am sure someone has driven by me and shaken their head at an intersection when I am turning. But it makes me happy. I also utilized the top "fog lights" in the rear and integrated them in to my brake lights. Now there is no question if I am hitting my brakes or not.  I also recently decided to do an audio upgrade. I kind of feel like I am in High School again.     Next things happening are going to be timing belt, new brakes and braided brake lines. After that, I may actually start doing some fun stuff, like new wheels, shocks, paint (there is no rust on the car and one small dent in back, so no real restoration needed, thank my dad for being insane)
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Oct 15, 2013 18:34
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LloydDobler posted:Buy or build a rear cargo cover or someone's gonna steal that subwoofer for meth before Thanksgiving. Luckily, the car is garaged and it sometimes gets driven to work (I work at a dealership and park in back with security and cameras) and is used for camping trips. That's about it. Never take it anywhere that break ins are a worry any more. Otherwise I would not have done it for that exact reason.
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Oct 15, 2013 21:03
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Nystral posted:I miss my 240 because of those little drat oreo looking ac vent controls. When I was a kid I tried to pull them out so I could eat them. When I was an adult I bought more oreos when driving that drat thing then at any other time in my life. I always thought that as a kid too, I also thought the seatbelt light for the back seats was a stick man carrying a broken umbrella.
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Oct 16, 2013 02:18
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Opensourcepirate posted:Out of curiosity, what gave you the idea to use motor oil instead of gear oil? I had read up on it several different times on several forums (turbobricks) and also seen an article somewhere by a Volvo mechanic. They had pointed out that recently (within the past few years) synthetic oils have gone up in quality and that specifically on the 240 manual transmission, it would work better than the transmission fluid recommended by Volvo. It helped keep temps down, was physically a little thicker so reduced wear and tear and also helped synchros engage. The downside was that if there was a leak anywhere that was being plugged by sediment, the synthetic oil would probably clean it out and suddenly you have problems. Same for random junk in the transmission. Luckily, no such issues for me, but it is usually only something you should do if your transmission is already being rebuilt, not something you should do on a 300k+ mile transmission without a thorough inspection. I'm just a rebel.
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Oct 16, 2013 09:31
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