Quote:
Originally Posted by russwinchester
So I've not had the most successful weekend of Volvoing...
Regarding the oil in coolant mystery, I bypassed the engine oil cooler (easy to type but a pig of a job with rusted jubilee clips and barely any access), ran the engine and no sign of oil leaking from the cooler. So my oil must be coming from somewhere else. ATF cooler leak?
I've also cleaned the crud out of the expansion tank just in case it was emulsifying.
Regarding the alternator charging (or not charging) I tried the revving method, didn't work unfortunately, nor did giving the alternator a good earth.
One observation, of the two belts for the alternator, one is seemingly more slack. Would this affect anything at all?
Final question, as I've focused on some things I can easily do! I'm missing most of the protective caps for the headlamp wipers stops, I have to assume these are NLA....any ideas?
Any advice or encouragement would be appreciated...
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On the good side Russ, you've eliminated the engine oil cooler as a possible cause. It has crossed my mind someone may have put oil in the expansion tank by mistake and that is making its way out now but that might be too much to hope for!
As for the ATF leaking into the coolant via the radiator, almost impossible. The cooling system is pressurised at ~16.5psi minimum so if there was a leak on the heat exchanger on the rad, it would leak coolant into the gearbox. Have a look at this post on my thread about converting it to a separate radiator and ATF cooler :
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...92#post2777592
With the alternator, do you still get those warning lights on dimly once it's been running a while? Also when you did the revving test, did the battery voltage come up after or stay ~12V?
With the belts, have you physically checked their tension is the same on each or are you saying they look different when the engine is running? Quite often even matched belts fitted at the same time can give the impression that one is more slack than the other. It could be one belt failed so a new one was fitted on its own (not advisable, if one goes, renew both!) but i strongly suspect what you're seeing is an optical illusion.
I think you need to do a couple more tests on the alternator and perhaps remove it, first test would be to find the warning light wire on the back of it. This will be the thin red wire going to the D+ terminal which should be a round M5 post terminal with a nut securing the wire and its terminal.
You'll need an 8mm socket/spanner to remove it. Connect this with a jumper wire to earth (after disconnecting it from the alternator) and switch the ignition on to position 2 - you should have the charge warning light and the rest of the ones that come on with it shinging brightly.
If so, clean the ring terminal to ensure a good connection and refit then test - that may be all it needs. If they only glow dimly, it sounds like you may have an instrument cluster fault. If you can solder and have a soldering iron with a small bit, you can probably fix this.
If the warning lights lit brightly when the field/D+ wire was earthed but still don't light with the wire reconnected to the alternator, the alternator will have to come off. Once off, remove the two screws holding the voltage regulator in and tip it away from the back of the unit. Look inside the hole it comes from and see what condition the slip rings are in - both should be continuous copper but are likely to be dirty. It's fiddly to do it this way but safer than trying to strip the unit, get some enery tape (NOT sandpaper!
) and put it on the end of your finger and push it onto each slip ring in turn while rotating the pulley to clean the slip rings. Once both are clean, also clean the end of the brushes.
Refit the regulator by holding it at an angle so the brushes enter first, line them up with the slip rings then push the regulator fully into place and refit the screws.
If you have a small test lamp about 3W, you can test it before refitting by connecting the alternator body to battery -ve, the croc clip of the test lamp on the D+ terminal and then touch the other end of the test lamp onto battery +ve - if it lights, you've got the circuit complete again so it should (in theory at least if the lamps lit brightly when you earthed the field/D+ wire) work when refitted to the car.
If the slip rings are worn so you can see the plastic through them, then you're into specialised knowledge to replace the slip rings and need a big (~100+W) soldering iron. Probably best to consider a secondhand or recon unit at this point.
See how you get on and let me know how it goes.
