340 advice needed

[lyron]

lynda and i have had 1.4 and 1.7 had no trouble with any 340s we have had. they were well maintained and gave us no problems at all. as suggested go on to 300 mania, a lot of knowlageable folks on there if you are not sure what you are looking for or at take someone who knows these cars a lot of hidden nastys where you cant see if you do not know where to look. go for the best you can afford and you should have few problems, good luck with your search.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Joe Harding

Nice to hear your endorsement. But please tell me, what are the symptoms of propshaft failure (or impending failure?)

Cheers

Its the long tube that takes power to the wheels like under a lorry.

On mine you smelt a little burning as you were driving along - and then the next minute you werent driving along !!

On mine it was the rubber bits. Bit of a poor design I suppose although the car was well used and not looked after so others prob would not suffer!

[Joe Harding]

Thanks for this. I noticed on the Heinz manual about various checks to be made to the torque tube, e.g. splines etc. I have never bothered for the reason that it can't be adjusted so I leave it alone rather than risk damaging it.

[Chris_C]

From my experience, the rubber failing on the propshaft is a symptom of a different problem, i.e. something is out of line.

It's been a long time since I properly updated my cars build thread on this forum (I really should) but I had the rubber go on mine last Novemberish, no sign before hand then just lost drive. Thats on a 230,000 ish mile car, the rubber was soft.

I replaced the prob with one from a 15,000mile car which has noticable harder rubber and within 3 weeks she did


Turns out my engine mounts were allowing the tail of the engine to flex (mounted a laser pointed on the output shaft to prove this), old soft rubber dealt with that for a long time, new rubber on the prop but not engine mounts just moved the hinge point to the ali casting.

More pics and stuff about what's been going on here, been meaning to add pics of my new engine mounts too.
http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-u...5953&start=345

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Chris_C

From my experience, the rubber failing on the propshaft is a symptom of a different problem, i.e. something is out of line.

It's been a long time since I properly updated my cars build thread on this forum (I really should) but I had the rubber go on mine last Novemberish, no sign before hand then just lost drive. Thats on a 230,000 ish mile car, the rubber was soft.

I replaced the prob with one from a 15,000mile car which has noticable harder rubber and within 3 weeks she did


Turns out my engine mounts were allowing the tail of the engine to flex (mounted a laser pointed on the output shaft to prove this), old soft rubber dealt with that for a long time, new rubber on the prop but not engine mounts just moved the hinge point to the ali casting.

More pics and stuff about what's been going on here, been meaning to add pics of my new engine mounts too.
http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-u...5953&start=345

Thanks for that write up Chris.

I always wondered why they kept failing. Maybe something was out of line as you say. The car was hard used though with lots of miles.

Interestingly my car where the props kept going was rear ended twice.Once by a bus and second by a car - no major damage just a squashed bumper and a bit dented behind that.

Crikes it was 25 years ago - time flies

Regards

[Chris_C]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

Interestingly my car where the props kept going was rear ended twice.Once by a bus and second by a car - no major damage just a squashed bumper and a bit dented behind that.

Makes you wonder... that bit just behind the bumper is where the gearbox is mounted (well, it's on the boot floor so to speak) so that could easily have caused a misalignment.