Any Advice, Part 2!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bugjam1999

Hmmm, I don’t think it’d make any difference- it’s just key to make sure it’s done periodically.

Cheers

The BofH does say to tension the belt with the timing marks lined up, but that is for the first adjustment after fitting a new one, when everything is apart. I’m with you though, I can’t see that it would make any difference to the belt. A 4 cylinder motor will tend to stop at either 90 or 270 degrees - and by definition the pressure on the crank will be least at that point, so the cam belt won’t have any net torque acting on it.

That was a long winded way of saying it won’t make and difference if the motor is at TDC or not.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bob Meadows

Are the steering ball joints free & associated parts?

I have done a power steering fluid change some time back on a 240 (brief details already submitted) Turkey baster rather than trying to drain- I had been very surprised at the difference it made after replacing tied fluid etc.
It was never really bad but the change improved it further.
Hope it helps.
Bob.

I agree Bob. I have done two partial ATF changes on the RB’s steering and it is a little better (but it was pretty good to start with).

It is probably worth Chris doing it as it will only cost a couple of quid, but it sounds like something else is probably wrong on one side only.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Chris152

Thanks Bugjam, I had no idea so we'll be doing that.

Today I had the timing belt done on my VW at the independent Volvo garage I've used the last 14 years - worked out rather more expensive than the one we did yesterday. I proudly told the owner how we'd managed the task in under 4 hours, and he smiled. He's a quiet, modest man, which made his response all the more shocking to me - apparently, he used to be able to do them on a 240 in about 10 minutes, assuming all the tools were laid out ready at the start. He even listed off the top of the head all the socket sizes needed for each part. From many I'd think it just bravado, but I believe him - he started working when 240s were common in their workshop, and reckoned he'd done several hundred over the years. 10 minutes/ 4 hours!

Chris, I just had a rather cynical and uncharitable thought that your garage mate has never charged anyone for just 10 minutes labour when he changed the cam belt on their Volvo 240.

:-)

Alan

[Chris152]

Originally Posted by Othen

Chris, I just had a rather cynical and uncharitable thought that your garage mate has never charged anyone for just 10 minutes labour when he changed the cam belt on their Volvo 240.

:-)

Alan

Yep, I saw the opportunity and pointed out that in future I'd ask how long he thought it'd take him to do any job on the car and that's what I'd pay him. :-)

We'll be looking into that ball joint tomorrow. No idea what it is even at the moment, but sounds like a real possibility...

[Chris152]

Is this the part that we're looking to check?

Eta - If so, I've just had a look at them, the one that the Mot called attention to is the one with the more collapsed rubber.

If I get the front of the car on stands and try to turn the wheels left and right without the engine running, might that tell me anything helpful about the effort needed to turn right?

That said, if the offside joint is indeed causing resistance when turning right, wouldn't it do the same when turning left - which isn't happening?

UPDATE! Just took it for a quick drive around and about, doing 3-point turns wherever I could and it definitely feels better - not immediately (on our driveway) but once I'd gone 400 yards I did some turns and it was definitely lighter turning right. Maybe it's the universal joints as you suggested, Bugjam. I'll keep giving it a spray a day, maybe it'll loosen still more.

[Stephen Edwin]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

Is my memory right Bugjam. Has it been said recently and if so it sounds likely to be right, that the re-tensioning should be done with the engine at TDC, probably number one at TDC? That is the engine position for fitting and tensioning the belt so it makes a tad of sense for re-tensioning.


.

Originally Posted by Bugjam1999

Hmmm, I don’t think it’d make any difference- it’s just key to make sure it’s done periodically.

Cheers

Thanks Bugjam.

My grasp is it is fundamentally key to do it at about 600 miles. And periodically is not a bad idea init.

I did not imagine the recent discussion but I cannot find it by searching. So far as I recall it was of the esoteric or pedantic nature (did I say that) exemplified by The Royal Czar's comments above but with the opposite conclusion. On this occasion, I agree with Othen. (washing my mouth out ... )

Cheers Bugjam.

Comrade Stephen Edwin




.

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Chris152

Thanks Bugjam, I had no idea so we'll be doing that.

Today I had the timing belt done on my VW at the independent Volvo garage I've used the last 14 years - worked out rather more expensive than the one we did yesterday. I proudly told the owner how we'd managed the task in under 4 hours, and he smiled. He's a quiet, modest man, which made his response all the more shocking to me - apparently, he used to be able to do them on a 240 in about 10 minutes, assuming all the tools were laid out ready at the start. He even listed off the top of the head all the socket sizes needed for each part. From many I'd think it just bravado, but I believe him - he started working when 240s were common in their workshop, and reckoned he'd done several hundred over the years. 10 minutes/ 4 hours!

Something I noticed about the power steering - it works nice and light to the left even when hardly moving, but turning right is when it's heavy - any ideas what might cause that?

Someone reckoned it could be done in twenty minutes; on the early (B21/B23) engines it is really simple but the later (B200/B230) units it's more involved. 10 minutes is really impressive though - I wonder what his labour charge was? And how long it took him the first time?

[Stephen Edwin]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Someone reckoned it could be done in twenty minutes; on the early (B21/B23) engines it is really simple but the later (B200/B230) units it's more involved. 10 minutes is really impressive though - I wonder what his labour charge was? And how long it took him the first time?

There is an old thread where Mike Brace did a very quick cambelt change, at the roadside.




Roadside emergency techniques if I remember correctly.


.

[Stephen Edwin]

Aha yes.

17.41 Cam belt fails > 18.20 continue journey

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...hlight=cambelt


and I guess that included time to cook and serve a full Anglesey tea ...



.

[Chris152]

Reading around the site, I found this by honestjoe who had replaced the steering rack on his 240:
'I think its just air in the system, it improves over time..turning left is good turning right hard..' here: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...ng+rack&page=2
Sounds the same as ours, but unfortunately the thread doesn't go so far as to say if replacing/ bleeding the power steering fluid sorted that problem.
Reading elsewhere on the net, the steering rack (non-functioning valves?) seems to get identified often as the source of heavy steering in one direction only. So maybe that's where we'll end up.
In the meantime, the last MoT identified the suspension component ball joint dust cover O/S which I photographed above as needing sorting asap;
and in need of monitoring were steering rack inner joints (some play); and track rod end ball joint O/S, slight play.
We'll do all these, starting with the suspension component ball joint.
We'll also try the turkey baster method of refreshing power steering fluid, just in case.

Two questions:
1. Can we use any brand of power steering fluid? Are they all the same/ mix ok?
2. If it comes to the worst case and it's the steering rack, do we need to replace the whole thing or just the 'steering gear'?

Thanks for any advice.