In messages here, someone said, "oh hope you didnt get the automaitic..."
Now as to whether they meant in relation to the D24 Diesel engine in combination, or that the BW55 Auto Trans had difficulties, I really dont know.

How about some feedback on the BW55 Auto Tranny that came in a whole bunch of 240's??
Mine? Only had it a couple months and it seems to shift ok. Might have a seep leak or two, but that will be fixed I think when I put an ATP Kit in it when we do the change over of conventional trans fluid to Synthetic. Right now I am thinking PURPLE, but MOBIL will do. Also, when I have some slack in the budget I will put a filter in the auto trans fluid cooler lines.
Since I am planning to do some towing I will be putting an extra trans cooler in it, BUT it will have an H valve in it, for a winter cut off, as temps here in Alaska can easily be -100 F with wind chill and cause super cooling of trans and engine fluids, which is UNDESIRABLE.
Thanks for some feedback............
Nick

it has a trans cooler; you don't need another; you can tow 3300 pounds with this car all day and it will work well.

you don't need synthetic oil unless it makes you feel better - the car doesn't care; millions of these run on original factory oil. You might as well give prime rib to a dog if you want warm and fuzzy feelings.

machinery does not know about windchill; ambient temperature is the only metric that is important.
--
Stef (81 245 B21A SU M46 3.91) 327000km - in the garage for the winter, 81 244 BW55 3.31 on the road)

If you plan to drop the pan and change the filter, be careful, there is at least a cup of ATF above the filter that will come splashing out!
The in line filter is not necessary if you flush the ATF every 20K miles. It does make it necessary to change the filter every 25K miles or at every flush.
I wouldn't bother with synthetic unless you anticipate a lot of hill climbing and clutch slipping.
From the warm state of Minnesota,
Klaus
--
(V♂LV♂s 1975 164, 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

Well I must say, I think we have a few slopes, both up and down to traverse.
The ALCAN can be a bit taxing, although once you hit Grande Praire, its flatter.
The other thing is I hope to be towing a small trailer, pop-up or hardsider.

The auxiliary automatic transmission fluid cooler comes with a thermostat bypass (I've got these on three of my 240's, because I tow my boats with them).

One thing -- about "wind chill" -- a common misconception (which I cover in my physiology lectures). In reality, it will not make your car (or any part of it, including fluids) colder than the ambient, "still-air", temperature. That is, if the still air temperature is a mere -20 deg F, that's as cold as your car will get, even with a lower wind-chill temperature of, e.g., -100 deg F.

Actually, wind chill is not a measure of temperature at all, nor of how cold an object can eventually get when exposed to it -- rather, it is only a measure of how fast an object will cool off, or in other words, a measure of a rate of cooling. Let me explain...

Being warm-blooded, with temperature above ambient, wind-chill effects are significant to the human body (and those of other terrestrial mammals). And being warm-blooded, such mammals cannot allow their tissues to cool faster than their blood can warm it, or else the tissues will die. But the numbers or scale used for wind chill is spoken of as if it was a temperature, and as a result is often misunderstood by the public.

Wind Chill was developed by a scientist, commissioned by the military, to study (and help predict) injury (e.g., frostbite) from extreme cold. The numbers that were developed in this research are actually units for comparison to still air, based on the rate of cooling of, and therefore the induction of injury to, exposed parts of the body (viz., frostbite, etc.).

What wind chill numbers ("degrees") really mean is this, literally: a given wind chill number, e.g., -100 deg F, is going to produce the same effect (i.e., the same rate of cooling, and therefore tissue damage) as when an object (or body part) is sitting in still air at that same temperature. However, the distinction is this -- if the wind chill temperature is due to a combination of warmer air temperature, e.g., -20 deg F, and some wind velocity, the object (or body tissue) exposed will indeed cool off as fast as if exposed to -100 in still air, but will *stop* cooling any further after reaching -20 deg. There, it will reach an equilibrium with its surrounding air's temperature, and cool off no further. Thus, wind chill doesn't tell us how cold an object will eventually cool to -- only how fast it will cool.

Example: An object will cool faster in a combination of wind and 20 deg air (e.g., a -100 deg wind chill) than in a combination of 20 deg air and no wind, but will not get any colder than 20 deg. ever.

Your car and it's parts, fluids, etc., not being a warm-blooded creature, is not effected by wind chill (except that your radiator will cool your coolant much faster :-). So when selecting lubricants and such, you only need to plan for the lowest ambient air temperatures, not for lowest wind chill temperatures -- your car can't suffer the effects of this, like the tissues of a mammal can, because it isn't try to rewarm them.

[Hmmm, I just thought of one exception. The passenger compartment of your car will suffer wind chill! It's trying to keep your compartment warm with your car's heater, while wind chill is causing a greater loss of cabin heat, cooling your cabin, as the air passes over the roof, sides and windows of your cabin.]

Only when a mammal is trying to counter the cooling effects of wind chill, by warming exposed tissues with warmer blood (and risking losing body heat too fast as a result) is wind chill an issue. It's not about inanimate objects.

Have fun, and happy holidays. Oh, and best of luck with your new diesel car!

I should probably leave this one alone, but my discretion is slipping today. Physiology lecture? This description sounds more like the physics lecture -- i.e., you're describing the increased rate of cooling due to a higher temperature gradient at the surface of the object being cooled. Mammals have another factor to deal with, and that is the "moisture gradient:" besides the nearby warm air being carried off by the wind, moisture is carried off as well, making the water vapor gradient steeper than it would be in still air. The significance of that is in the heat of evaporation, which we experience as the cooling effect of wind when we sweat and why we fan ourselves to cool off. The steeper the water vapor gradient, the quicker water at the surface will evaporate, thereby accelerating the cooling. That's why we can stay cooler than our surroundings on a hot day, and why we can get colder on a cold day. Of course your 240 won't have to worry about that unless you're spraying it with a garden hose, but in that case, it would quickly be encased in a layer of ice which would protect it from the wind. Tends not to be so helpful for us, however.
Thank you for your tolerance and I'll try to re-engage my discretion now ....

--
'81 GLT 245 @ 259K; '83 DL 175K

Actually, a *lot* of physiology is based on 'physics' principles. In fact, I always advise serious physiology majors to take a good physics course as early in their career as possible, because a lot of what I and my colleagues cover requires an understanding from that other science.

But moving on, about your evaporative effects, while your points are valid in general, they're less of a concern in situations of extreme low temperatures. In such conditions, not only is blood flow to surface areas of the body curtailed, but the glands that produce water-type perspiration, as well as oils, virtually stop functioning -- skin becomes quite dry.

The original team developing the wind chill effect found that using models (containers of water with dry surfaces) were a good replica of what they observed in their volunteer test subjects.

When the Great White North went metric, the Gov't weather people started feeding the radio stations the wind chill data in "Watts per square meter" which is technically correct and conforms to SI (metric) standards. A public revolt pretty much ensued, as nobody could relate that to how you would 'feel'. So we're back to temperature indication, which is misleading in terms of what the thermometer actually says (and how thick your oil gets overnight), but we can understand it from the tactile standpoint.

(+7C here this AM, the first official day of winter, and I walked the dog wearing just a light jacket - me, not the dog. Love those Chinooks.)

The stock transmission 'cooler' in your car is a little heat exchanger in the outlet tank of the radiator. It doesn't have a lot of capacity, and in hot weather and with the engine working hard, has potential to overload the cooling system while not preventing overheated trans fluid.

Trailering in warm weather strongly suggests the need for an auxiliary trans cooler. Plumb this into the line coming from the trans to the radiator.
--
Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F/M46, dtr's 83-244DL B23F/M46, my 94-944 B230FD; hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)

re: "...Plumb this into the line coming from the trans to the radiator...."

It makes some sense this way, I admit -- cools the ATF before adding its heat load to the engine's coolant in the radiator.
However, another thing to consider is that, in the way you suggest, since the ATF leaves the engine's radiator last, it will never be cooled below the engine coolant's temperature, so that sets a floor on how cool the ATF will drop.

In any case, the instructions that come with the Volvo transmission cooler kit specifically designates inserting the kit into the upper line, which is the return (to the transmission) -- so the Cooler is meant to be inserted after the engine's radiator.
In fact, it cannot be installed with the thermostat coupling any other way, since the thermostat might not even work properly having the fluid flow the opposite way (although I'm not sure, as I've never tested it).

And installing the cooler after the radiator makes some sense, too, as the ATF can then cool below the coolant temperature (and it does -- see next), and returning such cooler ATF will serve to cool the transmission further.

I personally have measured a 25 deg F. drop in ATF temperature across the cooler, from the input tank to the output tank. I used a RayTek hand-held IR thermometer ("MiniTemp") and placed it right up against the tanks.

Interesting points, Ken, have to admit I'm a bit surprised Volvo's setup would position the aux. cooler after the radiator.

Lubricants do their job best within a certain temperature range. For engine oils this is about 180F-220F or so. I would think that ATF would be similar. Having the cooler after the radiator would (certainly on a chilly day) cool below this. As you noted, having it before the rad. removes some of the heat load from the engine cooling system on a hot day with engine/trans working hard, but also, in cool conditions where the trans is not working hard, maintains the fluid at a higher temp than is likely if it's in line after the rad. The trans 'cooler' in the rad's outlet tank will warm up the fluid if it is entering at a temp below the rad's coolant at that point.

As for the rad/coolant making the trans fluid too hot? Doubt it...the trans fluid is more than capable of handling the highest temp the coolant will see. Flash point of ATF is somewhat over 390F. Of course, clutches and seals in the trans don't want to see temps anywhere near that. Coolant might get to 230F exiting the cyl.head under extreme conditions (gauge well into the red). Anyway, the part of the rad where the stock ATF cooler locates is in the outlet tank - after the coolant has been through the entire heat exchanging part of the rad and is ready to re-enter the engine, ie: that's the lowest temp the coolant will show anywhere in the system.

The above theory is all pretty logical to me, but the Volvo engineers aren't dumb (well, maybe the one who placed the heater core where it is) so in the end, you can't go wrong with their instructions.
--
Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F/M46, dtr's 83-244DL B23F/M46, my 94-944 B230FD; hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)

re: "...Lubricants do their job best within a certain temperature range. For engine oils this is about 180F-220F or so. I would think that ATF would be similar. Having the cooler after the radiator would (certainly on a chilly day) cool below this...."

But also remember that we're only talking about making a small amount (at a time) of the ATF that cool -- we're not saying that all the fluid will be cooled off -- so when this small amount returns to the transmission, it will be mixed with a much greater amount of hot fluid, and be reheated, only hopefully not as hot as it would otherwise be. Overall, we're only trying to cool off the transmission a little, by steadily adding a little bit of cooled fluid to the rest of the hot fluid.

"..small amount (at a time)..."? Well, anyone who has done the DIY trans flush can testify that the fluid comes out at quite a rate. As I recall, a 2qt jug fills up in about 20-30 seconds. That would have the entire contents of the trans circulated through the cooler in about 2 minutes. And that's at idle. Presumably things go even faster at normal driving RPMs. Enough on this.....
--
Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F/M46, dtr's 83-244DL B23F/M46, my 94-944 B230FD; hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)

I've done quite a few of the IPD-style flushes, and I recall (with a hot transmission) that it's closer to two minutes per half-gallon (I follow their advice of 2 quarts at a time, and I fill clear one gallon jugs), or one quart per minute. Given that the total capacity (including torque converter, which is included in this circulation) is approximately 7 quarts, or 1/7 the total amount per minute. But that's quibbling.

Regardless of whether the truth is closer to your or my estimates, that's not to say that the total volume of fluid will cool down to anywhere near the incoming fluid's temperature in some period, because the fluid is continually being reheated by both (1) the continuing operation of the transmission, and also (2) the latent heat of the hot transmission parts which will transfer to the briefly cooler fluid along the temperature gradient (hotter parts to cooler fluid), ultimately reheating the fluid. Only the continuous elimination of the heat through the primary (and auxiliary, if you have it) cooler(s), and remixing hot fluid with some (see, I avoided the word "small") cooler fluid keeps the overall fluid temperature below what it otherwise would rise to if the circulation through the cooler(s) stopped.

And my original point was simply that the cooler helps -- regardless of what you interpret as the meaning of the word "small" in my "...small amount at a time...."

Wasn't that fun? Anyway, let's turn our attentions to the festivities closing in on us -- happy holidays to you and all.

Thanks Ken,

aux trans cooler?? thermostat controlled?? Is this an aftermarket kit??. I know aux transcoolers, but I didnt know there were any thermostat controlled, so now I will look for one. Was seriously thinking of putting in a temp gauge for trans fluid temp, but a thero operated one would be great !!

Here are the original part nos. for the whole kits:
1188253-7 "W/Thermostat (Cold Climate)"
1333582-3 "W/O Thermostat (Mild Climate)"
(the parts, above, in quotes are as they're described in the parts book. Obviously, you want the first one, "Cold Climate".)

However, I believe that those part nos. were updated by Volvo to new numbers, so your parts guys will need to do some research.

Also, if you have an ordinary "W/O Thermostat" kit, and want to add the thermostat, the part no. for just the thermostat is 1220296.

Hope this helps.

Thanks you all. Am in northern alaska, as you know, stef in California, Volvodad in Calgary, and dont know where Ken is just yet.
OK, manual rates towing capacity @2000#, thats good enuf for me. Probably syn ATF not necessary, but the Trans cooler is, and thanks Ken for the part #'s, so I will put the one in with the thermostat. I am SURE that a flush is in order, and also as R. Ludwick said, the AutoRx is probably called for. Now as I think about it, syn up here, in the engine IS called for, and that is why I would also use syn ATF, even with a heater pad on the tranny. Now for Lower 59 (every place in NA but alaska) I would think you could get by with petroeluem based ATF.
So it looks like my basic ticket here is to get a tranny fluid flush/change, after I add some cleaners & solvents to it to get the crap out when I flush it, and then flush the tranny periodicially. Seal protectant to keep the seals soft and pliable I hope I can find to include in this maintenance regimen. Also, I am thinking I will keep exploring moly additives, especially in my zerk greasing schedule for all those little devils, including new universal joints.
As to the engine in the D24 Diesel, what I am hearing is that keeping the inside of the engine clean is the ticket for good running, and that sticking rings are the enemy of compression, which is partially why R. Ludwick recommended AutoRx as an annual treatment. Now there are tonnes of engine oil cleaners and conditioners out there. With Diesels, apparently its the build-up of stick soot based compounds that make the rings stick in ring grooves and not seal tightly, therefor the detergents in the oils are recommended. Now since the AutoRx is spendy, I am asking, what are the basic ingredients to the brews and stuff they recommend for internal engine cleaning???? Right now the cheapest alternative that has been recommended by its users is CD2 Oil Detergent additive. What no one has said, is that they have as good a seal treatment as AutoRx, so I am assuming that like the MaxLife Oils, there must be something else out there on the market that is as good at preserving seals. Any ideas or input??
Ya know the reason I have asked more questions is that you all have been immensely helpful, in giving me a picture of how to set up my maintenance regime for my '80 Diesel, and I am looking forward to hearing your opinions.

BTW, Volvodad, what is diesel going for in your neck of the woods????

Merry Xmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best to you guys. Its about -15 F here now, on the day AFTER Solstice, it only gets more light from here YEAH !!

Thanks for the explanation, Ken. I never paid much attention to the wind chill and heat index during my days in Oklahoma. Here in the tropics, wind chill is almost unheard of...
--
...and the bricks keep on rolling

Maybe it was someone who dislikes automatics in general. I have the same on my '81, and it has been quite reliable. The only problem is the lack of overdrive, which would be nice to have.

--
'81 GLT 245 @ 259K; '83 DL 175K

In messages here, someone said, "oh hope you didnt get the automaitic..."
Now as to whether they meant in relation to the D24 Diesel engine in combination, or that the BW55 Auto Trans had difficulties, I really dont know.


Some 740 turbodiesels came with a ZF automatic that tended to burn out clutches under certain circumstances (revving while stationary, IIRC). I was told to avoid those, but I don't think they were ever used in 240 diesels. They have a shift pattern of PRND321 (and no overdrive button) instead of PRND21 - they are thus easily identifiable.

-b.

Strong and reliable. A BW55 is bulletproof, you can tow with it today. The oil is already cooled in a section of the radiator.

Just use regular ATF in it, you can use anything and it will work.

The manual transmission is more fun to drive, but there is nothing wrong with the automatics.
--
Stef (81 245 B21A SU M46 3.91) 327000km - in the garage for the winter, 81 244 BW55 3.31 on the road)