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1985 240 brake questions?? 200

ok i have just picked this car up it needs some work ie: brake failure light is on the pedal is very soft i looked in the brake MC and the back half is completely empty the front is only about %25 full i have read in previous posts that you need a special tool to bleed the brakes in these cars i am new to Volvo therefore know nothing about them, also as a side note the O/D light is on ind. that i have no O/D is this usually a big problem to fix i have already checked the fuse as well as the relay which clicks away but to no avail the light stays on and i only shift as far as third so any input would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance








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1985 240 brake questions?? Ah HA! 200

I've had both these issues. The brake warning light is wired to a switch on the brake junction box. The brake junction box is located underneath the car of your left front wheel. It's about 2" by 5" and I believe eight brakelines all join here. There is a rubber boot which covers a switch (made of nylon, to insulate it from the metal housing). Whenever the BJbox senses a loss of pressure, it triggers the switch to go on, on your dashboard. Check the box for leakage. In my case (and in most) it looks like the leakage is coming from the nylon switch. Most likely the case, is the seals within the box are shot. You don't rebuild this, you replace the whole thing. Available from tascavolvoparts.com for $88 plus shipping was the cheapest I found. You may have other leaks from other places, but this is a notorious weakspot for 240's. Take it to a brake check place and have them do a (free) visual inspection of all your lines and system parts.

OD: same issues for me. Thumbshift works, opening relay I can see the mechanism works when I press thumb button. Next step is to get under car and poke a 12v test light into the wire that comes from the relay and into the solenoid mounted on your tranny. Have a friend (with the ignition turned on but not started) hit the button. You should not only hear the solenoid click, but the test light should go on and off (as its getting 12v from the relay). If not, new solenoid is in order. If it does (like mine did), I gave up and bought a solenoid bypass plate from ipdusa.com for $39. Did the trick for me. Shifts like a normal automatic but no button pushing into 4th/3rd anymore.

I have asked help on both these issues and if you search all my posts by repkovalev, you should find others responses to me. That should further detail both your issues. Best of luck!








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Brakes 200

Top up the reservoir first.

If the reservoir level is low, then you have leaks. The pedal is soft and brake failure light is on because there is/was a pressure imbalance generated when you are pushing fluid out of the system somewhere. Find and fix the leaks.

Once fixed, if no air has entered the system, the pedal may firm up and you can do a regular brake bleed. The seller has probably been topping up the reservoir so the fluid in the system may be relatively new.

If the pedal were dropping to the floor, rather than being soft, your MC could be defective (seals) or have air in it. But missing fluid doesn't point to a bad MC unless the rear seal by the booster is gone. So find the leaks before fooling with the MC.
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans in Brampton, Ont.







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