Ok,

I now have my new 1986 245..

And driving it, it has a few quirks:

-first and foremost, when trying to shift smoothly into 1st, or reverse, the car shudders a lot. It is almost better to just dump the clutch to go right into gear. This happens when shifting slowly into 2nd gear as well, but isn't noticed at higher speeds.

What could be causing this?

-2nd.. When trying to start it every so often, it sounds like you dropped a cat into a food processor, and the starter doesn't start the engine.. this is remedied by turning it off, and starting it again..

Is the starter going bad?

Mainly I'm curious about the clutch... It's kind of a pain to drive away from a stop.

The service records indicated that he just had the clutch replaced in 1997, and had the cable adjusted 4/21/01.

The engine is surprisingly clean at 200k miles.. and has a new radiator, hoses, water pump, etc..

OH.. and another question..

He said that it goes thru about one muffler a year due to it rusting out.. And I noticed that when the car is running, water is sputtering out the tailpipe..

Where is that water coming from???

Thanks

Luke

Thanks guys,

All of these explainations are possible :)

I notice that the rear end is a little 'squishy'.. the car needs new suspension products, and the motor mounts are also softer than in either of my other two 240s

When you shut the car off, it has that little shake at the end, so I think I'll check out the motor/tranny mounts..

I just put new rotors on my 1991, and am going to have the old rotors turned, and use them on this 245. When I have all the tires off, I'll check out the suspension issues.

My 1982 242 has the M46 manual transmission, and about the most worn suspension out of all my cars, and it doesn't shake like that, but who knows :)

PS>. anyone want to buy a 242?? haha..

Another possibile cause of the clutch shudder is worn rear suspension bushings. I just replaced the large trailing arm bushings and the torque rod bushings on my '86 245 and my clutch shudder disappeared. When you back out of a driveway and then go forward, do you hear a clunk from the rear? If so, you may have bad bushings.

Just out of curiosity,

did you do the bushings yourself?

the 86 is going to be my 2nd vehicle, and all my real dough gets put toward my 244 :)

The shuddering does sound like it comes from the rear of the car and you will get a slight clunk noise when giving the car gas..

Which bushings are mainly responsible for this??

And to anyone else out there...

Have you fabricated your own tools to remove torque rod bushings or the trailing arm ones???

I was thinking of a drift made of a piece of pipe or something..

or possibly incorporating a gear puller somehow..

Any ideas??

The more money I can save by NOT going to a machine shop, the happier I am.

Thanks,

Luke

Yes, I did the bushings myself. I replaced the two rear trailing arm bushings and the four torque rod busings. It was not an easy job. I bought the Volvo tool for the trailing arm bushings. They are mounted on the rear axle. The tool was about $180 USD including shipping. I also had to buy a 36 mm 6-point socket to use with it. I pressed out the torque rod bushings on a 12 ton shop press which I got from Harbor Freight for $99 USD. It was just able to do the job. So I spent just under $300 for tools including some pipe fittings to use as "pushers and receivers" in the press. The bushings were not too expensive from the Parts Bin. The cost of having a shop do only the rear trailing arm bushings was quoted to me at about $300. So I came out roughly even and got the torque rods done as a bonus. You'll also need jackstands and a jack to support the rear axle while you remove the rear springs. Because we have four older 240's in the family, I figured we'd do the bushings on some of them and then the tools would really pay for themselves.

There was a fellow on the BB who made his own trailing arm bushing tool and used it successfully. I think it may have been Les Lynne but you can put out a general request for help on the tool. The torque rods are easy to remove and some people take them into a machine shop to have the old bushings pressed out and new ones pressed in. I don't know what this costs.

The Bentley manual was useful to see how to remove the springs, rods, etc. I got the bushings and then went to the plumbing departments to look for pipe fittings which would work. I couldn't find anything for the front trailing arm bushings but they were OK anyway. Good luck on this.

Lyuke, I may not have been clear. The rear trailing arm bushings are mounted on the rear axle and have to be removed using the Volvo tool on the axle mount. You can't take these off and to a shop like you can the other bushings including the front trailing arm bushings. The trailing arms come off leaving the rear bushings on the axle.

Luke --

"...when trying to shift smoothly...the car shudders a lot..."

Several things can cause this.....

- Oil on the clutch disc, clutch disc glazed 'n burned

- Bad motor/tranny mounts

- Bad pilot bearing

"...sounds like you dropped a cat into a food processor..."

Worn teeth on the ring gear and starter drive gear can cause this. You might remedy it with a new drive gear (only), but most likely the worn ring gear teeth will continue to skip.

If you examine the ring gear, you'll see the two worn spots, about six teeth long, and opposite each other on the gear. The engine ALWAYS stops in one of two spots* -- and the teeth in these spots take a beating.

(* With cyls 1&4 down or with 2&3 down.)

You can rotate the flywheel on the crankshaft by two bolt holes (90 degrees) on the earlier cars -- I'm not positive about an '86, but I think it would work.

You can remove the ring gear from the flywheel, rotate it 1/4 turn relative to the flywheel, and reinstall it on the flywheel.

You can remove the ring gear, flip it over, and reinstall it.

You can buy a new ring gear from Mother Volvo ($$$$$$) or find a good used flywheel ($$).

If you get in there for any reason, be sure to install a new rear main seal.

"...about one muffler a year due to it rusting out...when the car is running, water is sputtering out the tailpipe..."

This is true every time the engine starts and the exhaust system is cold. Ask the PO how long his typical commute was -- he'll probably tell you it was 5 miles, or so. The muffler never warmed up so water condensed in it.

Use a genuine Volvo muffler -- it'll have a lifetime warrenty.