Spent the last two days in solid tinkering- new, retractable seatbelts from Skandix (nice, pretty easy, but I wish the retractor spool had some sort of cover), added headrests and replaced all the webbing in the seats, removed and glycerin-treated the pop-out seals, added a flex-a-lite electric pusher fan in front of the radiator and wore myself out trying to get the rear drum of the left side. It's the last two that bring me to questions... PB Blaster, heat and a lot of pounding, swearing, dancing around to the Volvo gods, but no release with the drum. So what's the next thing to try? The puller was on there for about 24 hours- kept hoping to hear a loud bang, but nothing. The puller is a JCWhitney 'heavy-duty' one, which IS heavy, but only goes onto three studs... maybe it doesn't pull straight enough? Luckily my brakes seem pretty good, but the adjusters are stuck and I haven't been into the rear drums and want to see what things are looking like there. So now what...

Then there is the fan. Tight fit, as Tom O. described on the board a while back (and thanks Tom for the additional emailed information), but easy enough installation. Drained and pulled the radiator for the installation- radiator looks really good. I removed the mechanical fan, thinking it would be largely redundant. Prior to the fan installation the car would normally run with the temps a little over the middle point on the temp gauge, but in traffic it would creep up pretty high- revving the engine would bring it down some. So now the same thing happens (and overall it's running hotter). Before the electric fan installation I thought the revving was speeding up the mechanical fan and that was bringing the temps down, but now with the electric fan on, fan speed is independant of engine speed- so I suppose it's making the water pump go faster which is bringing the temp down. But of course I don't want to get stuck in traffic and have to keep the engine revving at 2500+ to keep it cool. So... is my water pump going and is only efficient at higher RPMs now? There are no signs of leaking, etc. Doesn't seem like a thermostat issue (though I'm going to replace it just in case) as the car warms up OK, and the radiator gets hot after a while. How big is the water pump job? Pull the old one, pop in a new one, or are there 'complications?'

Thanks all
Tom
NYC

As for the overheating... I suspect now that it was the timing, though I had it set at around 17 deg. at idle, a setting I'm pretty sure I was cited.... somewhere..... Anyway, flushed the system, put in a new water pump (though the old one looked OK, no deterioration on the blades, etc.), put the mechanical fan back on (I had taken it off when I added the eletric pusher fan) for a little extra airflow, set the timing at a lesser advance (around 14-15 deg. at idle). Had to drive back to NYC from RI so left the thermostat out for the ride and now the engine is running cool, so the new thermostat is going back in. Things pretty much seem good now, though I can't for absolute certainty say it was the timing alone that was the culprit- I also put a new exhaust system on and cleaned and reoiled the K & N filter on the carb, so several variables changed.

Could also be a little slop in the dizzy (gets a rebuild when I install a crane system next), or maybe the marks on the pulley are off, putting my timing off when I set it last fall. It wasn't pinging at all AFAIK, but hey, things are working now!

Ditto and double ditto on the puller... hit er harder.

Probably a pump issue. Impellers can erode from cavitation over the years (and corrosion). Your symptoms sound like a flow issue more than a radiator issue.

Please resist the no thermostat option. Running too cool is bad for the engine too (in many ways, worse).

--
Mike!

If the pbblaster isn't doing it, might want to try some Aero Kroil ( they usually sell that stuff at commercial air conditioning supply places ) it's about $8+ a can and worth every penny, let it soak for a day or two.
--
-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD for sale

As far as the water pump is concerned, I've replaced one, it is not too bad of a job. It is just a little tight working on the front of the engine there. The pumps are cheap and plentiful. I have run one of my Volvos a long time without any thermostat, and it ran fine. But I live in California where we have mild winters. Since you live in the Big Apple you would be fine all summer without one, but come winter you will be running too cold. If you look around hard enough you can find thermostats with different temp settings. I bought one that was one step lower than stock (sorry, I don't remember the temp).
Of course, your concern of running hot is based on the Volvo temperature guage. Who knows how accurate it is? Since your fan is controlled by its own thermostat, it also helps control the water temp. If your temp guage says hot and your fan is not running, you should be ok, if your fan is set at proper temperature. But if the fan comes on and continues to run for a long time, then I would suspect the water pump.
On the other hand, the fan's sensor is in the top hose area and measures water coming through the thermostat. If the thermostat is not opening properly you could end up with hot water in the engine and cool water in the radiator and the fan will be off.
So, I would check the thermostat first, but since you improve things by increasing RPMs, I suspect it is the water pump. Water pumps are one of the few areas on Volvos that go out often.
Tom

I just corrected an apparent "hot" running condition by swapping the temp sensor for a known good one, and swapping the instrument voltage regulator (i;m not sure you car has one). What had been a borderline hot case is now square in the middle of the "N".

I decided to look a testing the instruments after noticing the engine wasn't physically hot, especially, even after hot running it barely burped it's overflow bottle when it opened.

--
MPergiel, Elmhurst, IL '74 145e T-5 'Orange Alert'

What removes the drum is brute force, properly applied. If you are not
worried about pulling the 3 lug bolts in two, you haven't got it tight
enough. And don't waste your time with anything smaller than a 3# hammer.
No light taps; you gotta show it who's in charge. If everything is tight
enough, one or two good smacks should do it.

As far as running hot, be sure your ignition is advanced far enough.
I set mine at at least 20°, which is also where it idles fastest.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Dito on the puller. I use a kind of mini sledge and they've always popped off.
I've had an electric (push, installed in front of the radiator) fan for over a year and hardly ever have to turn it on. Only after sitting in traffic following a highway run. If I were you I'd pull the thermostat altogether and run w/o it for a while. Sounds like it's that or some other obstruction.
Water pumps are fairly easy jobs. But they're so sturdy they hardly ever go bad.

Sorry- jumped the gun and hadn't read through the previous posts about drums, etc. I'll 'have at it' again next weekend with more pressure, more PB Blaster and more heat (& try the boiling water trick).

Keep soaking it with PBlaster - that stuff might still slowly penetrate the joint. Next weekend pund that puller on as hard as possible (leave the nut on the axle, reversed, to help prevent axle deformation). Use a big hammer, swinging a small one really hard won't do as much. Get it in as hard a pull as you can get, and leave it there while you go boil a big pot of water.

As a last resort, think about backing the nut off a little and driving around, frequently checking to see if it has worked loose
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.