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This is my first time posting to this board, but I've been having an interesting problem with my 240. I'll give the *long* history of the problem to give the most accurate description of the problem...
This problem started back in 1999. I would drive the car from work to home (about 40 miles of highway driving) and one time I looked down and the temp gauge was almost through the roof. Remembering what a drivers Ed instructor told me - if your car looks to start overheating turn the heat on. So I did that, turned the AC off (it was during the summer) and the gauge came down. I decided to get off the highway and take the longer way home incase there was a problem. It happened 1-2 more times over the summer, and then my mom went back to driving the car. I explained the problem to my dad who wasn't concerned at all during the time. I was.
I got the car a couple of years later after my parents bought a Passat. (Nice car too). The problem happened a few times here and there intermittently... usually the quick heat trick would set it back to normal... This also would not happen in the winter (maybe ONCE but not very common....)
So skip ahead in the story until November of last year. I was returning to Rochester, NY from Boston, MA, and had a head go... I was in Albany (thankfully) and had it towed somewhere the guy thought that would be able to look at it that day, since I had no clue what the problem was, let alone who would be able to look at it on a Sunday at 3:30PM. They said it was the timing belt, and despite I was 250 miles from home wouldn't even think of replacing it then.... I had a friend drive out and pick me up. The next morning they called and said it was the cylinder head. Not knowing really what they were doing since I wasn't in Albany to see what work had to be done; I had the car towed to the Volvo Dealer. They went in replaced the head, and a whole slew of things. 2 weeks and $1600 later.... I went and picked the car up.... One of the things that was happening during the trip was the temperature gauge issue. I pulled off the highway looked under the hood, and nothing looked out of the ordinary, and did the heat trick, and the gauge went back down, and was resting comfortably where it should... Then the head went...
One of the things that was replaced was the temp sensor. $3 or $4 part. I mentioned this problem to the dealership when they were working on the engine, but I don't know how much they looked into it.
Anyway, this summer is here again. And this problem is now worse than ever. I started the car up this morning, and the temp gauge is THROUGH the roof. I know that it doesn't look right. The car drove 400 feet, and this problem cropped up. 1 + 1 just don't make 2. So I called a friend at work who is quite car savvy, esp. with the 240 series (he's had 4-5 of them.) He said that it sounds like a bad temp sensor. He said you should be able to get to work (maybe 2 miles......) just pop the heat on and drive over. Which I did. One minute later, the gauge is down, and the car is still blowing cold air. I also checked the oil, and all the fluids, no problems. All looked normal. And the engine was cold.
So I did a google search for "Volvo 240 Temperature Problem" and came across this board. I found one post regarding this problem, however, in my case the actual sensor has been replaced a few months ago when the head gasket was done. I'm not saying that stuff doesn't malfunction, but this has been a long time problem in the car. Main point of concern: Turning the heat on USUALLY does correct the misreading.
If this helps, there's ~96K on it (a baby as my friend says)...
I'll look here for replies, and feel free to direct replies to alex@the161.net if you'd like to reply off the board.
Thanks in advance.
-Alex
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