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- One of least appreciated safety features of the rwd Volvos is the visibility. It is simply tremendous.
- I don't believe I have ever used an on-line vendor with customer service as good as that at FCP Groton and eEuroparts. "No c**p to our customers" must figure prominently in both organizations' mission statements.
- The AW70 overdrive solenoid bypass modification works like a charm. I had been having intermittent problems with the overdrive circuit. The problems started with wet weather. Sure enough, the wire to the solenoid was not in the best of shape. I used a tiny air grinder and ball-headed tool to cut a groove between the two holes. The tranny shifts into OD at the right speed, on time, every time. This solenoid could have been designed so that the default condition (power off) left the OD engaged. Why it wasn't, I just do not understand...
- The wipers on our '88 244GL slowed down and eventually stopped working while son #2 was driving. Perhaps predisposed by all the failures I have read about on BrickBoard, I assumed that the wiper motor was the culprit. I tried the wipers to verify that they didn't work. I heard a slight hum and proceeded to unplug and unbolt the motor. However, as I began to pull the glove box in preparation for disconnecting the linkage from the crank arm, something started gnawing at me. What was that hum? Does a dead motor hum? Well, I plugged the motor back in, rebolted it, turned it on again, and listened, closely this time. The hum was the motor rotating just as it was designed to do. I could here it making a full cycle. My next thought was that the crank arm had come loose from the linkage. I grabbed one wiper arm and manipulated it. It rotated with minimal resistance, but the other arm did not move! That killed the crank arm theory. Finally, I popped the plastic caps that cover the wiper arm spindle nuts. Both nuts were loose, and the spindles were turning inside their holes in the arm. Both nuts! Torqued 'em down and the problem was solved! The moral of the story: check your nuts before pulling your crank. No, just kidding! The lesson is to think about the problem and gather data about the problem symptoms before jumping in to try solutions, even if you seem to have a "classic" Volvo problem!
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