1989 240DL problems

freonjohn · Post by **freonjohn** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:45

I am working on this car and I love it. I do have several small problems I would like help with. I changed the thermostat and the upper and lower radiator hoses. The old antifreeze looked fine. I blew out the radiator with water and it came out fine as far as I could tell. I also flushed the engine and it was clean. It seems to run a little hot in the mornings. About 75% of the temp. guage. In the afternoons it runs about 50% of the guage. Could the water pump be going bad? Maybe the fins are worn off. Also the odometer doesn't work. The speedometer is fine. Is this a cable? And lastly, how do you replace the defrost motor? I can't even find it. Thanks

Post by **billofdurham** » 18 Jul 2007, 12:43

When you are driving in the morning are you in heavier, slower traffic than in the afternoon? That would make a difference to the temp gauge.

I must be honest and say I have never heard of the water pump fins wearing off, but someone else may have experienced this.

The odometer/speedo are not driven by a cable. The impulses for them come from a sensor on the differential housing. The odometer gears are probably stripped. For the full range:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo240other.htm

Bill.

ppcgm · Post by **ppcgm** » 19 Jul 2007, 05:37

Our '91 240 wagon had overheating problems from the day we bought it about two years ago. The worst was when we took it on a beach trip and about an hour out from home blew out a hose. By the time I got the car to a fairly safe place to wait for a tow truck the engine was toast and cost us over $2,000 to replace with a "low miles" engine that had under 100k on the clock.

Not long after, my wife complained that this engine was running hot just like the old one. Not being willing to shuck out for another engine I dropped it off with our import specialists shop, who could find nothing wrong. Interestingly, when we were picking up the car another of their customers was in and complaining of the same problem. No one had been able to solve it on his either, also a high miles car with 400,000 or more on it. So maybe this is a high miles kind of a problem ? My '90 240 DL with only 189,000 on it has never had any kind of overheating problem even in bumper to bumper traffic on hot subtropics summer days.

I did all the usual things with replacing belts, hoses, thermostat, flushing the cooling system and got no result. Finally, in frustration, I bought a new radiator ($128) and swapped it out in the driveway in less than an hour. Problem solved.

Radiators are cheap. Engines are expensive.

freonjohn · Post by **freonjohn** » 21 Jul 2007, 05:17

Boy that last statement is true. Radiators are cheap and engines are expensive. Maybe I will try that. How about the defrost blower motor? any idea how to change it? it makes an awful noise.

ppcgm · Post by **ppcgm** » 23 Jul 2007, 19:06

Haven't had to replace the fan motor yet. According to the Bentley manual ($35 from amazon) it's involved but not really too bad. You're going to have to take most of the dash and center console apart to get it out and put the new one in. The motor itself runs about 70 bucks and the labor is probably more than that if you take it in and have someone else do it. If you're like me you usually have more time than money when it comes to car repairs. This looks like one I would do on a rainy weekend and make sure I had another car available for Monday morning should it take longer than I'd planned.