Tow a Volvo long distance (100 miles)

[MrAl]

I hate those ratcheting come alongs with a passion. Too much work for a couple of inches at a time

For $30 you can get a 1000 pound rated boat trailer winch from Harbor Fright that will smooth pull up your load via cranking and not that dumb donkey back and forth

The come-along has a lot more force but that isn’t needed for trailer loading

Hi Steve,

That's good to know in case I have to face that situation as well.
I couldn't believe that happened to him. Can't think of a worse situation I don't think especially so far from home.

[abscate]

Can't think of a worse situation I don't think especially so far from home.

It can be much worse, I once had to spend two days in DE learning about subs, DC, and all kinds of stuff while my dog and i bird watched, ate food, drank, and waited for my rescue ride to arrive.

[jsrnsis]

Plenty of friendly folks in North Jersey lent a hand, but your mileage may vary.

Hi again,

Wow, that's a beautiful car. Love the color.
Oh i thought you were stuck in Manville.
I guess you got it home now? That's great!

Car was from Manville, made it to Far Hills, I guess I really know how to pick a good, healthy car...
I guess calling it North Jersey would be wrong, more Central Jersey.

I'm surprised a Nautic Blue P80 left abandoned did not end up on Abscate's driveway while your back was turned!

Neil.

I was half expecting to find that it had been involuntarily parted out.

[MrAl]

Can't think of a worse situation I don't think especially so far from home.

It can be much worse, I once had to spend two days in DE learning about subs, DC, and all kinds of stuff while my dog and i bird watched, ate food, drank, and waited for my rescue ride to arrive.

Oh geeze, that's nasty too.
I was pretty darn lucky in the past when i drove far away. Back when I had my old Pontiac Catalina, I drove down the shore. On the way back, I went over a large bridge up one side and when I was coming down the other side the drive shaft fell right off, but only at the front universal joint. I was kind of lucky the car didn't flip, and I was doing a good 60mph. Then I was lucky again that I could crawl under the car, on the side of a major highway, and stick the driveshaft end back into the universal joint and was able to ride all the way home, another 10 or 15 miles, with no incident. That's pretty lucky, I think.
I think the Pontiac was a 1974 but it was a long, long time ago. V8, 389 cubic inches (ha ha). That was the engine I tore apart and rebuilt in my basement (chuckle) and that was the biggest car job I ever did in my life. When I did the heads I used one of those hand plunger tools where you use both hands to twist the valve back and forth using grinding compound to reseat the valves. That didn't work good enough I should have brought it to a shop to have the valves done, but finances were extremely limited at the time. It was an interesting endeavor though I'll probably never forget.

Now that I think about it again, I may have realized how I made it home after that. When coasting down a hill the back wheel axel drives the drive shaft to a certain degree, and if the universal joint is broken in a certain way, it would allow the drive shaft to twist out one side. When, more normally, the car is not costing down a hill, the transmission is driving the universal joint which drives the drive shaft, so it's a different torque angle, 180 degrees different, which is a big difference. If the U joint is not broken such that the shaft cannot slip out the remaining good side, it will run for a long time without coming loose again. Lucky though that there were no more big bridges the rest of the way home.

[MrAl]

Plenty of friendly folks in North Jersey lent a hand, but your mileage may vary.

Hi again,

Wow, that's a beautiful car. Love the color.
Oh i thought you were stuck in Manville.
I guess you got it home now? That's great!

Car was from Manville, made it to Far Hills, I guess I really know how to pick a good, healthy car...
I guess calling it North Jersey would be wrong, more Central Jersey.

I'm surprised a Nautic Blue P80 left abandoned did not end up on Abscate's driveway while your back was turned!

Neil.

I was half expecting to find that it had been involuntarily parted out.

Hi again,

I want to buy that blue car (ha ha). Seriously though, do you ever sell them too or just buy them and collect them? I love that deep blue color.

A question came to mind regarding the breakdown. Did the car suddenly stop running at one point, or did you turn the ignition off and go into the store, then come back out to find it would not start again.
I am asking mostly out of curiosity, but also because I had that VERY same problem some time ago, and part of the problem was the fuel relay, which I wrote about extensively here on MVS along with the fix. The other part was it needed the new spark plugs and new rotor and distributor cap. So the fix could be very, very simple and cheap. I'm sure you'll find it though you and your others know a lot more about these than I do. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away though, maybe because I wasn't sure what exactly happened when it stopped running.

If it does happen to be the relay, change the two larger capacitors inside that's the known repair fix. They do sell them with lifetime guarantee though I am betting you already know. Several of us here on MVS have brand new caps we can donate to the cause.

[jsrnsis]

Hi again,

Wow, that's a beautiful car. Love the color.
Oh i thought you were stuck in Manville.
I guess you got it home now? That's great!

Car was from Manville, made it to Far Hills, I guess I really know how to pick a good, healthy car...
I guess calling it North Jersey would be wrong, more Central Jersey.

I'm surprised a Nautic Blue P80 left abandoned did not end up on Abscate's driveway while your back was turned!

Neil.

I was half expecting to find that it had been involuntarily parted out.

Hi again,

I want to buy that blue car (ha ha). Seriously though, do you ever sell them too or just buy them and collect them? I love that deep blue color.

A question came to mind regarding the breakdown. Did the car suddenly stop running at one point, or did you turn the ignition off and go into the store, then come back out to find it would not start again.
I am asking mostly out of curiosity, but also because I had that VERY same problem some time ago, and part of the problem was the fuel relay, which I wrote about extensively here on MVS along with the fix. The other part was it needed the new spark plugs and new rotor and distributor cap. So the fix could be very, very simple and cheap. I'm sure you'll find it though you and your others know a lot more about these than I do. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away though, maybe because I wasn't sure what exactly happened when it stopped running.

If it does happen to be the relay, change the two larger capacitors inside that's the known repair fix. They do sell them with lifetime guarantee though I am betting you already know. Several of us here on MVS have brand new caps we can donate to the cause.

I really like the blue too. Though now that I have it, it looks too close to my black car, and won't solve the annoying water spot and very visible scratch problem that comes with a darker color. For now, I'm collecting, but will realistically have to sell at some point. I think I have a hoarding complex from people deciding to clobber my family's vehicles into oblivion, and from seeing so many of these cars getting scrapped.

EDIT: link to thread about the 98 V70XC here viewtopic.php?t=102826

[scot850]

I would start a new thread and add a link the this message. That way we know you are working on your car and if you need help.

Did you swap the fuel pump relay? Easiest point to check. The rear cam seals have probably leaked due to blocked PTC and PCV system. That in turn will have leaked oil into the distributor. Replace the seals and clean the distributor and cap . Clean the PTC valve and then see if it will start and run long enough to do a PCV 'glove test'. It may b worth doing the PCV preventively based on the PTC. You may find that is the cause of your grey smoke. If it is not that then it is the valve stem seals.

I wish you good luck on this journey!

Neil.

[MrAl]

Car was from Manville, made it to Far Hills, I guess I really know how to pick a good, healthy car...
I guess calling it North Jersey would be wrong, more Central Jersey.


I was half expecting to find that it had been involuntarily parted out.

Hi again,

I want to buy that blue car (ha ha). Seriously though, do you ever sell them too or just buy them and collect them? I love that deep blue color.

A question came to mind regarding the breakdown. Did the car suddenly stop running at one point, or did you turn the ignition off and go into the store, then come back out to find it would not start again.
I am asking mostly out of curiosity, but also because I had that VERY same problem some time ago, and part of the problem was the fuel relay, which I wrote about extensively here on MVS along with the fix. The other part was it needed the new spark plugs and new rotor and distributor cap. So the fix could be very, very simple and cheap. I'm sure you'll find it though you and your others know a lot more about these than I do. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away though, maybe because I wasn't sure what exactly happened when it stopped running.

If it does happen to be the relay, change the two larger capacitors inside that's the known repair fix. They do sell them with lifetime guarantee though I am betting you already know. Several of us here on MVS have brand new caps we can donate to the cause.

I really like the blue too. Though now that I have it, it looks too close to my black car, and won't solve the annoying water spot and very visible scratch problem that comes with a darker color. For now, I'm collecting, but will realistically have to sell at some point. I think I have a hoarding complex from people deciding to clobber my family's vehicles into oblivion, and from seeing so many of these cars getting scrapped.

What had happened was the car died at a stop sign, wouldn't start. I pushed it to the side, filled it with a couple gallons from a can, car wouldn't start due to a dying battery. I had to jump the car to get it going. It drove just fine, excellent really (besides a little oil burning) to the Exxon-Mobil station, where it was filled to the brim with super. It started up just fine after that, and drove 3.5 miles before I noticed it was running a little rough at lower speeds. I pulled into the parking lot to check a code I had just gotten. When I put it in park, I noticed the idle was surging , but the car wasn't stalling out. I checked the codes, saw a code for "cylinder 4 injector low signal". I went to unplug the injector and start the car to see if it made a difference, but the car wouldn't start. I swapped the IAC with the car I had driven down, no start. I tried starting the car I drove down (black) with the IAC out of my new car (blue) and the black car started and idled with no issue. I had spark, though it was described as "weak" by an "off-duty" mechanic who tried to help. The fuel pump was kicking on with the key in position 2.

I don't know if I should just make a new thread with my further investigations/life story. When we went back down to tow it, we tried to start it again of course, hoping to save the effort of manhandling it onto the trailer. It cranked over slowly due to a bad battery, and then backfired and blew out the backside cam seals! When we got it home, I saw these seals had been leaking for a while, and the inside of the distributor was coated in burnt, gelled oil. After fighting with the clamp on the turbo end of the airbox-turbo intake pipe (the orientation made it a two person job, one under the car holding the ratchet the other turning...) I found the turbo to have next to no transverse play, and no axial play, and the PTC was almost totally restricted with gunk. So now the plan is to throw a good battery in, put new cam seals in, clean up the distributor or swap it with a good one, and see if I can get it started. If that doesn't work I'll move on to changing the coil with a spare, camshaft sensor, and fuel pump and injector relays.
If it's not that, I think I'm in for some rear-end pain.
And then once I get that all sorted out, I'm moving on to figure out the cause of the grayish-blue smoke out of the exhaust.

Hi,

Yeah sure start a new thread and you can describe the problems and what you did that did or did not work.

Blue smoke? That's not a good sign. Are you prepared to redo the heads or rings if you need to?
I hope the cat is still good too.
I know you can do all this work and nice that you probably are not in too much of a hurry to get it done, I don't think.
Maybe you will have to call on Dr. Steve to lend a hand

When i did my distributor cap and rotor, it was nasty inside too looked like it was never changed in the life of the car. I think i posted pics here on MVS or I can post again. I was lucky it ran as long as it did without a general tune up.
The really sad point is that was all after I paid $2800 for so-called "repairs" (note the quotes).
I did get a new MAF and idle control thing though, but I'm sure I could have gotten those cheaper than the garage guy did.

[wizechatmgr]

Where abouts in upstate are you in Hudson? I'm in Schodack if you need a hand. Occasionally I head to Fairlawn, NJ. My schedule is chaotic at best.

[MrAl]

Where abouts in upstate are you in Hudson? I'm in Schodack if you need a hand. Occasionally I head to Fairlawn, NJ. My schedule is chaotic at best.

Hi there,

Not sure if you noticed, but this part of the discussion has been taken to a new thread so we can concentrate on the problems with the car being talked about here now. Here is a link to that thread...

viewtopic.php?t=102826