A Drive To Remember, 240GLT!

Hi guys. It has been a while since I last 'seriously' blogging about 240. Let me share something on my recent driving experience of another 240. I was on a trip for 3 days last week where I got a privileged to drive a 240GLT with B230E engine for the whole 3 days. Thanks to the owner, En Zahrin who kindly lend me the car during my stay there.


For the benefit of all, 240GLT in Malaysia is a non-turbo model. This models was named with GLT to be 'sport' model of 240. This model equipped with full accessories such as electric side mirror, all sort of gauges (engine oil pressure, fuel consumption, voltmeter), and I beleive some differences on the interior color (offered for Malaysia market that time). This has been always a misconception that GLT stands for Turbo, while that is not the case for Malaysian market. The engine remain the same, the B230E for either 240GL, GLT, SE, or even SE Classic.

the engine oil gauge is not working, wire detached from sensor...

Generally the car is well-kept. The body looks nice even with minor rust here and there (which is reasonable of its' age & location near sea shore). A body repainting or touch-up will do. However, on the first start and drive, I notice some lacking. The idling rpm was too low that the engine trumbles quite hard (the steering & dashboard also vibrates). I do not noticed this on my 240. After a day drive, I noticed this low rpm symptom occurs even when the engine had been warmed up and operating under hot sun! I also noticed some misfiring and pick-up was quite lagging.

nice interior huh...

With tight schedule, I only got the time to look into it on my last day! Before my afternoon drive, I did a very simple tweaks for the low idling rpm. I did this based on my readings and other Volvo club member's experience as I do not own/drive one with injection engine. I switched off the air-cond, and start to play around with the idling speed screw (see image). A little bit of adjustment only! This screw is meant to adjust idling speed/rpm. It is not a 'tuning' screw; meaning that it won't change the air/fuel mixture ratio at all. I successfully got the right rpm (see image) and got the engine to run smoothly. Even crank-up is faster, idling speed is more stable, and the best thing is no more steering & dashboard vibrating during traffic light stops. I suggest this link for more reading on this problem.

i gained 800rpm idling speed without air-cond and close to 900rpm when air-cond switched on


the idling speed adjustment screw

As for the misfiring, I notices some water collected at the spark plug cable boots. I really have no idea of where the waters came from, but beleived that is the culprit. Later on the day I did sent it for a car wash where I borrowed their high pressure air-gun and dry off the plug cable's boot. It also solved the misfiring! However I do beleive that the cables may need to be changed :)

we called it 'Snow Car Wash' in Malaysia :)

How do I solve the pickup problem? Very simple! I dropped by a petrol station, inflate the tyre according to the pressure specification written on the petroll refill cap cover. Straight away after that, I felt the pickup is back! And I cannot deny that the car was fast!

The owner complaint that his family did not want to drive the car because of high fuel consumption. Driving for the first three days, I have to admit that the car fuel consumption was indeed really high! Of course as per compared to my caburated 240. Good that the car equipped with fuel consumption meter. After the simple tweak done (on the idling rpm), I can noticably see from the meter that the fuel consumption started to dropped from previous as I drive around. The below pictures indicated the fuel consumption while at idling rpm which is around 800rpm. I am not sure if that is the idle fuel consumption of an idling engine because I don't have that gauge in my machine; but I thought that is good enough.

gauges at idling

After all, it is really a pleasure for a chance of driving a 240 back, after months of not driving it! Good day all :)

History of Volvo

Its good to know the root of the machine we are driving now :)

Eid Mubarak

Dear Muslim readers,

I would like to wish all Muslim readers Happy Eidulfitri (Eid Mubarak). May Allah bless us and accept all our ibadah for the last one month of Ramadhan and bring happiness in this Syawal. Drive safely during this festival season :)

KAMI The Movie!

Finally, in Malaysia film industry, a VOLVO 240 being featured as a star! Last night I went to a friend's house where his friend did some nostalgic talks on their 'teenange' days; how he and his friends rode-on a VOLVO 240! Then I started to remember about this newly born film.

I haven't got any chance yet to watch this film, but the scenery of youths driving a VOLVO 240 really attract me to watch it, sooner or later. Nowadays, it is a common scene in Malaysia to see youngsters and college students driving a 240; most probably inherited from our parents. The resale value is damn low, the car is damn reliable that it still continue running after decades, our parents get damn bored already with the car and getting new cars, so the best option is to givi it to the children! The most cost effective & safest method to help the children to travel :)

Square Type Headlamp

A friend send this photo off. What a nice square type headlamp fixed onto this car. For Malaysian market, there is no such headlamp. We just have a big full square headlamp for all 200 series. I was told that the lamp was imported from USA. A friend who used to live in USA brought it back to Malaysia, and damn! Very nice!

This car still be driven by the original 2.1 244GL engine. However it used the latest 240 autobox, and got all 4 windows powered.

p/s - thanks Kay for the picture.

New Clutch Pumps :)

Both clutch pump failed last month. Please find below details;

Symptoms;

• While changing gears, I could feel that the clutch/gear engaged quickly with even a slight release of the clutch pedal.
• Up to my horror, when I was at a parking bay, I depressed the clutch pedal but the car continue to move! Slam on the brake and got the car stopped (of course the engine dead). Only after shutting off the engine, that the gear could be freed & changed! However, I managed to travel home safely.
• The clutch DOT4 fluid keep depleting. I was having a difficult time to really see where is the leaks. It was very minor that the slave pump got the fluids leaked.

Got a Volvo mechanic to do on-site job at my house compound area. Unfortunately I was not there when he changed both the pumps. He found that both pumps were 'seized' and suggested to change it. The quoted price was pretty high for us, but we have no much choice since the car cannot move already. After all he did a pretty good job, very tidy installation I could say.

Just Another Regular Service :)

Another regular service. Since I moved to Labuan, the car rarely moves. My dad use it for night groceries time, going to & back from the mosque, and other short distance journey. Believe it or not, after last service around November 2007, the odometer just clocked 3000km. Thanks to me who drove it all around the country when I went back home. Good thing about the car, it still operates smoothly. It was just getting dirty as it was parked under a tree!


Just let it have some fresh shower & shine again before got it serviced.



Thus, just another regular service. Got the same engine oil Petronas Synthium 800 Semi-Synthetic, oil filter, and all plugs changed.


Gimmick! Owh the car burnt!

A SPEED TRAP!!

My mom just called asking for money to bank-in; i started to wonder why?? I just got traffic ticket sent to my house; A SPEED TRAP!!

I was caught cruising at 130km/h while the highway speed limit is 110km/h during recent trip to Penang with the new Yokohama tyre. Is it the tyre to be blamed?? The tyre was damn silent even I cruise up to 130km/h, bless the old Silverstone with speed warning noise... eheheheh...

A big loss for my pocket this month! Aiseyh :(

p/s - not my picture;

New Yokohama Tyres!

Last week, the car got 2 pieces of new tyres. The old Silverstone Kruizer had badly worn out. The initial intention was to replace it with Goodyear tyres. However the dealer said that Goodyear tyres were out of stock.

As I am going for a long trip the next day, I really need to get the tyre changed on the day. So the only stock left is the Yokohama A Drive tyres. Got it changed, and some alignment works were done. It was badly out of alignment.

The next day is the review day! I cruised up on the highway heading north of Peninsular Malaysia at average speed of 120km/h. I went up to the maximum speed of 150km/h at times. Overall, I am satisfied with the tyre performance.

• the tyres grip very well, I can feel as if the tyre is sticking on the road even while raining and with wet road surface
• noise and vibration was really eliminated as per compared with the old Silverstone Kruizer
• handling is good, lighter steering feel

Please bear in mind, usually new tyres will always feel good. Because of the soft new rubber and the fresh thread. It is not fair to directly compare new tyres with the old ones.

Good day all :)

Why 240 So Special ??

As time passes, this model had 'classic' in the modern people's eyes and hearts. But driving one, you will always defend the car that with quotes that others will definitely deny. Examples of quotes; "i had never drove a car with such good handling like this 240, even the new generation of Volvos"; "this car is a computerized, even its ignition is regulated electronically"; "the car saves fuel"; "to maintain the car is very easy & cheap" & etc.

In this post, I would like to highlight the facts & figures of why this Volvo 240 is so special; in terms of its' technology advancement and technical specifications, of which among the items, there are still things that cannot be found on modern vehicles. Please do bear in mind that all these technologies had been used since 1970s!

1 - Braking power varies with speed.

This is one of the safety features of this car. Your 240 should react like this; the faster you drive, the more braking power you have. For instance, when you are driving slowly around town area, you need to apply brake a bit harder to have the braking effect. However, when you are driving on a highway with speed excess of 100km/h, you will find that you need to apply less to get more braking power (apply less on the pedal, but the braking is more).

2 - Collapsible steering column.

The steering column of this car is not though! It can collapse into parts! Why? In the event of accident, the U-joints on the steering column is designed to break away, and even some area inside the column and the steering itself designed to collapse. This to ensure that the steering will not hit the driver; given that he fasten his seat belt!

3 - Day running lights (DRLs).

Yes, this feature applies to certain model in certain country. I feel very lucky to drive one with DRL. It is very important to be able to see & to be able to be seen clearly as well. This feature provides 6 times more visibility of your vehicle to the other road users.

4 - Triangle-shape brake circuit.

Generally, cars will have 2 circuit brakes. And generally, one circuit will be connected to 2 tyres each. Volvo invented that this model use triangle-shape brake circuit where each circuit holds 3 tyres (in triangle shape circuit, 2 front tyres & 1 RHS rear tyre + 2 front tyres & 1 LHS rear tyre). The main purpose of having this setup is if either one of the circuit fails, the car still have 80% of the braking power.

5 - Less flank angle windshield.

You may have noticed that 240 have rather 'straight' windshield. The advantage; the vision is less affected during rainy days due to the less angle & surface area. Less drops have a chance to even drop on the surface of the windshield itself. However, this setup is beleived to decrease fuel efficiency because it is not aero-dynamic and creates wind drag.

I guess this is all for now. There's a lot more to be written here, but let it be saved for later posts. See you soon guys. Good day :)