1993 Volvo 240

[pcberz]

Recently purchased a '93 240. Am new to all of this: working on cars, navigating forums, all of it. The car's got a couple quirks I am interested in solving myself, but as I said, I know nothing. Anything helps. The quirks are as follows:

- Shakes a bit on a cold start. Evens out as it heats up. Has a bit of a shake when running nonetheless, but nothing severe (I think. Again, I don't know shit)
- Weird noise comes from the dash when accelerating hard, especially right before shifting. Can post a video if needed, but I would describe it as a sort of metal vibration
- Shakes at high speed. Around 85-ish mph, it shakes. I won't dare push it past 90-ish. It's this sort of vibration I especially feel at the pedal and the wheel.
- Horn doesn't work
- Can't toggle from high to low beams. I am stuck on high beams when I turn the headlights on. The stock doesn't even click or anything when playing around with that. Maybe once or twice while fucking with it have I managed to turn the high beams off for just a brief moment
- Odometer does not work
- Heated seats don't work
- Power mirrors don't work. Or work sporadically. Sometimes can move them in one direction but not the other and so on
- Some plastic trim coming off the exterior. Only just starting to peal on the driver's side. Purely aesthetic, but the car looks so nice otherwise it is hard to look at

Don't take this list to mean it's a shitbox. This car is in great shape at near 200k miles, and seemingly has a ton of life left in it. I want to do everything I can to prolong its life, and am genuinely excited to learn how to work on it over time and seriously care for it. Any advice, tips of any kind is greatly appreciated.

 

[nickyy]

Man, but you're throwing out a whole list of problems with potentially a dozen reasons for each symptom you cite. Please don't expect a thousand-word essay at trying to diagnose them; best if you start with solving the major problem and proceeding thence.
Electrical problems are difficult to diagnose. Start with the basics: Fuses OK? Getting power from Battery positive? If not familiar with electrical troubleshooting, watch some videos on YouTube to get started.

I would start with the shaking at speed. I assume it's felt in the Steering Wheel (it's best to describe where you feel it). You could have worn Control/Suspension bushings, bent Wheel (or unbalanced), bad tires. (You see how diagnosis can get complex?) If you're new to all this, take it first to a Wheel Alignment specialist and have them give you a report of what's wrong. Then you can proceed to replacing the parts at your own speed. Remember, this kind of shaking can be a symptom of a dangerous condition and it's best looked at promptly.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[945T]

- Heated seats don't work

A common failure. Because both seat heaters are gone, be sure to start by checking the fuse and fault tracing with a meter to make sure power is getting to the connectors under the seats when the switch is on (igntion must be on, KP-II). A wiring diagram will be useful here to know the wire colors. Any late model 240 wiring diagram will do. If they're getting power then it's quite possibly a broken wire at the button thermostat that's located in the corner of the plastic seat heater grid in the seat cushion. These breaks are repairable, preferably using a crimp splice rather than a soldered splice as heating the copper wire to melt the solder makes the copper strands brittle and likey to break again. Once you've got full access to the lower seat cushion, there's a bar in a hem on the back rail that needs to be pried out to disconnect its ends so you can peel back the skin for access to the heater grid in the seat cushion. Note that the seat back heater grids are wired in series with the seat cushion heater grids. Unbolting the seat rails and pulling the seat back an inch so you can tip it up at the back can make access to the connectors easier. Be extra careful not to seriously bump the SRS module under the seat that contains the crash sensors. If you do some googling you'll find pictures of what the lower heater grid looks like.

 

[CrankMyHawg]

I'm pretty new to the Volvo scene myself, but not to working on cars. I'll pitch in a few suggestions based on general knowledge.

Your shaking at startup issue could be a variety of things, but I feel like the place to start is checking for vacuum leaks. It's highly likely your vacuum hoses are heavily deteriorated from the rubber aging, and that you have developed leaks at the intake manifold gaskets and a few other places as well.

High speed shaking is likely an alignment/steering component problem, or potentially a tire balance issue.

Odometer, heated seats, horn, and power mirrors are probably electrical gremlins. Check fuses and relays, and past that you're going to want a wiring schematic and test light to start probing for basic functionality. I know 240s have their own odometer issues that are well documented, I'm not quite familiar though since I have a 940.

Headlight problem sounds like an issue with the multifunction switch in the steering column.

The 240 is a dead simple car, I've messed with one briefly and think it's a great place to start learning. Use the hell out of the forum search function and Google, and don't be afraid to jump in and mess some things up for the sake of learning. And remember, don't forget to have fun!

 

[pcberz]

Man, but you're throwing out a whole list of problems with potentially a dozen reasons for each symptom you cite. Please don't expect a thousand-word essay at trying to diagnose them; best if you start with solving the major problem and proceeding thence.
Electrical problems are difficult to diagnose. Start with the basics: Fuses OK? Getting power from Battery positive? If not familiar with electrical troubleshooting, watch some videos on YouTube to get started.

I would start with the shaking at speed. I assume it's felt in the Steering Wheel (it's best to describe where you feel it). You could have worn Control/Suspension bushings, bent Wheel (or unbalanced), bad tires. (You see how diagnosis can get complex?) If you're new to all this, take it first to a Wheel Alignment specialist and have them give you a report of what's wrong. Then you can proceed to replacing the parts at your own speed. Remember, this kind of shaking can be a symptom of a dangerous condition and it's best looked at promptly.

Hope this helps a bit.

Extremely helpful. I know I'll sound dumb, but having driven shitboxes exclusively before owning this car, the shaking was something I was writing off as "old car does weird stuff." So that'll be the first thing I investigate.

 

[jwhit12]

- Can't toggle from high to low beams. I am stuck on high beams when I turn the headlights on. The stock doesn't even click or anything when playing around with that. Maybe once or twice while fucking with it have I managed to turn the high beams off for just a brief moment

The headlight issue sounds like the relay problem I had when I bought my 240. High beams were stuck on but I could get the lights to flicker or occasionally switch to low beams when pulling the stalk. Can you hear the relay click? Mine would click but the low beams wouldn't stay on after releasing the lever. I replaced my relay with one from the junkyard and it fixed the problem. A pretty cheap and easy way to troubleshoot a potential cause, especially since you'll probably end up at the junkyard looking for parts for some of your other issues. You could get lucky and its just a dirty terminal on the relay. Otherwise, it probably is an issue with the switch on the column. Its super easy to remove the steering column cover and check the switch and wiring in that area too. My car is a little bit of a different setup since its an 81 though.

240 odometers frequently break when a small plastic gear that drives them breaks. There's a ton of Youtube videos and guides on how to repair. Check out Dave Barton's website: https://www.prancingmoose.com/240-odometer-repair.html
He also has a page about the headlight relays: https://www.240turbo.com/headlightrelay.html

 

[Khrrck]

It's tough to find a 240 in the junkyard these days so the Wanted section might be the first place to check for a headlight relay. If you're familiar with electronics you could also open up the bad one and inspect the innards. Or in the short term, you might be able to tweak the wiring so the high and low beams are swapped and it's at least stuck on low beam and not blinding people.

Respect to you pcberz. I did something similar ~10 years ago with my first car purchase. I had a little mechanical knowledge but SO much to learn.

I would start one problem at a time with the most serious ones. Safety items first. So headlights, tires and suspension - make sure they're all good: Alignment OK, suspension bushings and shocks intact or at least not completely gone, tires with good tread and not cracked, low beams functional for night driving. If power mirrors can't be adjusted to give a good field of view, that's also a priority.

Power mirror issues, since it's intermittent could be the switches. Again if you have some experience working with small electrical parts, you could try opening them up and giving them a good clean with contact cleaner, maybe a pencil eraser.

If you want to do your own electrical repairs, my "field kit" that I carried in the back was a multimeter (cheap is OK), spool of wire, kit of assorted crimps, wire stripper/crimper and some fuses. Screwdriver style incandescent test light is good too - more foolproof than the multimeter but only lets you do one specific kind of test.

Besides the #1 culprit of idle shakes (vacuum leaks) also take a look at ignition components (plugs, rotor, cap, wires). If they look old/worn, probably time for a replacement. You can post photos here if you aren't sure.

For parts, RockAuto, FCP Euro and IPD are the USA sources for new. TB Wanted for used good, junkyard for used maybe-good... if you can find a redblock in the junkyard these days.

Good luck! Keep some tools in the trunk. Wagon has the 3rd row compartment under the floor which is great for hiding stuff out of view.

 

[Khrrck]

Also look up how to read LH 2.4 trouble codes. Your car is new enough for it. It'll be a blinking light that you have to count the flashes. Report back with what you learn and that could give more info about the shaking at idle and general health.