Thanks to the advice from posters so far, I am about 90% sure that I
will have the 240 engine fixed unless it is some outrageous problem. I
tried some Seafoam to see if it might be possible to unstick something
in the valve train; the noise is a little quieter but still present (my
wife thinks it's much quieter, but it sounds only a little different to
me). Other than the noise it still runs like a top with plenty of vroom.

I am still suspecting either something with one or more valve adjusting
shims (the valve clearances have not been been adjusted in 102,000 miles
so those puppies have been in there a long time; I wonder if they are
bouncing around on top of the cam followers) and/or the rubber "hushers"
between the valve spring keepers and the cam followers.

On the advice of a friend and long-time 240 owner, I am going to see
about taking the car to Whitney Scherer in Minneapolis for his opinion.
Hopefully the problem is at the top of the engine and won't require the
expense of yanking the head. It may need a new front seal as there is a
slight oil leak up there somewhere.

Of the various things wrong there are some things I can readily do
myself, such as checking the flame trap. Another project is that
suddently the high beams don't work. Switching them on causes the
headlights to turn off and the high beam indicator on the dash doesn't
come on. The high beam relay makes a firm, audible "click." I have not
yet done the obvious and looked at the bulbs themselves, although the
bulb failure light does not come on either. I have not checked fuses
yet. Are there known problems to look for? Do the high beam relays
fail like the overdrive relays?

Hi Tim,

Regarding fuses, 240's are notorious for troublesome fuses. The problem is
usually corrosion.
Remove all the fuses. Clean up the contacts in the fusebox (wire brush,
fine sand paper). Coat the contacts with dielectric grease. If the fuses
are the type with grey contacts I'd recommend discarding and replacing with
same amperage but with brass contacts. (This eliminates the "Galvanic
Action" which takes place between dissimilar metals, resulting in
corrosion.) I was able to find these jobbies at an outfit catering to VW's.
(Volvo apparently has never heard of Galvanic Action.) I'd also give the
new fuses a light coating of dielectric grease.

Good Luck.
Andy I. ('58 445 "wagon"; '65 122S wagon; '67 121 2-dr direct import;
'74 145 wagon; '74 142; '86 240 wagon; '93 240 Classic Wagon; '97 850 AWD LP
Turbo Wagon)


"Tim McNamara" <timmcn (AT) bitstream (DOT) net> wrote

: Thanks to the advice from posters so far, I am about 90% sure that I
: will have the 240 engine fixed unless it is some outrageous problem. I
: tried some Seafoam to see if it might be possible to unstick something
: in the valve train; the noise is a little quieter but still present (my
: wife thinks it's much quieter, but it sounds only a little different to
: me). Other than the noise it still runs like a top with plenty of vroom.
:
: I am still suspecting either something with one or more valve adjusting
: shims (the valve clearances have not been been adjusted in 102,000 miles
: so those puppies have been in there a long time; I wonder if they are
: bouncing around on top of the cam followers) and/or the rubber "hushers"
: between the valve spring keepers and the cam followers.
:
: On the advice of a friend and long-time 240 owner, I am going to see
: about taking the car to Whitney Scherer in Minneapolis for his opinion.
: Hopefully the problem is at the top of the engine and won't require the
: expense of yanking the head. It may need a new front seal as there is a
: slight oil leak up there somewhere.
:
: Of the various things wrong there are some things I can readily do
: myself, such as checking the flame trap. Another project is that
: suddently the high beams don't work. Switching them on causes the
: headlights to turn off and the high beam indicator on the dash doesn't
: come on. The high beam relay makes a firm, audible "click." I have not
: yet done the obvious and looked at the bulbs themselves, although the
: bulb failure light does not come on either. I have not checked fuses
: yet. Are there known problems to look for? Do the high beam relays
: fail like the overdrive relays?

one thing I have found is check for electrolisis ,crud on terminals
..Recently a chap who brought my sons old 240 rang saying the car just
stopped and he was going to get it towed to a specialist .I told him where
the fuses were and asked him to roll each fuse a little ,it started straight
away .I was told I was a legend but in fact the fuses are a legend they play
up so every so often clean them .
"Tim McNamara" <timmcn (AT) bitstream (DOT) net> wrote