I have always admired the Volvo 240 series of cars but never expected to own one. This one literally fell into my lap and become the favorite of my winter beaters. The fact that it was built in Canada was the icing on cake for me.
My good friend Rod had purchased this Volvo from the local scrapyard a few years previously. It was a low mileage car with a few issues that needed taken care of. He revived to it back to roadworthy status but the car was a bit cursed with constant issues. His well used Volvo 242 seemed to be more reliable. He tried to unload the silver 244 GLE with little success. He was perhaps too honest in his ads and did not want to see the car scrapped. Out of the blue he offered it to me. Even with its chequered reliability record how could I possibly turn it down?
The 244 GLE was a Canadian market car and was the upper end of the 240 range. It is roughly equivalent to the US market GL. The engine is a 113hp 2.3L B23F fuel injected straight four. The more basic DL specification cars were still equipped with carburetors in Canada. My car had a four speed manual gearbox with electric overdrive. When new it would have had alloy wheels instead of the steelies that had been swapped on at some time in the past.
The first Volvo assembly plant built outside of Sweden was the Volvo Halifax Assembly Plant which opened in 1963. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia the plant was put into service to get around hefty levies on imported cars and took advantage of the Auto Pact which unified the American and Canadian markets. Cars were shipped from Sweden in CKD (Complete Knock Down) kit form and assembled at the plant. Canadian Volvo production ended in 1998 but my Volvo was one of the many built there.
A free car generally comes with a list of things wrong with it. Despite being a low mileage (170K kms) car this Volvo was no exception. It was non-running in need of a timing belt, fuel pump, leaky front brake lines and missing rear quarter window. Although Volvo is famed for its comfortable seats this car proved to be the exception. The front seat had lost a significant amount of foam on one side and was quite uncomfortable after half an hour at the wheel. On the plus side it came with an era-appropriate selection of cassette tapes.
The cam belt change went well and the Volvo brick was soon running again.
Not only was the rear quarter window missing but also the frame as well. At the local junkyard they had some Volvo 240s but they were all of the newer, thinner window style.This one was liberated from a 1991 example but thanks to long use of the same basic body shell it physically fit the 1984. I brought my ice-cream bucket of tools along but only needed that red one – a baseboard pry bar.
Still it looked decent and certainly better than the duct taped garbage bag that was there previously.
Brakes were up next. The car had newer pads and rotors but the front passenger side lines leaked badly. Some new lines were bent up with use of an old Toyota alternator as a curve guide. This had to be done a couple times as some of the parts store fittings still leaked.
Adding to the frustration the front brakes have three bleeders on each caliper on the early 240s. They have to be bleed in the exact order for it to be effective. After a few failed attempts I finally had a car that accelerated and braked.
A few cosmetic but cheap maker over items followed. The cam cover on the 240 was looking a bit stained and sad. With a left over can of BBQ paint I painted the cover black then removed the paint from the raised Volvo letters. It deliberately was not perfect so it did not look out of place with the rest of the engine compartment. The 113hp rating made it the most powerful vehicle we owned at the time (59hp Mercedes-Benz 220D and 100hp Mazda 2).
By this point the 244 was registered, insured and became my new daily driver. To celebrate I wanted up give the appearance a bit of a face lift. While not a set of factory alloy wheels I added a bit of black paint to the center of the factory steel wheels to give them a new look. Of course one of the partial hubcaps fell off soon after.
The side view mirrors were letting the looks of the car down but a coat of black paint came to the rescue again.
I had borrowed the big battery from the diesel Benz and the over-sized battery masked the fact that the alternator was not charging. This left me stranded with a dead battery after work one day. I went to the local scrapyard to source myself a new one. They had a single 240, a pair of 740s and a 940 turbo. The 240 was a wagon that had its engine mostly stripped including the alternator. The 940 was a turbo but well picked over including the whole engine. Only one of the 740s had its alternator intact. Luckily it looked reasonably new and would work in my 244.
The alternator is up nice and high on the Volvo 740. Quick and easy to remove. The internet hadn’t made it totally clear if it would be the same unit as the 240 but they looked the same. Despite the different position all the mounting brackets are the same. I was able to trial fit it to the 245 wagon in the yard before buying. The new one was harder to fit into the 240 due to the low down location on the passenger side. A radiator hose made it a tight fit to squeeze by.
Photo from http://www.davebarton.com
While the charging issue had been solved I needed one further item to attend to. The fuel pump worked well if the gas tank was more than half full but once that threshold passed then it would buck and eventually stall. This particular 244 had two fuel pumps; one external and another in tank one. The external one had been recently replaced appeared to still be working well. The issue had to be with the in tank fuel pump. The replacement pump had been included with the car but it is not a particular pleasant task to replace. The little rubber hose on mine had completely dissolved thus the in-tank pump was completely ineffective when the fuel level dropped too far. Luckily I had a bit of fuel hose the right size in my random parts box.
If there is one job that a Volvo 240 series owner fears the most it is the heater fan replacement. The old joke about the assembly line working starting with a heater fan and building the rest of the car around it cannot be too far off the truth. My fan worked when I received the car but called it quits moments after I got the Volvo its mandatory safety inspection. Given that is was now winter I needed a fix sooner than later. The heater itself worked and windshield would stay clear without the fan but the car’s cabin remained frigidly cold. My kids were less than impressed when after requesting heat hearing that there was none coming.
A break in the winter weather meant another visit to the scrapyard. Luckily the quite stripped the 245 wagon there still had a heater fan to be harvested. The advantage of pulling parts at the scrapyard is you get an idea of the job ahead and can practice on a junked car.
With the fan replaced the Volvo pumped out the hot air in winter. Traction on the rear axle was a bit limited so a cautious application of throttle was needed. Looking back and taking a page from pickup owners and dropping a couple cement blocks in the trunk likely would have improved winter traction. My wife found herself a 2005 Ford Expedition so the Mazda 2 was passed back to me and the Volvo was no longer required for driving duties. Given that it still had the original wiring harness which is well known for disintegrating over time I figured it was time to move on. It all worked but from what I have read they all fail at some point. While I (mostly) enjoyed my time with the Volvo it was time for it to find a new home. It would free up a spot in the garage for something a little less practical.
Well done! There’s no salient reason why a machine a serviceable as yours should have been dispatched to the crusher. Obviously your diligent efforts precluded that.
Also didn’t know that Volvo’s Halifax plant dated back to ’63; I’m certain a lot of 122s and 144s rolled out of there, too.
David,
You had a fabulous automobile there. As a lifelong Volvo enthusiast I see the beauty in owning and driving an old RWD brick. I’m the owner of two 740s (1986 and 1991) so I know all the repair and maintenance requirements that these tanks have.
It was a real nice car. Would have needed the engine wiring harness sooner or later I suspect. I could have easily kept it going for many more years if needed.
We all need a friend like you, David. A guy who will fix all of the nasty things on an old car and have it in good shape for the next guy, who still can buy it quite reasonably.
Yes, the lack of an operable blower is no fun in the winter. Which is also the worst time to have to fix it.
The car just looks so “right” sitting there on the snow in the last picture. Good job getting it fully operational again, what a great car to drive around in the winter. Your wife made quite the change going from a Mazda2 to an Expedition. I think the only way the shock could be greater would be if it was the other way around!
Perhaps or perhaps not. The Mazda2 is a fine little car to drive(especially in stick shift guise) I went from a 2008 Taurus(aka the ford five hundred with more fake wood and chrome) which was full size to a 2012 Ford Fiesta and I got used to it really quickly, I found in the year I owned it that I really did not need all the space that a big car had. Plus that 40-41 mpg was wonderful.
We still have both the 2 and the Expedition and it quite a contrast flipping from one to the other. The 2 with the 5spd is quite tossable and fun to drive.
When your other car is an Expedition, ANYTHING else is tossable and fun to drive. 🙂
David, I always enjoy your stories. I admire your can-do attitude. Personally, I find the shot of the dashboard with the wires hanging out frightening.
Just one nit to pick, and I’ve picked it with other writers here: if the Volvo had literally fallen in your lap, you wouldn’t have lived to restore it. Glad you did.
Nice job! Those cars was Norways best selling cars in about 10 years in a row. My dad had one i remember when I was a little boy. They had a reputation for been slow and thirsty but very reliable.
But, today, I can’t find one reason at all to choose (sorry for this, but in Norway american cars are a bit exotic, and has always been) a Volvo 244 GLE over a Caprice or a Malibu. I just can’t. But in USA and Canada Volvo seems to give you some status or what you americans call it. Is that right? At least the 240/740 gave some status when they were new?
They were kinda sorta status symbols when new…not in a flashy “look at me I drive a foreign car” way but in a quieter “I appreciate craftsmanship and reliability” sort of way. They were the kind of car driven by professors, accountants, etc, not high-powered lawyers or folks trying to have more driveway jewelry than their neighbors. Even the very expensive 780 Bertone ($35,000+ in 1987) didn’t look much different than a 760 sedan minus two doors, unless you were really looking for the differences.
Now? They’re valued for their durability. A GM B-body or G-body will last quite a long time if you treat it right, but a 240 given the same level of care will probably go another 100K miles before a major problem happens. Plus the “slightly exotic” flavor an old American car has in Norway works the same way for an old Volvo here. That and they get much better gas mileage than a big V8 full-frame Caprice, Malibu, or Cutlass!
Ok. I think I’ll understand.
But still I’ll think the GM B-body with the right drivetrain is a bit better when it comes to the reliability than the Volvo. Not to mention the B-body is roomier, quieter and way more comfortable and have more equipment. That’s why I’ll never had understood the status the 240 had in America. The car is small, thirsty, noisy at highwayspeeds and the suspension, well, it’s doesn’t actually absorb the bumps…
Gas mileage with an automatic gearbox isn’t very much better than a Caprice sedan with the 305 TBi and 4-speed automatic. I’ll say it comes out about even there.
As I’ve understood it the 240 sold better in some regions of America, better in California than in Texas? Why would some in the US buy a car without 8 cylinders is another question that I’ve never understood. With your gas-prices, even today, I would have bought a car with 8 cylinders. why does so many buy a car with 4 cylinders when you’ll only have to pay 3,5 USD for a gallon? I drive a 8 cylinder here in Norway and I’ve to pay 9,4 USD for a gallon of pertrol. I don’t know the average income in tha US today, but I don’t think it’s under half of what we make in Norway?
That said. I love old cars, Volvo or Chevrolet. But my heart is with the old american land yatchs and the fullsize cars.
Articles like this make me miss my ’75 245, yes a ’75, North America only abortion, with the pushrod B20 engine. The only car I have owned that I loved and hated all at the same time. And yes, heater fans are FUN to change in these! But when the weather is bad, nothing drives like these, and with IPD springs and sway bars which I put on mine, even a “brick” can be fun
Cool, all the way: the car, the fixes, the pictures and the weather!
My only real regret about owning my 245 was not doing the engine swap I had planned. 4.3 Chev V6, 700R4 OD trans, both built and sitting on the shelf, ready to go. I even seeked out and bought a rear axle from a diesel 240, the tallest gears you could get in one these Volvo Dana axles….would have been a killer sleeper, any one else agree?
I’d bet that would be nice drive train. I actually did think about it if the engine wiring harness ever failed. Would be similar to swapping in a small block Chevy V8.
If the alternator is Bosch- what happens is that the brushes wear down & start arcing; this takes out the regulator.
GOOD NEWS- if the bearings are smooth & the rotors are OK enough, the brushes & regulator come as a unit. They screw onto the back; if there’s a black plastic cover, it goes under that, on the metal rear of the alternator. Last one I bought cost ~$40. If the alternator is easy to reach, it can be done while in place.
Blower motor- I’ve done dozens of those. Yes, it does involve removing the car from around it. 740/940 are too new for me, I’ve never touched one. The blower motors are supposed to be a lot more easy to reach.
Trivia- the new blower motors from the dealer were cheap enough, but always different from the one in the car + from the other replacement motors; they always required some modification.
I’m familiar with the early 240 with the B20; they’re pretty much diesel-slow.
The same friend gave me a set of brushes after the fact. The junkyard alternator looked brand new and was very cheap so not a massive loss.
I am glad the new alternator worked out for you. Just a heads up though for future references. Volvo uses an exciter wire to tell the alternator to start to charge the battery. If the exciter wire is broken or loose it will not wake the alt up. Also if the bulb in the battery indicator is burned out then it will not charge. Most of us folks with the 240 bought the optional Volvo battery gauge.
It figuratively fell into your lap. Great article though.
I always enjoy your writeups. I had no idea that some Volvos were built in Canada. I like the look of the steel wheels with the black paint.
Great series David. After 8 years ownership mum’s Fiat 131 was looking rather shabby, so dad got her a new 1986 Volvo 240 sedan to complement his 74 145. She absolutely loved that car. She loved the solidity, the space and most particularly it’s lack of go (she is a timid driver). She had it for 20 years and wanted another when it was written off after a rear ender. The newer Volvos were not to her or dad’s taste so he got her a base-level Corolla hatch (which I absolutely love driving). Now she wants an Alfa hatch, but I’m trying to talk her out of it. For some reason this (still) timid driver has developed a peculiar taste for watching Formula One races. Still can’t figure that one out.
Fire-engine red and named ‘the flying brick’. I miss it as well.
I love how this looks with those painted steel wheels! The perfect car for a big empty parking lot full of unplowed snow. It’s really cool that this was one of the Halifax-assembled cars, too. If I was Canadian, I’d have been especially proud of that fact and probably would have spraypainted little black maple leaves below the VOLVO logo on each fender.
Hang on David. I hope these photographs aren’t current. Winter in Canada starts in September? Poor you.
Was loaned a red 240 back in….1986 (?) The newer models were about to be release and the Volvo agent wanted rid of the old stock, so they were discounted to HK$ 250,000.00 (trust me, that’s cheap here).
So the ad agency wanted a simple, clean photo of it. Went like stink and the agency boss boasted it accelerated faster than the current Porche. Nice car, well built.
We do get snow once in a while in September but not that much! I sold the Volvo last spring. I think I owned it for 7-8 months.
Another in quite a list of interesting winter cars. And I do love the fact that you were able to get a car that had been scrapped once, and given up on after that, back into operation and out on the road. That’s a public service! I do like the black paint treatment on the wheels also.
Yep, through ’84—a single Pierburg carburetor with manual choke, surely the last production vehicle in North America to come with a manual choke. About a decade ago I tried out a rusty ’84 DL offered for sale in Mississauga just to try it out. In a word: slow!
Looking to buy Volvo 1982 wheel hubcaps seen above in picture.