1st, 2nd and Reverse

Scottish_Jamie · Post by **Scottish_Jamie** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:08 pm

Hi All,

I recently purchased a 1990 480ES 1.7i, it cost me Â£102 on ebay...and to my shock and amazement, went through the MOT 1st time.

Now I am new to Volvo, but not the Swedish cars, I have had 14 Saabs!!!

the little 480 needs some TLC for sure, but a sound investment of Â£102 (I hope)

I used to have one of these, it was bought on a whim driving past a 2nd hand car lot, and to be honest, it was a pup!!! I have always had a bit of a soft spot for them tho, and the time seemed right.

I saw it when browsing eBay, and it just screamed

"SOMEONE BUY ME AND LOOK AFTER ME"

but she has a couple of problems, one of which I hope you guys can help out with, the gearshift.

When you start to drive the car, the gears are fine, but the more you drive the stiffer 1st and 2nd get, and when you have been on a long journey, 1st is VERY tough, When you change into reverse after a journey, the it crunches.... any ideas??

Can anyone let me know what the likely culprit is, and how this issue can be remedied.

I am sure this will not be my last post, as I was a regular in the Saab forums and am now totally and completely in love with the car.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jamie

Richmann1 · Post by **Richmann1** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:53 pm

Congratulations on your purchase looks like a good buy. How high is the biting point on the clutch? Could be a suspect may require adjusting

nice and simple. Would be worth checking the oil level as well but should be ok. Hope that helps

Richard

owen080808 · Post by **owen080808** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:34 pm

Wahey another scots member, welcome to the club! where abouts in scotland if you dont mind me asking?

On the gearbox front i think it'd be worth checking the 'box oil. If its been unloved in the past then this may well have been neglected, also you said the problem changes as the car (and gearbox oil) warms up (and gets thinner/splashed about a bit) which points me to the oil level, its got to be a relatively cheap thing to try first off at least.

edit: could also be worn gear linkage, mine has this but its never been bad enough to provoke me to get around to changing them, rumour has it that there are some relatively cheap replacement bushings to be had from volvo to sort this prob, but like i say ive still yet to try!

Good luck!

Scottish_Jamie · Post by **Scottish_Jamie** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:54 pm

Thanks for the advice, I had thought it was possibly the gear linkage, I know this was a problem with Saabs of the same era......and I have a feeling that the oil will be a problem too, next weekend will, I thnk be a a 480 weekend as the water pump will be getting changed, so may as well take a pop at the gearbox oil too..

owen080808 wrote:Wahey another scots member, welcome to the club! where abouts in scotland if you dont mind me asking?

On the gearbox front i think it'd be worth checking the 'box oil. If its been unloved in the past then this may well have been neglected, also you said the problem changes as the car (and gearbox oil) warms up (and gets thinner/splashed about a bit) which points me to the oil level, its got to be a relatively cheap thing to try first off at least.

edit: could also be worn gear linkage, mine has this but its never been bad enough to provoke me to get around to changing them, rumour has it that there are some relatively cheap replacement bushings to be had from volvo to sort this prob, but like i say ive still yet to try!

Good luck!

lee · Post by **lee** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:57 am

Sounds to me like the gearbox oil is dead. One of the best replacements for this if you don't want to pay dealer prices is MILLERS oils. They have different grades with different additives.

Also grease up the selector joints under the car as these are prone to crap up

Scottish_Jamie · Post by **Scottish_Jamie** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:40 am

owen080808 wrote:Wahey another scots member, welcome to the club! where abouts in scotland if you dont mind me asking?

Sorry missed that one on the 1st read, I am a Glaswegian, but have been living in Brum for just over a year now.

The Scottish Jamie, comes from the fact that, that's what everyone calls me.

All the best

Jamie

lee · Post by **lee** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:27 pm

hey a fellow brummy then

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:39 pm

And he lives six doors down the road from me!

(which I believe means he'll be wanting a hand with a certain water
pump soon... *grin*)

Cerbie

lee · Post by **lee** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:07 pm

Yet another brummy then.

Hello fellow brummies I am Lee at the HOMD

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:40 pm

What another fellow Brummie?

Welcome to the Brum mad house

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:39 pm

Cor loads of Brummies...!

Does this mean I can make some calls if the new turbo does need
it's gearbox changing??? *grin*

We sorted Jamies gearbox woes. It got really bad.. refusing to go
into 1st or 2nd at all!

Had a look at the pedal and it's 'at rest' position seemed very low.
There is a bent metal 'stop' that seems to set the 'rest' position.

So.... I backed the 'stop' all the way back.. Leading to a pedal that
darned near touched the steering column! With the pedal set this high
I re-set the cable at the gearbox end (22mm of travel) et viola! Gearbox
changing into all gears smoother than it's ever done while in Jamies
ownership!

Next step... I set the pedal to a more sensible height.. About half an
inch higher than the brake... Then reset the cable at the gearbox end
again.. aaaaannnd still had a good gearchange...

That's that.. all sorted.. nice easy gear changes once more... *phew*

With much thanks to Jamie for running back to my gaff to get my
decent spanner set.. then again for my Mechanix gloves.. then again
for my smokes!!

If only fixing my ES and my Turbo was as easy!

Brasco · Post by **Brasco** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:10 pm

mate, any time you need a hand.... I'll point you in Lee's direction

Nah, we'll get that turbo going, no prob.

L8ERS · Post by **L8ERS** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:34 am

Hi I'm also a fellow Brummie. Just bought mine got it through MOT quite happy with it. I haven't taken any photos as of late but the site I found it on is still up - check it out!

http://www.infinityjunction.com/volvo480t.html

Bitting point on mine is quite high. I have been given some spares for the clutch peddle - what exactly, I don't know! Any tips?

L8ERS · Post by **L8ERS** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:32 pm

Would you adam and eve it! I've gone and burnt out my clutch today! SO the issue with my car was the clutch itself.

Oh well that another Â£200 out of my wallet. I had been quoted Â£500 somewhere - not official Volvo!

On a good note at least the white smoke wasn't the turbo!

Moral of the story - get the expensive stuff done asap!

shimon340 · Post by **shimon340** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:58 pm

hi guys!!

wow, I was looking for a post about 1st 2nd and reverse being difficult and ta da!! here it is!!

cool

my actual question is about a 440 but seeing that the 4xx are the same platform all should be the same.

I have exactly the same problem

I was thinking of clutch adjustment and gear linkage being tight. speaking to volvo dealership they commented to check the gear linkage bushes. They are Â£1 something each... so I got a few.

I want to check the clutch adjustment. According to haynes this is done 100% only at the clutch fork end. on the 340 there are two types of clutch set ups, one adjusted at the pedal ( later type ) and the other at the clutch fork. now hayens wasnt 100% correct on the info it gave, only with a volvo green book did it all make sense

the haynes 340 manual has quite a few errors etc but whats the 440 one like? better?

it says for the 400 there are two types of clutch forks. however, there are no pics so how do I know what one the 440 has??

also, gear linkage.. there is a rubber cover on the linkage- if I pull that back ( it didnt seem to want to come off last time ) shall I grease the linkage there with CV boot grease?

the clutch adjustment looks the same process as the 340 - in fact the nylon clutch fork grommit is the same as a 340 ( dutch volvos

)

any advise please?

thanks!

Shimon

( bought a 480 auto last week... amazing car!! looks similar to the one in the post here but its got clear indicators )

shimon340 · Post by **shimon340** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:59 pm

if you guys are in brum... Im only in manchester... dont mind running the car down to you!

Agwa Moose · Post by **Agwa Moose** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:24 pm

Haynes theory on clutch adjustment = great steaming piles of crap

The way I've done mine is simple, the type of fork makes no difference, as you adjust it the pedal position moves, get it so it's level with the brake pedal and give it a try, if it doesn't feel right give it a couple of turns and try it again, once you're happy with it then you're done

If it's biting low tighten it, biting high then loosen it

Hope that helps

J

shimon340 · Post by **shimon340** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:15 pm

hi...ahh haynes and accuracy strikes again!! ha ha!

the clutch feels ok, just a bit awkward getting into low gears as above - guess thats the linkage then

thanks for the advise and info!!

S

Volvo 480 Club Europe

1st, 2nd and Reverse

1st, 2nd and Reverse

Clutch

Yayyyyyyy!