Some episodes from the life of my 480

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Sun Jul 21, 2013 8:51 pm

While washing off insects from the headlights after my last trip down south, I made an amazing discovery. After turning on the lights, turning off the engine, and turning .. oh no opening the door, well I heard a little whistle. It was barely audible and I checked it a few times. Apparently the 480 has a lights on warning. I've never heard this before in the eight years I own this car. The volume is way to low, probably an error of some sort.

Trip south was smooth and fast. Exploited all 130kp/h stretches and returned 13 1/3 km/l with a/c on. That's ok. Must have been due to back wind.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:14 pm

A trip to my cousin in the east and yes, also a hop across the border for fuel. This was reached by short stretch of unlimited Autobahn and on the way back I used the opportunity to floor the pedal. The car quickly speeded up to 180, from there things slowed and a Dutch Beemer had of course to go overtake at low speed in front of us. Then we were at the border again and had to obey to the Dutch speed limit.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Sun Sep 08, 2013 4:55 pm

The Volvo 480 the way my niece sees it:

Image
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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jamesy12345
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by jamesy12345 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 2:47 am

I know I'm not supposed to comment here.....but.....that's great Van, who is in the back?

She has caught the lower front grill and I like the round lights btw, the rear look like the back of a Audi A6 (C5 shape saloon) - you have a future car designer in the family :)
Current:
Volvo S60 '04
Renault 21 '91
Subaru Legacy '05
Mazda RX-7 '93
Renault 5 '84

Previous:
440 2 litre, 440 Turbo, 460 Turbo, 480 Turbo x2, 854 T-5R, S40 T4, V40 T4, S70 T5 & R, V70 R x2, S60 R

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:42 am

jamesy12345, thanks for your reply. In the back is my dog. I also thought the rear lights looked like from a Citroen C6.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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jamesy12345
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by jamesy12345 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:15 am

Thanks Van. When I was around 7 or 8 years old I sent some pictures to a local Nissan factory with some of my designs*, and received a very nice thank you letter and Nissan key ring

*pictures, including an articulated truck with ventian blinds for the driver

:D
Current:
Volvo S60 '04
Renault 21 '91
Subaru Legacy '05
Mazda RX-7 '93
Renault 5 '84

Previous:
440 2 litre, 440 Turbo, 460 Turbo, 480 Turbo x2, 854 T-5R, S40 T4, V40 T4, S70 T5 & R, V70 R x2, S60 R

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Van
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Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:38 am

Me too was very much into car design. I'll tell you a story, my mum once was in hospital. She shared a room with another woman and as women are they'd talk about their children. So my mum had told her son liked to draw cars. The other woman then told her son worked as a designer for Volvo and they were working on a secret project for a small sports car, that would have an amazing design.
Last edited by Van on Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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jamesy12345
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by jamesy12345 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:42 pm

Nice one Van, there are too many coincidences in the world for them to be only coincidences!
Current:
Volvo S60 '04
Renault 21 '91
Subaru Legacy '05
Mazda RX-7 '93
Renault 5 '84

Previous:
440 2 litre, 440 Turbo, 460 Turbo, 480 Turbo x2, 854 T-5R, S40 T4, V40 T4, S70 T5 & R, V70 R x2, S60 R

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Van
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Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
Location: Ich bin ein Berliner!

Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:08 pm

Last week I found my 480 with a flat battery. So flat not even the warning lights on the instrument panel came up. With help from the ANWB roadservice I had it jump started. I have no real clue why the battery was flat. It's one year in use so it should be 100%. I think I may not have shut the rear window properly. It happened to me once before but I discovered it in time. So far, the flat battery did no re-occur.

Yesterday I drove to Harlem and The Hague. On the way to Harlem I spotted no less then 5 Morgans going into the opposite direction. They probably went to a meeting, you don't see 5 Moggies in one day in this country.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:29 am

Van wrote:...In Germany, prices of fuel go up and down all day. It can happen you drive into town and see e.g. above mentioned 1,60 indicated. Then when returning it may be up or down by as much as 8 or 10 cents. The prices are dictated by the big oil companies. A common policy is, they go up when commuters are likely to fill up, and down during the day to increase traffic. Also apparently on Monday prices are lower. When surrounding petrol stations lower their price, the others will follow within minutes. Holidays and days off by default mean an increase in price. According to the guy from the petrol station I often visit, even the closing rate of the German stock exchange is used as an excuse to change the fuel price. It's a terror and psychological war.
The Germans are really fed up with this fuel price war. Apparently there is no way the government can or want to control this. But they came up with this solution. All fuel stations have to forward every price change to the Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe (institute for fuel prices clarity). Through a few authorized websites you can get an instant view at the fuel prices at that moment.

For me the website mehr-tanken.de and the app clever-tanken.de work best. On a tablet, your location can be automatically transmitted and you'll see a list of the prices in a chosen distance.
While I had to go for fuel I watched it for a couple of days and made some observations. In the morning the prices are highest. From 10am on they may drop. In the afternoon prices are at the lowest level for the day. In the evening, they go up again. In the weekend, starting on Friday the prices go up. Wednesday or Thursday may see a one or two cent lower lowest price then the other weekdays. The difference between low and high on the same day can be over 10 cents!
All this applies to the fuel stations I checked, it might be different elsewhere.

At home, I've also been putting an app to good use. The DirectLease Tankservice app works perfect for me. With GPS on, it knows where I am and shows a map with red, orange and green marked fuel stations. By ticking on them the prices are displayed.

While at the apps, for the desperate Volvo 480 driver are a number of speedometer apps available. They will show your speed calculated from GPS data on your phone or tablet.

An interesting speedometer app I've tried on my last drive is the DigiHud. It displays a mirrored digital speedometer. When the display is put on top of the dashboard in front of the windscreen, at night the display is then mirrored into the front window and you have a head-up display of your speed. It can also show an odometer and other trip information like maximum speed achieved. I found all these little bits of information annoying and distracting in the window and only discovered later at home the digits can be swiped to full-size. The color can be set to preference and it is possible to have the color change at a preset speed, e.g. the allowed speed limit.

Image
This picture is taken at home in front of a mirror. It works better then it looks here.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:47 pm

And another year road legal! Just passed the APK (MOT)! A big relief!
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

ChrisDK
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by ChrisDK » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:22 pm

Thumbs up ! :hopping:

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Today I was able to do the 'Oberhausen straight' and was lucky enough to have so much free road I could achieve 193kph (120mph) according to my gps. The speedo is pretty accurate in that region, just a little over. Just like last time, up to about 180kph (120mph) goes easy. From 180kph to about 188kph (117mph) takes some time and from there it takes forever to squeeze those last kilometers or miles from the engine. I might have gotten even more if it wasn't for an overtaking Panda. From there more traffic so only attempts. But I'm satisfied.

Just before the border topped up the fuel tank again and drove home restrained with about 110kph (68mph) to get and a keep a low figure in the info center. At home I had 6.3l/100km (45mpg) on the display. What in reality is a little bit more, about 6.6l/100km.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

User avatar
Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:11 am

Continuing the economy story from above, I was able to refuel in Germany for €1.50/l and calculate an average fuel consumption of 14.65km/l (about 41mpg). But it took a lot of restraint to get there.

After returning home washed the car and was a bit upset by the state the right hand rear wheel arch is in:

Image


Image


With the timing belt replacement already scheduled soon I'm not looking to spent a lot of money on fixing the wheel arch. And advice and recommendations are welcome!
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by ChrisDK » Thu Jan 16, 2014 9:33 pm

Sorry to see that Your wheel arch got red bugs, it almost worse than mine.

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Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:16 pm

Thanks ChrisDK for your kind words.

While the car was in the workshop I had them done some rustproofing, mostly greasing it to keep it a little under control. They reckon for the next APK (MOT) they'll have to weld in a piece of metal.

The car was in the workshop to get the scheduled cam belt change. I got one via the internet for a third less then the workshop supplier would charge. They had some considerations and insisted on buying an 'A' brand, so SKF it was. By chance I explained to them the government is really hard on us ordinary people so I have to do things on a shoe-string, or not. This was accepted.

The rotten bastards steal our money and increase taxes, rents, everything. Last years I went down about a hundred a month, each year :angry:
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

User avatar
Van
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Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:53 pm

An episode of nasty surprises. Friday for two weeks, I had to discover my car cover was falling apart. On Monday I had put it on the car, on Friday I saw something waving in the wind and saw this:

Image

And there was more of that. I took it back to the store, they were going to investigate it, and in the afternoon I got a phone call I would get a new one under warranty. I'm afraid the new will look the same in one year and three months. To me it looks like nylon and that will fall apart in the sunlight.


Past weeks I had several longer trips. To friends, to family, to Germany. All went fine. In Germany once more achieved 193kph on the Autobahn before having to release the throttle. Returned on Monday, and last Friday wanted to go shopping out of town. Well didn't get that far. The engine just dropped dead. After freewheeling to a safe place it would start again and I tried again. Well a couple of hundred meters and it dropped dead again. So called for the Wegenwacht. Since it was running again and refused to drop dead what could the man do?
We decided to try to drive to my workshop. When I got in and reached for my seat-belt it dropped dead again. It started though and I reached the workshop followed by the Wegenwacht.
Both the workshop owner and the wegenwacht mentioned the crankshaft sensor as a possible cause for this mishap. It's my guess to.
I got a Twingo from the workshop owner to proceed my shopping.

The place I usually park my car is getting darker and darker, and apparently the car is loosing oil. It's hard to detect, I checked all the time last weeks, only never had clear indicators. But Friday I noticed drops on the other spot where had parked the car. I'll phone the workshop first tomorrow and have them check where it's coming from.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

User avatar
Van
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:12 pm

The oil leakage is fixed, this was coming from a drive shaft. Last year the other was leaking, that's two fills of fresh transmission oil in a year.

Idle now really sucks, last Friday a few times the engine even stalled when releasing the pedal and applying the clutch.

Meanwhile started work on the outside, give the paint it's annual work-over and wax job. The car cover really makes a difference but after 1.5 year the red gets pale and needs refreshing. The left side was in surprising good condition though. The right side is the bad side.
Worked on this for a couple of days now and have only the roof left to do.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

User avatar
Van
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Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
Location: Ich bin ein Berliner!

Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Fri May 02, 2014 8:16 pm

Finished the roof and put the car under cover minutes before rain came down. The paint now is so slick it's hard to get the cover over the car, it slides off all the time!

In the afternoon had time to look under the bonnet. Most of the afternoon the idle had been low but now when I had time to look into the issue the engine idled perfect. I tried a couple of times by turning off and on again but the engine picked up idle fine. Same with A/C on and off.
When it's in the unstable idle state, it will also not adjust the idle when the A/C is turned on, that seems a clue to me.

I couldn't find aforementioned adjustment screw that should be next to the throttle.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

User avatar
Van
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Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
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Re: Some episodes from the life of my 480

Post by Van » Fri May 16, 2014 6:34 am

The idle now is sort of back to normal. During a 6 day trip I had no issues with it. During my trip last month I had topped up the fuel with 5 liters of E10. I had never done it before and the car should be suitable for it. And what is 5 liter on a 60 liter capacity? But now I do wonder if this had something to do with the idle issue. Technically it should make no difference. But the coincidence is there. Well, no more E10 for my car, that's for sure.

Even with all the fuel consuming troubles I managed to score close 13km/l when fueling in Germany Tuesday. I had the boot fully loaded both ways. The steering felt a little lighter but didn't let me down. After I finished polishing the car I hoped to make a shiny arrival but during most of my traveling it was rain, more rain, and even more rain.
When returning, close to home washed the car and saw the shiny red again.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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