i've gone and started something...

[leechettle]

Hello there fellow 480 enthusiasts!!

I am the proud owner of a 1994 480S in steel grey metallic, another M***SUD

I bought the car back in January, from a nice chap in Birmingham for the princely sum of 475 pounds.

Not sure why I went for a 480 though, didn't see many of them on the road so I thought I'd get one, and now I'm smitten. I love my little 480, even with all its eccentricities!

first, a list of the stuff I've had to do to it...

rear gearbox mount had sheared, and the support beam had been mangled in the process, the whole engine was sat on top of the power steering pipes for a while, surprised they didn't cut through..anyway..
took me a while to find a replacement mount, originally bought the wrong one from PartsforVolvo, sent it back and finally found 1 on ebay for 20 quid. bargain, and got the support beam fixed and all installed for 70 quid. well chuffed.

second, i had an erratic speedo and the fuel guage didn't work, got worried thinking i was going to have to spend more money on new sensors and fuel sender, but found the answer to my problem under the bonnet.. when the engine had dropped from the faulty mount, it had snapped a wire coming from the third terminal on the altenator, re-attached this and hey presto, i had a working speedo and fuel guage again! I believe its the same wire that powers the digital display on non S models.

The most recent problems have been MOT related, front brakes needed replacing, headlights pointed in the wrong direction, but the biggest of these was my emissions were right out. switched the lambda, which helped, but the not uncommon problem of the erratic idle sent it off, so got an idle valve, again ebay, and finally got it passed! well chuffed.

This site has been a big help in finding solutions since finding it months ago. Also a good read on all i have to look forward to with my car.

Cheers for the info folks, hope to get photos on here soon.

leechettle