My new life with a youngtimer

Here you can start a thread about your 480 days. Only the starter of the thread is allowed to fill his thread, and only one thread per person. Threads are simply a personal diary.

Moderators: jifflemon, coyote1980, Rachel

Post Reply
ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:45 pm

Having dreamt about a youngtimer for years the search started this spring, many a car was disccused and finaly the discission was made to buy a 480.
The 480 was chosen because of its looks and roadhandling. The 480 is a rare care in Denmark and there is few to choose from, importing a car was out of the question due to our stupid impord taxes. Well a seemingly nice car was spotted and wieved with my father in law (that I now know has littel in deapth car knowledge) and bought at a reasonable price (compared to the Danish prises).

I'm now the proud owner of a white 1989 480 ES :D the car has a new MOT with only a faulty exaust. Nobody but me likes the car, the girlfreind thinks it's ugly and just so 80's but I don't mind, it's mine to drive not hers. I drove the car back a couple of hundred km in realy bad weather and I was really impressed with the handling, brakes and noise level, it realy made me smile :D

However the car is not without faults, some I was aware off and some I wasn't. Can't help feeling that the seller wasn't beeing totaly honest about the car, You know the feeling??

So here are the known faults and the to do list.

1) Exaust needs replacement
2) tires need replasement ( although I got 8 alloys with tires on, it is not possible to piece togehter 4 in the same size, I'm currently running M+S 175/60 on the front and M+S 185/65 on the rear, I'n not even sure that it is road legal so how on earth it got through the MOT beats be)
3) Rust, it needs to have the rear arches repaired on both sides and some other places as weel
4) The boot is like a fish bowl
5) Pop-up has a periodic fault
6) Long range beam's dosen't work (according to the seller they were never connected, find it hard to believe)
7) Rear fog lights stoped working on the way home
8) engine running a bit unsmooth at stable speeds
9) need new real lights and center plate as they are cracked and a possible reason amoung others to the water in the boot

Reading some of Your secret life stories make Me feeling a bit perfectionistic, the girlfreind says i'm to perfectionistic to have a old car and she might bee right, atleast I'm able to laugh at myself :lol: I'm not expecting a perfect car that is like new, but the basic thinks need to be in order. And maybe my biggest problem, the lack of a garage and knowledge about how to fix cars, but I'm willing to learn. Retrospectiv I might have bought a car with less electronics.

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:57 pm

First thing first.
I had to deal with the exaust problem so I went to the local garage. They fixed it allright and was very nice. hmm the exaust set Me back 420 pund :cryhard: which means the other things on MY to do list will have to wait a bit. But now the sound is just right, took the girlfreind for a ride to the countryside today and the car behaved itself. Althoung feeling a bit car sick, says I was driving too fast around corners it is groving on Her and on Me.

Next thing on the to do list is looking at the boot and get a qoute on the rust problem (I need to start saving up some money) proberly the rust issue won't be fixed the next couple of month, instead I will be driving it and hopefuly enjoying it.

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:16 pm

Forgot some more faults :wink:
Drivers seat was torn, initialy I thought of replasing it, I fixed it with duck tape and I can happily live with that.
Only one sprinkler working on the front and it dosen't work on the back, the back wiper dosen't work either, the rear window heater seems to work though suspect the backwindow wiring loom is faluty. Will look into that at some point.

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

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by Van » Sat Aug 18, 2012 7:50 pm

Don't get overwhelmed Chris!
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:02 pm

I'm taking it slowly no horry. So today's task was buying and replacing the numberplade bulb. Went to the local volvo dealer, got the bulb and ordered come clips for the enterior they should be here in a couple of days.
So replacement af the numberplate bulb, should be a easy fix, even for a newbee like me. Well not ecactely :cry: The first bulb that I got from the volvo dealer had the wrong size, had to go and change it and by the time I was ready to put in the new one it got a little tricky and the darn thing actualy broke :badmood: how hard can it be to change a bulb? well I better order some more bulbs and try again in the weekend. The second task today, removing and checking the interior lightning was posponed, I know it has a loose connection with in the lamp itself.

Other than that, the search for a rear light cluster has started, no luck so far :( one of the rear light cluster is not only cracked a big piece is actually missing on top of it. I will post some pictures of the car when I can.

Nice day to all :)

User avatar
jamesy12345
480 Veteran
Posts: 753
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Durham, England

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by jamesy12345 » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:03 pm

Hej Chris, good for you! Among other things on my list to fix.....I also have an intermittent problem with a pop up head light (on the passenger side).

Somewhere on this forum I read that this could be due to a bulb not working or for various other reasons. There is a way to manually lower the headlights from the engine bay if you are interested. Also the headlights will not raise if the bonnet is open. Maybe everyone knows these facts already but both were a surprise to me.

BTW last time I was in Denmark I was on the way to work, driving through looking for a McDonalds pancake breakfast meal. After driving from the southern border to Esbjerg I discovered that you don't have these!! Anyway I was in a 440 and the drive was very enjoyable.

Do you have a 'Biltema' shop in Denmark? Much cheaper than the Volvo dealer!

Held og lykke!
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

Hans Van Alphen
480 Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:01 am

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by Hans Van Alphen » Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:06 am

hello there Chris. Thanks for your post. Very inspiring and informative :D

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:26 pm

Thanks for the reply :) and the tip about Biltema. Denmark is a beautiful place, but we don't eat breakfast out (don't know why?) we usualy eat at home, mayby except for the weekends where brunch at the local cafe's is very popular.

About the pop-up problems, I've read a post about a similar problem please see the youtube video the guy made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeI3mRpBcMI I have the same problem, one day I will try and find the 87A spot in the eingine bay as suggested.

Other than that, my grilfreinds car broke down last weekend and she had to use the volvo for daily commute (I commute on my bicycle) the only complaint was problems getting into first gear. I actualy thinks she liked driving the volvo, just won't admit it :D

The clips from the volvo dealer arrived today, hopefully I will have the time to look into that during the weekend. Only problem beeing one of my collegs was laid off today due to the crisis, which meens I will have to work extra shifts for atleast 4-6 months, leaving only sunday to play with the volvo. I will be going to automania on sunday in the volvo, it's a classic car show and city sprint event (I won't be sprinting just looking) really looking forward to this event :)

Soon I will post pictures of my volvo :D
Nice weekend to everyone

User avatar
jamesy12345
480 Veteran
Posts: 753
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Durham, England

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by jamesy12345 » Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:20 pm

OK Chris, enjoy! Thanks for link.

PS quality of Biltema is a little bit variable, at least this was true of Norwegian version
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

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:42 pm

Just a quick update from the weekend. It's been raining cats and dogs all weekend, yesterday I took the car for a quick spin after work - no problems.
today I was on a 130 km roundtrip with a freind, besides that it was poring down and I had a struggle to keep the window free from dew (caused by the massive amount of water in the boot) the car dehaved itself.

On the return trip however, I first encountered unintended powerslides a couple of times going round a curvey road, was't that great an experience :eek: I have it down to the tire situation. The car started to misbehave, the unsmooth drive got worse and worse (we say it's running on kangaroo petrol) I have to read more posts about similar experiences, my own theory is that the injector nossels needs cleaning or replacement if often occurs when I'm easing on the throttle newer on acceleration? mayby the fuel filter needs replacements aswell.
Sometimes it seems like the gearstick is jumping around (the gear shift is precise) but like moving 1-2 cm vertically? a have a sneaking suspicion that the rear engine mount might be faulty, will have to read more threads about symptoms. Upon arrival at home I had to drive through a realy big pool of water and the distinct smell of electrics filled the car afterwards, I wonder what's not working tomorrow :shock:

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:51 am

Hmm at least there was one positive thing about the weekend, I did manage to change the clips in the interior, so now the door dosent rattle as much as before :D
The hunt for red october has't ceased yet, I found some brand new clusters in USA but the price :bla: pffff with import taxes something like 750 USD I'v been sending emails to various people, no replys what so ever WTF*** that about?

My attention has changed direction and the focus is now on getting the car to run, with the help from JIM I have a tjeck list to follow. Some spare parts is comming in from Germany including some window sealer wich I will be applying to the rear side window and rear clusters to stop the water comming in. If that works out allright I will focus on finding second hand replacements clusters later.
I have to think about how to spend my money,(I don't have a money tree) the rear arch repair really frightens me, so the expencive nice to have and not the need to have parts will have to wait. Don't know what a broken engine mount will set me back (if it's broken, don't know yet) but it's proberly not a bargain :badmood:

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:27 pm

To much work and no time to play with the car :cryhard: In the last couple of days I testet the rear engine mount no faults, and the cold start sensor wich seems to be broken. A new one is on it's way and I scould be able to pick it up sometime next week, don't know why but I don't feel comfortable drivng the car before it's been changed.

The other day I managed to get the rear sprinkler nozzle to function again, dismantled the read wiper motor and found it was disconnected, connected it but found it was'nt working mayby that's why it was disconnected. Lyckily this meens that the rear screen wiring loom isen't broken but I might have to get a new motor if I can't fix it.

I'm still debating wheather or not I'm confident enough to change the cold start sensor myself or i need the garage to do it, I alsow need to clean the throttle house and the idle control valve and mayby renew the lambda sonde i'v read somewhere that they only last for about 5000 miles (can ennyone waucher for that?) and hopefully the enging will once again run smoooooth :)

Nice weekend to everyboby :)

User avatar
Captain Slow
480 Expert
Posts: 686
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:13 pm
Location: St Andrews

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by Captain Slow » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:20 pm

A Lambda sensor should last much more than 5000miles, I've not had a problem in ~20,000miles and it won't have been new when I bought the car.
Previously....
Whitney - 95 N White celebration No.449/480 now with Ladyforatey
Lula - 94 M Volvo 480GT Sold on...
Daphne - 95 M volvo 440si 1.8 73,000K (sold :()

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:09 pm

Hello Captain Slow and thanks for your thoughts about the lambda sensor :)

I have been on a working spree since my last post and havent had the time to look at the car. A couple of days ago I had a few hours off work to pick up the new cold start sensor. I don't know why but my six sence told my to tjek the cooling fluid before taking off and that proved to be a very good idea :shock:
The expancion chamber (??) was bone dry, not a single drop of water left :cry: BTW I got the last available sensor in Denmark.

This made my previous debate about changing the sensor myself redundant, I called the local garage and yesterday I droped the car off on the way to work off course it was bone dry again. This made me think what could be wrong, a faulty hose ? or mayde even the head gasket ? I don't have the obvious sign of a broken head gasket, no smoke or water in the engine oil but it could be faulty but I don't have the obvious sign of a faulty hose either since I coudent see water leaking :badmood: the local garage will do some sort of preasure test on the cooling system on monday. Wish me luck, I really don't want it to be the head gasket It costs a fortune to change. Like everything else here in Denmark sending the car to a garage is expensive, soon I will be facing the fact that I have spent way more on repairs than the car is worth which really annoys me :angry: since i'm not done yet, still have the rust to sort out.
I don't want to sound like a cry baby :) just to have some more fun driving the car.

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:41 pm

Got the car back from the garage today.

A lot of things was changed, but not the ones I expected. The garage did a presure test on the cooling system and it was tight :) didn't explain why the expansion chamber was empty but it got some sort of seeler in the cooling system and I will have to chek up on the coolant level the next few days.

The distributor cap and the ht leads vere faulty adn was replaced with new ones, it might have been running on only 3 cyl. The engine was also leaking oil from a gasked behind the distributor cap.
The throttle body was cleaned, the cold starte sensor was't changed since I got the wrong sensor, but the wacum tube from the MAF to the throttle body was torn and was repaired, a new one is not availible in Denmark, ennyboby knows where to get a new one ?

The IDV was't cleaned, I will try to da that myself later.

The cold start idle judders has't improved and won't be before a new sensor is installed but the stuttering and shaking had massive imporvements and was barely noticable :) took it for a test drive and the only noticable problem was a slight increase in engine temperature, at one point where I was cought in a trafic jam it rose to 96 degres and the smell of heat was in the cabin. Once I started moving it was rapidly faling again to 85 degres. Hmmm...

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:11 pm

Picked up the car from the garage (Again) yesterday

The cold start sensor has been giving some trouble, the first one that I bought was the wrong one therefore the garage ordered the next one which also was wrong and left the car completely dead :eek:

Finaly after the best of a week at the garage it was finaly changed :D what a relief!!

I been test driving the car around town today and it drives fantastic :crazy: the coolant level has been stabil, the temperature has been under 90 degrees almost all the time. I won a ebay auction a couple of days ago, bought a used wacum inlet tube (?) since mine got repaired and won't last forever and it is no longer available. I did however loose a action today on a pair of rear clusters :cryhard:

The engine repair has taken a lot of time and money so now it is back to the original to do list! the weather has been realy bad the last couple of weeks so next thing on the list is to get a new rear windscreen wiper motor.

Nice weekend to all :)

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:09 pm

testing testing
Last edited by ChrisDK on Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
glasgowjim
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 4830
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:28 pm
Location: GLASGOW SCOTLAND

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by glasgowjim » Sun Nov 18, 2012 11:02 pm

I cant see the picture and most people use photobucket and copy the img .

as for second hand parts I dont have any turbo specific spares for sale but other stuff such as popup motors and so on, the parts that are common across all models I have spares so you can contact me anytime as being a moderator I am on the forum at least once a day everyday :rofl:

my parts thread http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/forum/v ... 58#p199758

and another thread that might interest you.
http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/forum/v ... 5&start=20

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:11 pm

With a littel help from Jim I've finaly managed to add pictures :D I havn't been on the forum much lately due to IRL work but here is a brief update. Since my last post the car has behaved and I have been enjoying driving it around town. It was raining most of the days in October, I have applyed for a garage in a nearby underground carpark, hopefully the garage will be available with in a week. The garage dosn't have electricity BUT it is dry :hopping: and I will be able to carry out a lot of the things on the to do list.

Here is a picture of my car
Image

This is one of the places where water leek into the boot
Image

Here is another, note the missing top part of the cluster
Image

This is a before picture of the wacum tube (?) that I bought off ebay
Image

And this is a after picture. I gave it a good clean and some silicone spray afterwards. I'm thinking of replacing it in the near future as the engine has startet shaking a bit.
Image

ChrisDK
Knows where Volvo is from
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:40 pm

Re: My new life with a youngtimer

Post by ChrisDK » Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:59 pm

A breif update

Image

As You can see, it's been snowing all night and I still don't have a garage. It kind of agrivates me because I paid the deposit and first month rent 14 days ago and still havn't got the leese contract and the keys. The car did start on first try :) althoug it's freesing today. I've been driving on winther tyres since I got the car so no problem. However there are some good news, christmas came early this year more on that topic later :D

Good sunday to all

Post Reply