Rescuing my Volvo after 3 years parked

[jbg]

Not a lot to report, but I have gotten a few things done.



The timing belt gear cleaned up pretty good. All of that putty and RTV silicone came off.



I de-greased the crankshaft damper and decided to use electrolytic rust removal (ERR) on it. This process is doing a good job. Rust and some paint have been flaking off for several hours. I've been moving the cathode wire around to concentrate the reaction. I'll get a picture of the part post ERR soon.



I got a brass punch and delicately freed the stuck master cylinder plunger and removed the plunger and spring assembly. The bore of the master cylinder looks great! No pitting, coloration, or evidence of something being stuck in it. I think I got lucky!



Again, the master cylinder plunger and spring assembly looks great. Is there a kit for replacement o-rings and seals? Not that I think it needs it, but if so it could be an easy rebuild.

Sitting here on the couch I'm not sure if I'll be working on the car Saturday, or not. If I do I'll post my progress. We'll see!

[ngoma]

Originally Posted by jbg

Again, the master cylinder plunger and spring assembly looks great. Is there a kit for replacement o-rings and seals? Not that I think it needs it, but if so it could be an easy rebuild.

Guessing that MC rebuild kits should be widely available. Have you checked your FLAPS? As long as you have it opened up might as well replace the rubber parts.

Bleeding the Volvo braking system can be tricky. Best to prepare beforehand and know what you're in for. Check brickboard.com and turbobricks.com for procedures, equipment, and tips.

Does the crank vibration damper have a sandwiched rubber interior? Best to verify that the electrolytic process has not loosened its adhesion.

Good job on the cleanup!

[jbg]

Originally Posted by ngoma

Does the crank vibration damper have a sandwiched rubber interior? Best to verify that the electrolytic process has not loosened its adhesion.

Not that I can see. The damper looks to be a heavy piece of metal. I think that's all of it.

Originally Posted by ngoma

Good job on the cleanup!

Hey thanks! It's relaxing, what can I say?

I ended up not going to the car today. I had yard work and other chores to do instead. The upshot is that I spent some time looking over the spare engine harness I have. It looks to be in pretty good shape. However I do not have a spare glow plug relay harness. So I suppose I could make one using the existing 4-pin connector that plugs into the GP relay.

The Greenbook shows the circuit diagram for the pre-heating system so I think I should be able to re-make the harness, and the interconnections between the temperature sensor (brown, BN), indicator lamp (orange, OR), fuse box (blue, BL), and the start inhibitor switch (blue-green, BL-GN). I do have spare larger gauge wires for the 12v input to battery positive and another as output to the glow plug bus bar (both red, R). There's also a ground (black, SB). I likely won't be able to get all of the same color wiring as factory. I suppose I could go to a few junkyards to find similar wiring colors, if I really wanted to.

My question is: can I de-pin the wires in the 4-pin glow plug relay connector, so that I can re-use the connector? I don't have the connector here to examine it myself.


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It's now the next day and I've been doing some research. According to Dave Barton's page (emphasis mine): "PN VE5632: This is an optional repair section that I have made available to repair a damaged harness end going to the Glow Plug Relay. This section is not included in a new replacement engine harness, but It can be added to this harness order if needed. It is often a problem on this car model. The new repair section can be seen in the harness photo. Leads are 12 inches and wire colors are: 1. Blue, 2. Blue/Green, 3. Brown, 4. Orange. (Limited supply. This plug is no longer being made by Volvo)".

https://www.prancingmoose.com/volvoh...760turbodiesel

So now I'm really hoping that the 4-pin plug can be de-pinned.

Thanks!

[ngoma]

Originally Posted by jbg

So now I'm really hoping that the 4-pin plug can be de-pinned.

See this writeup on https://thosbryant.wordpress.com/202...rminal-repair/

[jbg]

Yikes, that looks like a lot of work. Perhaps I can get lucky with a tie wrap? I'll need to get back to the car to check out the connector.

Thanks for the reply!

[ngoma]

Yes, mine was in similar condition to yours. I was able to crimp new wire to stubs close up near to the connector as possible without repinning. I cleaned up the stubs with a simple wire brush to remove the green corrosion to prepare it for the crimp.

Not as elegant as Tom B.'s solution but so far it is functional.

[v8volvo]

Originally Posted by jbg

The Greenbook shows the circuit diagram for the pre-heating system so I think I should be able to re-make the harness, and the interconnections between the temperature sensor (brown, BN), indicator lamp (orange, OR), fuse box (blue, BL), and the start inhibitor switch (blue-green, BL-GN). I do have spare larger gauge wires for the 12v input to battery positive and another as output to the glow plug bus bar (both red, R). There's also a ground (black, SB). I likely won't be able to get all of the same color wiring as factory. I suppose I could go to a few junkyards to find similar wiring colors, if I really wanted to.

My question is: can I de-pin the wires in the 4-pin glow plug relay connector, so that I can re-use the connector? I don't have the connector here to examine it myself.

Originally Posted by ngoma

I was able to crimp new wire to stubs close up near to the connector as possible without repinning. I cleaned up the stubs with a simple wire brush to remove the green corrosion to prepare it for the crimp.

Not as elegant as Tom B.'s solution but so far it is functional.

Actually IMHO Tom's solution is more work than one really would need to do. I guess the benefit of his method is preserving original wire colors. But I am assuming in your case the concern is less about the integrity of those round terminals and more about the wire insulation falling off (at least that's always been the issue with my cars.... ).

The 4-way connector can easily be de-pinned (connector body comes apart like lego as Tom's post shows) and my solution has been to just use junkyard harness parts to salvage new female pins with several inches of wire pigtail of whatever color I can find, not caring too much about that since you still have wire position as a reference for troubleshooting if it's ever needed. Make a good splice back down where it meets the main harness, install the new pins in the connector, and it's good to go.

Or ngoma's suggested method of using the existing pins and short pigtails and just replacing most of the wire. Similar outcome and probably even more efficient in terms of effort vs result.

Some of us touch up with brushed-on "liquid electrical tape" for years as the insulation crumbles away but that's a game you can only take so far.

[jbg]

Originally Posted by v8volvo

The 4-way connector can easily be de-pinned (connector body comes apart like lego as Tom's post shows) and my solution has been to just use junkyard harness parts to salvage new female pins with several inches of wire pigtail of whatever color I can find

Great! Then I guess my plan my attack will be to work on building a new GP harness and integrate that into the good engine harness I have here at home. I haven't been to a junk yard in a few years so that should be an adventure.

Thanks ngoma and v8volvo for helping with this one.

[jbg]

The only other update I have at this point is that the crankshaft damper is out of the ERR process. It took off the rust and some paint. I think this is the best it's gonna get.

[jbg]

Hey gang,

I'm working on cleaning up the big 27mm bolt for the crankshaft damper. There is more of that very strong epoxy on the shank and on some of the threads. It's slow going cleaning this off without damaging the fine threads.

I've been Googling around but I cannot find the size of that bolt. I am thinking of getting an appropriately sized die to chase out all the debris and epoxy from its threads. Anyone know the size of the bolt?

Thanks.