I've got a long list of problems that have been sorted out over 3 years. A list that would have cost a villager at his local indie shop something up towards the $350O+ labor mark. But I've never taken it to anyone other than the exhaust dude with parts in hands. Its been an interesting experience taking each step slowly while learning from my mistakes or misdiagnosis. Its felt like I've accomplished 50 hours of college credit though the reading and hands on experience of experiments (diagnostics).
The parts have come to me well below the usual price found on auto parts web sites. Some I got through ebay and others from donor cars. Even then I had two 244's land in my way by a local mechanic who had a place to store them while he slowly parted them out to solely me. I usually got a 50% off deal in comparison to the local european yard staunch gaugers. In a months time those two cars are headed off to the scrap or junkyard.
That is unless I can get a place to put them. I've kind of got a place for one of them but only if I decide to keep it and swap my motor over to it from my 86 sedan, which suffered a sidelining injury from a recent high Unita's road. While returning from a yearly camping expedition I had one tire sort of go off the road and my crossmember stopped the car on a 3 inch rock planted firmly in the road. I have driven a volvo 244 up there every year for 9 years. This was the first real problem other than a little exhaust piping abuse. Even though the 86 244 came from San Diego near the early part of this decade, its floor boards are almost missing on the belly with mold infused with the rear passenger carpet. Smelled this past winter. I might just patch the car up and go for driving another couple years. But this could also be a good time to do a major transplant of nearly everything.
But it drove the 2 hours home even with the steering off kilter. I took the main line home down Parley's Canyon through Salt Lake Valley from the Canyon's Mother Hips rocking outdoor show, which I conveniently stopped in at while returning home from a nearby mountain range. To ready myself for the show I had to bath in a freezing cold creek coming out of a high altitude lake with a small snow patch still visible above. Changed cloths twice that day after getting dirty cleaning up my tent and new air matress (sale for $24.99 and worked great). The second change of cloths happened on a frontage road outside Park City along with another stop after passing through PC to brush my teeth with bottled water.
Anyways, I got the 86 sedan home and drove it hesitantly the next day around town. I jacked it up and found the front crossmember is in need of replacement. Its bent just shy of damaging my 2 year old rebuilt steering rack ($250). But put the rack off so its pulling at the steering wheel and causing it rub against the plastic column. The damage sustained was just enough to be a bad scenario but like someone recently said, "Life sometimes gets as bad as it can get but with things still working out. Like its the best possible outcome while things are going bad".
Oh well I had to drop the engine front crossmember anyway to replace the damaged oil pan it sustained going over a middle divide in downtown Salt Lake on 100 South near W. Temple. So my attention immediately went to the wagon in hopes of finally curing its poor running condition now on its third year strong. I went back through the small clips on the engine harness for the Air Mass Meter. I had bought some dental type picks to attempt the same thing a month ago and it seemed to temporarily work. But the cold start was unable to idle making for what seemed like major problems still to be discovered.
When I unplugged the AMM the car should idle normally. If I plug it in and I have problems then I know its the AMM. I couldn't tell what was going on because the bad idle was present at all times. It was still having problems at idle with the AMM unplugged. Meaning it was something else. Even with the air mass meter unhooked the car wouldn't idle until warmed up. Which meant it wasn't the Air Mass Meter fully being the problem but at least I could tell it was a good part of the problem when driving with a loss of power. (WARNING: do not unplug the AMM or plug it in with the key in the ignition. Have it off and maybe even disconnect the - battery cable (blue going to a bolt on the body).
I took two pick ends this time and applied more pressure to the half dozen hard to reach metal clips inside the larger connecting plastic plug. I unhooked the battery for 10 minutes too and reset the computer while unplugging the AMM. I learned recently the true capabilities of the main ECU having a strange personality by causing a bad idle when messing with the AMM. By switching out the 83 wagon's Air Mass Meter with a rebuild off Ebay that I had been saving, while the battery was unhooked resetting itself, I fixed the cold start bad idling probem that would cause the car to die the first few minutes. My niece's 244 did the same thing a couple weeks before when I was just about to sell it. They where going to pick it up that day and then it just started idling strange after switching out an AMM from a junk yard to fix a high idle on a her 1990 244. Her bad idle problem was also fixed by unhooking the "ground" to the battery (- blue). The AMM I had in the 83 wagon was a rebuilt AMM from a local parts car that seemed to work fine at first. I really need a dwell meter to correctly adjust the meters. The combination of things worked and the car has the power like my 86 sedan.
I still have some items of need on the wagon but the engine is now running well. After replacing the engine harness, distributor, intake gasket, cleaned throttle body, replaced AMM and FPR and the Idle Control Valve, along with the rims with tires and back to the original hubcaps from my long gone 83 tan sedan of a few years back. Disconnected the leaking pre-oiler and racing filter along with removing the oil cooler and restoring it back to the screw on run of the mill oil filter screwed right to the engine.
Got the wiring to the tailgate replaced and the wiper motor running. I found a page of notes from the past owner trying to figure out the stock switch position for the windshield wipers. I've taken it from the front wipers being a 2 speed to a stock 3 speed with the replacement of the wiper motor. The rear wiper motor still needs one bolt installed. Maybe the reason the wiring to the fuse box from it was unhooked. Although the rear wiper relay had to be replaced on account it was still behind a foot holder to the side of the clutch pedal. Behind the removable piece of metal secure with 3 small screws are the stock position for the two wiper relays. I rerouted them under the dash above the steering column area as to not get wet and be fried in rust.
Anyways its been a much longer adventure with this car than I thought possible. It just felt right to buy it and the temporary owner before me was getting married. He had no hope of restoring it. Its made me want to restore it fully one day. Paint and everything. But I'm sure I've got another 5 to 10 years before that would happen. Now onto the overdrive not engaging and that u-joint or more bushings along with the immediate need to install those boge struts and ball joints up front.
I'm feeling confident that the rear springs off the 89 donor I got for $50 this week seem strong and in great shape. I think they are aftermarket heavy duties, the same I was just about to order new for $85 a pair. Unless I do a full transplant to the 89 from the now in need of structural and floor board surgery, 1986 maroon sedan. Changing out engines, tires, seats, headlights, taillights, brakes, fuel pumps, gas tank, exhaust, trim, hood hinge, instrument cluster, relays, seat belt, and other things that I've taken off it in the past.
But it has no apparent rust although I don't remember for certain if it has been damaged by a forklift like the 84 I bought along side with it for parts. I don't think it did since I had taken the CAT off it so they didn't have reason to lift it lazily. Anyways....
