650,000km in a 360 GLT

[brad360]

This is text of an article in the magazine of the Volvo Club of Victoria.


360GLT X 650,000km = Great Motoring.

To date 23-03-2006.


While I was flicking through the pages of the Burgundy 360’s log book I thought that some of the “happenings” might be of interest to Volvo Club members. I own two Silver 360 GLT’s one a 1984 B19E and the other 1985 B20E which due to an accident I use as a handy source of spares to keep the other two on the road.


General comment.


After 652,000km my Burgundy 1985 360 GLT is still going strong and does not appear to need any major work in the near future. The economy is still between 7 and 11 liters per 100km and the oil usage is about 1 litre by the time a 10,000km service is due. Compression is as good as new. The only problems have been with trim and the electricals. All the trim problems are of the fall off in your hand variety. None of the other Volvos I have owned have had any trim problems. However, the 360 has been mechanically reliable, in fact it is the most reliable of the 15 cars which I have owned including a 145 and a 245 station wagon. The only problems with the other Volvos were directly attributed to the incompetence of a dealer that has since vanished off the scene. All Volvos were purchased new and after warranty expired have been serviced regularly by myself mainly due to the bad experiences of incompetent workmanship and wild repair prices charged by dealers. The major services, brake and exhaust system replacement etc. have been done by Frisks and some by John Johnston, all to my satisfaction.


The 360 is 2000km. into its 10th. set of tyres including the original Pirellis which went “square” at 20,000km and were duly replaced at 25,000km after they could not be balanced. Michelins and Bridgestone’s have been used since and one set of Mitchelins did not need weights until 50,000km. was reached. The car is on its eighth set of brake pads and the front discs were replaced at 645,000km along with a new set of pads as they were all down to minimum thickness. Also, how many Club members have noticed that wiper blades do not last as long these days?. Lately they have to be replaced nearly every six months or so and it does not matter what brand they are either. However, I have solved the problem with some (ghastly light blue) silicone rubber blades. Another item that the 360 consumes more than its fair share is tail/stop globes. Every month or so one or more tail light globes have to be replaced. This high globe replacement could well be due to the poor design of the socket and earth system which also “turns the lights off”. Ever noticed the number of 360’s without the full complement of rear lighting operating!. The rear muffler rubber hangers either break or fall off every 10000km or sooner on all the 360’s.


Another interesting feature of the 360 is that the power is adequate and will tow a double deck yacht trailer with four adults on board and luggage and tent gear stuffed in every where including in he boats to championship regattas all over the country with ease. Naturally, you have to keep your foot closer to the floor to keep highway speed particularly when pushing into a strong head wind. There is still power to overtake with relative ease.

Then sometimes when unladen the 360 will not go up the hills or perform any better than it does with a full load. This has always been a bit of a mystery and then after an attack of ten second splutters the power is suddenly turned on, like much more than usual !. This always happens when accelerating hard while trying to blow the cobwebs out. The power comes on instantly, usually when in a lower gear over 4000 rpm. On one occasion in second gear, I was pulling out to pass 3-4 slow moving cars and pushed the pedal to the metal and the power came on instantly lighting up the rear tyres. A bit of fast tiller work was done to keep the 360 going in the intended direction. This flush of power lasts only until the engine is turned off and then it returns to its usual docile nature. I wish I knew where the mysterious “power switch” is. One occasion I had the time to do some rough acceleration time checks when the power was on and going to 6000 rpm between rapid gear changes. The 0-100kmh (when the speedo showed 100kmh. which I trust is fairly accurate) varied between 7.8 and 8.5 seconds. Usually the time is 12-13 seconds which is average for most 360’s. The Volvo blurb of the day said that the 360’s time for the 0-100 was 10.2secs. Oh yes, the economy in power mode is much better provided that the power is not used whenever possible. One theory for the change of power is that the chip in the black box has a heart attack. But no one really knows.


Now for the log book comments.


First service:- A few minor items that were attended to. When I picked the car up the engine would not run above idle and when the accelerator was depressed the thing stalled. The grease monkey noted that oil was running out all over the floor from the rear of the engine. The idiots had filled the engine TWICE with oil and the excess oil was forced out past the rear bearing seal, damaging it. The seal did not leak for another 150,000km and has since leaked and makes the underneath of the car messy and leaves one or two drops of oil on the ground but this still does not warrant pulling the engine out to fix it.



8000km. radio/cassette went off with a screech, a flash of light and a puff of smoke. It would not work and was replaced under warranty.


47000km. water pump failed. Water in the bearings after the seal leaked. Incidentally all other Volvos had the same problem between 45,000 & 50,000km.


72000km. plastic under tray fell off at about 100kmh and was demolished under the back wheels. I got a lend of a serviceable tray and took a mould off it and made a carbon fibre replacement. It is so rigid that when a stone hits it there is a real clang but it reduces the wind noise as there is a real roar without it. Also, without the tray the steering at highway speeds wanders and the car is subject to side wind wandering.


80000km. plastic interior hand grip surrounds on all doors began breaking up due to poor design (plastic too thin).


82000km. air con. dryer bracket broken off, metal fatigue. Tail gate got the rattles.


85000km. plastic trim under front seat head rests cracked.


86000km. complete gear change mechanism broke loose from the torque tube. Metal fatigue in retaining bracket/weld under lever. Remaining assembly was welded to the floor pan to avoid taking the engine/transmission out as I was to leave for Adelaide next morning. (at 220000km. the retaining rod broke loose at the engine end and now rattles periodically from one end of the torque tube to the other). The gear change is still as smooth and precise as ever. Although, unfortunately the weld job tends to transmit gear noise in to the cab similar to that of a Mini (a real one) with square cut gears!.


90000km. original shockers were replaced with Koni adjustables and they were last serviced at 550000km.. They still have a lot of life left in them and even with regular servicing costs they are about the cost of one set of original equipment shockers. The ride is a little firmer but the Konis stop the floating feeling and joggling in the rear “cart” suspension. Handling is generally sharper over all surfaces and is improved particularly over broken bitumen or gravel road surfaces. The suspension does not thrash around or bottom out as it did with the standard shocks.


105000km. the top radiator tank split and the radiator was resoldered. I had noticed the water level going down during the daily level check and caught the problem while it was non destructive.


108000km. drivers side door hand grip surround totally disintegrated and was replaced by a polyurethane one. All instrument lights went out one night along with half the gauges. The plug had fallen out from the rear of the instrument panel.


112000km. drivers electric window packed up with the window in the down position. (pissing rain too !). The wires near the door hinge had fatigued. New braided (designed to flex) wire replaced the original non flexing type.


115000km. pulled over by the Cops and asked “do you know that all the rear lights are flashing?”. My answer was “no, really ?” (at least the globes had not burned out). When I got out the lights were all working ok, no flashing as claimed, slammed the hatch a few times, shook the wires, all without a flicker. The Cop squinted his eyes and said “on your way driver” after kicking the tyres etc. The funny thing is that the Cop was more than likely correct as I caught the tail and head lights doing the same thing a year or two later. I could not work out why I could hear the flasher unit faintly clicking without the hazard or turn indicators working. And it wasn’t gunk or spiders in the trailer plug either. A thorough inspection of the wiring reveals nothing out of the ordinary, for a 360 that is. Turned off the thing and restarted it, no problem. To my knowledge it has not occurred again, but then would I know anyway?.


120000km. left channel of the radio went out, tried the power window on the left side, that also did not work. The wires had fatigued at the door hinge and were replaced.


120500km. the turn/headlight lever fell off the steering column. The plastic bracket had broken in four places and was replaced by a hand made aluminium bracket which only took an hour to knock up. A replacement turn unit was a silly unprintable price and unavailable in Australia anyway. There were no second hand units around at the time.


130000km. engine mounts went flat dropping the fan on to the radiator shroud. Replaced at $220 each. Bloody rip off !. Next day I found out that in the UK the common practice of repair is to drill a 6mm. hole in the side of the mounts and inject the unit with soft Sikaflex and leave set for a few days to set before reinstalling. All for a $14.00 cartridge of Sikaflex and time to remove the mounts and replace them. In fact I have since been told that all you do is to carefully jack up the motor and then drill the hole and inject the Sikaflex.


140000km. lumber adjustment knob on drivers seat broke off. Immediately tried the knob on the passengers seat, it was not even there as it had also broken off. My daughter found it on the floor and had put it in the glove box. The knob has a thin plastic shaft with moulded thread and the breakage occurred at the thread, poor design.


141000km. noticed that back of drivers seat needed frequent adjustment to keep it in position as it was reclining all the time. One day on the way back to the office the seat collapsed completely leaving me peering through the steering wheel. Yes, the seat had broken off its mounts due to metal fatigue in the tin framework. New framework was fabricated using a substantial gauge of steel. Checked the passengers seat and cracks were appearing and were also repaired. How about that for a safety feature!. The two other 360’s have all done the same trick at about the same distance.


150000km. replaced distributor cap and rotor button after the mechanical rev limiter on the button came adrift and shattered the lot when I turned the key. Luckily I was near to the local auto accessory shop so I was back on the road in 15min with new plug leads as well. A TC Cortina rotor button and dizzy cap is the same as the 360 without the rev limiter.


150400km. the gas struts on the hatch suddenly gave out with no prior warning. My back is still sore some 15 years later. Replaced with new at a cost of only $27.50 each. (not bought through a dealer as they wanted $75 each). I have since had them re gassed and so far have lasted longer than new ones.


151000km. -260000km nothing was broken or replaced (usual diet of tail globes aside) other than regular service items.


260000km. drivers seat collapses again. The lumber support wires break away from frame at weld and plastic tensioner disintegrated without warning. Sharp piece of fatigued metal wire speared its way through rear fabric (ruining it) and into my daughters knee which required 3 stitches. No second hand seats available in reasonable condition and spare parts hard to find unless I wanted to pay top dollar. I bought another 360 for $50 just to get the seat but it turned out to be too good to wreck and looked like new after a good clean up. A tonne of spares including a few seats was in the deal but that is another story.


261000km. plug falls from instrument panel and puts the lot into darkness again.


262000km. horns now only make a faint squeaking sound. Full of water and generally grotted up. Cleaned, reassembled and work ok.


275000km. wiper motor makes an awful noise like a tom cat with its nuts caught on the top of an old paling fence. Eeeeeoooyoww eeeeeoooyoww you know the noise. Pulled the unit apart and inspected it for wear and found none, greased and reassembled. Works ok, but I wish the tom cat would drag its nuts off the fence.


280000km. Pinging is becoming apparent particularly under load and especially when the weather is over 30° with the A/C on. Heard the Car Club rumours of expensive tales of woe about CV joints failing. I decided to check them for wear and found no pitting or brunelling etc. but the grease did look dry. Re-greased them and I think that the rear end is quieter. But with the quietness I did identify that the left rear wheel bearing was on the way out but still serviceable and was duly replaced by Frisks.



300000km. End bushes (plastic) in steering rack replaced along with suspension and steering ball joints. The steering is now as sharp as a razor. The wear just creeps up unnoticed but the worn steering was still better than a lot of brand new Asian buzz boxes.


300500km. gas struts are going soft and barely hold up the hatch. At least they are going gently this time not like a guillotine. The struts have now been re gassed.


300700km. petrol line broken at a swage joint between line from tank to filter where the line comes through the chassis member near the firewall. Car stopped dead in its tracks with petrol spraying all over the road and engine. The silver 360 the same trick too; seems to be another Volvo safety feature. Lucky the cars did not go up in flames. When the cars were assembled the swage crimp was only partly crimped and it is a wonder why the joint lasted so long. The break would have to be in the most inaccessible place as it was only accessible with extra long nosed pliers to hold the plastic pipe (it had shrunk about 30mm over 10 years) from the petrol from tank from vanishing down the hole in the chassis when a longer rubber pipe was pressed on. Nearly impossible to do up the hose clamp with a screw driver as the joint is virtually inaccessible from any angle. ( In the meantime I purchased two more 360’s and the petrol lines also failed at the same place) Pinging getting worse.


340000km. Serious oil leak from front camshaft seal. Lost over 3 litres of oil in 45km.


350000km. to 550,000km. Nothing other than wear out items, the tail gate still rattles.

Pinging now at 20°c under light load. Tried putting all sorts of anti knock gunk in the petrol but it lapped it up and that is all that happened. During November 1999 I had the super lead petrol checked by a chemist friend. The results showed that the leaded super petrol was only 89.2 RON. The 360 should use 98 RON. With Shell Optimax just on the market I filled up with it as the 360 would run on unleaded without drama. The pinging still persisted but I thought (hopefully) that it was slightly less. After refuelling three times with Optimax and the pinging was reduced even with the weather at 40°c, A/C on, four adults on board, fully loaded towing the boats interstate to a national championship. No Optimax at Holbrook and had to change to Mobil 98 octane and the pinging stopped immediately and the engine ran much cooler. Also the performance and economy has improved which offsets the higher petrol price.


590000km. Right rear wheel bearing suddenly packs up big time near John Johnstone’s in Moorabbin and was replaced by him. While the car was on the hoist a few things underneath were tightened up. The clutch was adjusted for the first time. Yes the clutch is original. Now the car goes smoothly and is very quiet, nearly like new. The wheel bearing must have been rumbling for years as there was general noise coming from the back of the car but not identifiable as anything in particular. The new mechanical quietness induced me to go over the body, even pulling off the door linings, tightening everything and re tapeing wiring to stop rattling. New rubber taken from the wrecked 360 for the tailgate and for the first time since the warranty ran out the rattling stoped.


645,000km. Water pump packed up leaking all the water in 25km. For months it was making a squealing noise for a few seconds when the motor was started cold.


645,650km. Rear LH brake lining falls off shoe and jambed the works for a few seconds while I was backing the car. The drum was buggered the so all the rear brake cylinders shoes and drums were replaced. They came off the wrecked 360 and the parts had only minor wear although the drums are scored.


651,000km. Rumbling from the rear again. Bloody rear wheel bearings again but which one. The rumbling came from underneath whatever rear seat you sat on so both bearings were replaced.




In general the paint work is reasonable but any car wash leaves scratches in the clear coat which makes for a dull unpolished appearance. As far as stone chips and scratches go it would have to be the worst I have seen on any car except for other metallic red 360’s. The dealers do not have a correct colour match touch up pen and as a result the car looks as it has got the pox. At about 500,000km a stupid woman driver reversed around a left hand corner while I was stopped at the stop sign and caused considerable damage enough to have the car re-sprayed back to the c pillars. Paint match is excellent and the new paint does not stone chip as easily, in fact there are no chips to speak of after 150,000km. When I get around to it I will get the back of the car re-sprayed, the original paint on the back does look 20 years old but it has never been polished. A 4WD hit the back spoiler with its bull bar pushing in the boot lid and pissed off fast, they don’t only bugger the bush!. Now I will have to get the back re-painted. Last week I counted 32 car park dings in the paintwork. Caught a bastard flinging her Mercedes drivers door open into the drivers side back door putting another ding into the car. Must have put the scares into her big time as she coughed up $500 cash to repair the damage.


At present I would like to change the 360 for a new Volvo. The accountant is always at me to change the cars over at least every 2 years. One of the new Volvo S40’s or what ever they call them now would be nice though. But the 360 does everything I expect from a car very well, particularly on interstate trips which account for over 400,000km with or without towing the boats. The new range of cars are naturally quieter and smoother, but then again if I was to tighten up everything and replace a few rubbers here and it would be quiet as a new car.


Another story:-


Saw a very clean 1985 360 GLT the other day with only 39000km on the clock for $4500 and still on the original Pirellis. There was no obvious accident repairs. Alas, I was too slow with the cash by ½ an hour. The new owner only wants it for a shopping trolley and for his “P” plate daughter to commute to the local TAFE. Bloody waste! However, during 1999 I bought an unregistered Silver 360 for $50.00. The ad said “damaged, cheap, offer”. I thought that it might have a good drivers chair as the seat had busted in the Burgundy 360 and maybe good for a few other bits. The owner bought it for his wife but she would not drive it; she wanted a Rav 4 or something. A big matrimonial blue commenced when the 360 appeared and the car was duly parked under the trees for 4 years.
When I first saw it I thought that I had wasted the afternoon. After standing under the gum trees for four years it looked like a real paddock bomb. It was covered with accumulated leaf litter from the bonnet to the top of the wind screen. I had to get a hose and wash off mulch which fell to the ground like cow pats. Put in the key after the owner finally found it. The central locking worked but the door rubbers were perished and had to be cut away before the door could be opened. Wow there was the drivers seat I wanted. I asked how much?. The owner said “what’s ya offer” and I replied $50 and he said that’s ok. While I was “negotiating” I did a double take at the interior, there was not even a speck of dust, it was immaculate. I asked if it went and he said “yeh, three years ago” so I turned the key and there was just enough life in the battery to feebly turn the engine over a couple of times then it fired up and within seconds the engine was idling smoothly. I listened for bearing and piston noise but there was none. I had to blast off all the mulch to open the bonnet and to my amazement, apart from a few spiders webs the engine room was also spotless. I could not take it around the block because it had Toyota wheels with flat tyres on it. I asked if the original wheels were around and they were in the back shed and would be put on when I pick it up. Later when I got the car home I realized that the owner had replaced all the door rubbers before I picked it up and the wheels had brand new rubber on them. I only had to replace a few minor bits & pieces (brake rubbers etc) the cost on the road including rego, insurance etc was $1250.00. To bring the car up to excellent condition the front RH guard had to be repaired where the owners 4WD has backed into it and a few small shopping car park dents and scratches. The silver 360 did not go as hard as the burgundy 360 but it is smoother and very quiet. And no tail gate rattles!. But the burgundy 360 has always had the boot put hard into it from day one. I supposed that the silver car has not had good firm training. However, a year later the performance of the silver car improved and was about 50-50 with the red one and appeared to be getting better. Probably the burgundy one is dying off a bit by now. I called at Billia Volvo to get a replacement door grip surround and one of the mechanics recognised the silver 360 displaying considerable interest. He had put a brand new Volvo long motor in it at about 134,000km some four years before I bought it. The original owner had to replace the motor as her very young nephew put a jack under and cracked the cast ally sump when changing both front tyres. The car was driven only some 12k when the original engine seized up on the Eastern Freeway. The mechanic checked the records and saw that the motor had it had only done 1,200km so that is possibly why the motor was still very stiff. Did another 12,000k in it and it was running better all the time, great to drive.


Then a driver of a Nissan Pulsar ran a red light and knocked the right corner off the car. The engine of the pulsar ended up under its front seat. There is about $6000 damage to the 360 so the insurance wrote it off and I got a $6500 payout. But it still goes ok, steering still aligned, A/C works and the radiator does not leak but the front lighting and bonnet is non existent.

A few months later I bought another good straight silver 360 for $50 so I use the first silver car as a spare parts supply. And yes, the drivers seats have collapsed in both the silver 360’s. A little work to get it road worthy. Swapped the wheels over and replaced the wind screen. It now goes OK after the timing was fixed due to the cam belt being out by one tooth on the valves. Even though the 360’s are about 20 years old they are still exceptional value particularly if a good one can be found unregistered. The trade just don’t want them and people just push a good car under the bushes. It all makes you wonder if there is any value in a $50,000+ new car when they don’t really do things much better. I decided that it was better to save at least $50,000, but then again?.



Laurie Menogue (President of the Volvo Club 1977-83)

[foggyjames]

Wow, quite an article!

Here's what stuck out to me...

I wish I knew where the mysterious “power switch” is. ...... Oh yes, the economy in power mode is much better provided that the power is not used whenever possible. One theory for the change of power is that the chip in the black box has a heart attack. But no one really knows.

That would LE-Jet being rubbish then. Cue Andy with MS...

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

Yeah, cheers dude, that was a good read. Do the Aussie club know about us? Might be worth if they have a club magazine to see if a link can be dropped in.

[SteveP]

Here's what stuck out to me...

I wish I knew where the mysterious “power switch” is. ...... Oh yes, the economy in power mode is much better provided that the power is not used whenever possible. One theory for the change of power is that the chip in the black box has a heart attack. But no one really knows.

That would LE-Jet being rubbish then. Cue Andy with MS...

I was thinking back about this article on the drive home from work - the car was in one of its high powered moods....

[pettaw]

The red car's like that. I reckon I've got it down to the engine coking up due to being run very rich for a good proportion of warmup and also low down, if you do a few good hard pulls, at WOT holding the gearchange and letting it rev up then it always seems to go better. You don't even have to use WOT, the key is a good few changes towards the red line.

Running it for long journeys hot seems to help alot. I think its down to the combustion chambers being clean and doing what they're supposed to do, rather than fighting a layer of coke all the time

[foggyjames]

I fed mine a pint of water*, and it worked wonders. I guess it de-coked it.

* Chinese water torture...
1) Remove vacuum hose, for example running to distributor/Renix unit.
2) Obtain pint of water
3) Obtain friend to hold engine at 3000rpm. It WILL try to stall.
4) Use vacuum hose to suck water into engine. Hold in water for a second at a time at the most, then remove it, and allow the engine to recover. Sucking in too much water will result in extreme engine breakage, so be VERY careful.
5) Repeat until all water is gone.
6) Go for a drive, and get ready to be amazed (assuming the engine was coked up in the first place).

cheers

James

[brad360]

I thought the Sikaflex engine mount repair at 130,000km was interesting, cheap fix to a possibly expensive problem.

Has anyone done that?

[redline]

I fed mine a pint of water*, and it worked wonders. I guess it de-coked it.cheers James

filling every fourth tank full with BP ultimate and occaisional use of redex gives the same result , a bit more expensive I know ,but not so much hassle and no chance of engine damage .

[SteveP]

Weirdly my car felt fast again this morning, pulling strongly and cleanly from low RPM. I didn't even use it for two days over the weekend!