Diary of Daniël Wilten, Netherlands

[coyote1980]

Hi all!

Well, being the one to create this section I think it's best to also initiate the first diary. The last few months have been quite busy for me, but I feel like things are calming down at the moment.

Some background about me: born in 1980, now working as a software engineer.

480 History: I bought my first 480 in 1998 when I was 17! That was a 1987 ES, graphite grey metallic. Sadly not looked after by his previous owner. It showed not only in the price, but also in the money involved annually to keep him on the road.
My second 480 was a 1995 ES (dark green metallic) which I bought in 2001. A really nice car, except that it didn't have airco.
My third 480 is my current 480: a Turbo Collection #12 which I bought in Germany in February 2005. This car will never leave

[coyote1980]

Well, the last few weeks have been awkward, my car might have felt neglected or something since it tried to torch itself on two occasions. Luckely it failed miserably at this

The first occasion was when the fuel line from that fuel regulator membrane to the top of the engine came loose as I drove over a speedbump. There was someone behind me so my first idea was to restart the engine since it died.

Trying to do so caused a plume of smoke to leave the engine bay and my girlfriend to run out of the car . I realised that something must have happened to a fuelline and decided to push the car to the side of the road, waiting for a serviceman to fix the problem.

The second occasion was two weeks later, the car was filled with a petrol stinch everytime I was idling in front of a traffic light. I was thinking 'OMG what is wrong with the car somewhere in front of me'. When I arrived at my destination someone pointed out that I was leaking petrol quite badly. I turned of the engine and had a look: a big puddle of petrol underneath the car. I pushed it to a better spot (in case someone was to throw a cigarettebud at my car ) and waited for the servicemen to come and fix it.

The guy that arrived was pissed at the guy that helped me before: my fuelline was ruptured, and should have been noticed the first time. Anyway, all ended well and he replaced my fuelline and I was able to drive again.

I hope this is the last petrol problem I will have with this car. For the rest all is fine with my green German Colli

[coyote1980]

Well, time for an update!

In 1.5 weeks I will have to part from my beauty for a week since it's getting a respray. Well, partially. Quite some work will be done:
- front spoiler smoothened & resprayed
- frontleft bumpercorner resprayed
- frontleft wing resprayed
- nose resprayed
- snowcap sprayed
- rightback wing GSM hole filled and resprayed
- complete polish of entire car

Will set me back 900 euros, but would make it look as if it's a new car I hope


Tomorrow I plan to get some other things done. I have the footwell lights laying around, want to install those. Also plan to figure out why my left DRL does not work. And I bought some speakers for the rear! Now have those oval speakers in the cubby holes. Bought a brandnew set of rearspeakers for in the side panels, and a set of Pioneer speakers to fit in the housing (am not going to use the speakers Volvo put in the set)

And I will try to find out how much work it will be to install the original 400-series remote central locking set with alarm

Will post some pictures tomorrow if I manage to shoot anything interesting

[coyote1980]

Well, yesterday we cracked the mystery of the leftside DRL not burning at 21W, the story behind that can be read here

Then I grabbed my brand new set of rear speakers I bought some years ago, and the Pioneer TS-E1376 which I had to reshape a bit to make them fit the Volvo housing . Removed the rear seats, removed the storage bins with speakers next to the seats, cut out the shape in the side panel and inserted the new housing + speakers in the side panels. Then put a second hand set of storage bins without drilling holes where the old ones used to be and reinstalled the rear seats. Am happy as ever with the new speakers in place, the improvement in sound quality is dramatic




I then treated the leather interior and trimming with leather conditioner and trimming cleaner, awesome! Sadly didn't have time to install the footwell lights, but that can wait until next time

[coyote1980]

It has been ages since I last really gave the 480 the attention it deserved, on the other hand: I drove the 850 whenever I needed to go somewhere simply to spare the 480. Last friday I finally found the time to give it a decent wash and wax treatment, and Saturday it was time (after months) to take Ireen and the car for a nice tour through the wonderful and sunny autumn scenery.

It felt good again, sitting in the 480. And she drove like a dream, except when you floor the pedal, it does need some servicing (which it will get later this month).

Took some pictures now that she's fully cleaned, here's the best one



At home things are good, bit by bit our house is coming closer and closer to being finished, upstairs at least. Downstairs we plan to make some major changes in 2009...

Hope you enjoy the photo, I'm not dead, but can't say I'm really alive here

[coyote1980]

Just a quickie to inform you all that I am still alive

I was just typing this in a PM to VBB: how incredible it is how little leisure time you have when you try to update an outdated house... But it's worth it! For those interested, on http://verbouw.web-log.nl we keep a little blog where we show changes made to our house. Right now our new bathroom is being installed. As always this takes longer than predicted. Instead of the promised 3 weeks it is now close to 3 months that work on it is being done, but the result is looking very good! Steps that need taking are: plastering the ceiling, installing electrical floor heating and tiling the floor, and then mounting all the things like sinks, toilet, shower-door, taps, etc etc. Hope in about 2 weeks all will be behind us.

What's up next: adding about 35 square meters of living room at the back of the house, and also a new kitchen and finishing off all the walls, ceilings and floors downstairs. We have found a local architect to help us with all the required drawings and technical descriptions, so with some luck the extra space should be available before the end of the year

The 480 is currently parked on the lawn, under a protective cover since it's not 100% watertight. Nice to know he can stretch his legs again to the maymeeting in the German Eifel in a few weeks!

[coyote1980]

Well, today I treated my 480 to a brand new set of rear lights! It sure improves the looks of the car straight away, and since mine is parked indoors these new clusters shouldn't deteriorate so rapdily since there is practically no UV inside No piccies yet, will come one day after the car has had a proper wash&wax treatment. Am looking forward to the meeting in the Eifel next weekend, hope we'll be having good weather

Also took the car to the local airco specialist and asked if any service to the A/C system would increase the expected lifespan of the system. They recommended refilling once every other year since the mixture becomes less and less libricational over time. Mine probably still had the original filling from 1995 AND I had heard this story more often, so I decided it was time for a refill of the system. Cost me 100 euros, they drained the system (350 gramms was retrieved) and refilled with 650 gramms of coolant. Airco was working fine, but then again: you don't service your car when components fail, but to prevent them from failing.

[coyote1980]

Well, 2011 should be a good year for my 480, the garage will become available for him again and het will get the TLC he deserves after three years of only basic attention. He did get all the needed service at the dealers, so nothing to complain for him, but this year I want to care a bit more.

Last year was a depth after he was hit by a lorry changing lanes on the motorway missing me:





But all has been restored properly at the expense of the lorry company, so I'm happy with that! (better than finding your car parked somewhere and seeing someone didn't care about your pride & joy and left no note...).

[jesse-mode]This spring I'll be mostly cleaning the in- and outside of my 480 & CY 850[/jesse-mode]

I'll post some piccies soon of how the 480 is looking now after having been restored!

[coyote1980]

So, after having had the 480 parked outside on the lawn for the past two winters due to our house renovation I was finally able to get the garage sorted out again and make space for the 480 again! Couldn't stand the sight of having her parked outside for another winter. Here's the proof!





This morning I checked on her and she yes, she had a wonderful night of sleep. No worries about birds crapping on her, or kids cycling by or cats peeing against her, she is completely relaxed again.

[coyote1980]

Well, the 480 is still safe and sound inside its garage, only took a short spin around the block when I had to take it out so the builders could close two gaps that were left from windows in the side of the garage (before my house was extended to the back against the side of the garage). A few weeks ago when I was in the garage I noticed the alarm LED was no longer flashing... SO I grabbed my C-TEK charger and gave the battery a charge. Sadly after about a minute the "error" light would come on. So I contacted my dealer who offered to give it a try or discuss warranty in case it really was broken (battery was 15 months old). Luckily they were able to revive the battery and the capacity was still 96% - and after having rested in the car for a few weeks it still started when I had to take it out, so that ended well. Seems that despite its price the C-TEK charger isn't everything. Will use it's supply function next winter to keep the battery from running empty...

Now that our own house is reaching completeness it's time to consider the 'house' where the 480 resides. The old steel garage door has seen better days, it's annoying to close the darn thing, takes a few attempts for me to get it closed (with a lot of noise) and my GF sometimes can't get it closed at all... So time to do something about it. I was planning on getting a sectional door with motor (motor with remotes isn't that expensive anymore). After that the garage is better insulated, accessing the garage will be easier (and quieter) and it will look better. Plan is to get me one of these:



Am planning on installing it myself. It will take (at least) a full day work, but it should be doable. ANd the money saved can be spent on other things, like the 480

Speaking of which, in two months the Club Europe meeting in the Sauerland will be held - I'm planning on giving the 480 a fresh service just before the meeting to ensure everything will be running smoothly Still have a few things lying around that require installation, and some things that require attention:

• * Installing original footwell lights.

• * Fixing my speedo (sometimes the speed can fall back to zero, a slight tap on the instrument cluster resolves it, but I want a permanent fix)

• * Installing a Yatour USB Mp3 interface on the CD changer connector of my black CT-906

This last item is a nice upgrade if your Volvo stereo has a changer interface. You connect this Yatour unit to that interface, provide it with power and you can attach a USB stick with MP3 music! Already connected such a unit to the SC-805 unit in my 850 and despite some minor quirks I can enjoy music in my car without the need to burn it on a CD-R first When I get around to do it I will post it here. Click here if you already want to learn more about it - I posted my findings on the dutch Volvo 850 forum some time ago.

[coyote1980]

Yesterday the Collection received a service treat and a fresh APK (ducth eq. of MOT) at the Volvo dealer No remarks, I believe they replaced a sway bar at the rear and for the rest nothing special.

The APK moment was in October, but it's kind of silly to have the 480 serviced at the end of the year, then put in the garage for the winter and then enjoy the car after the winter. So it now gets its service and APK in May/June and is then fresh for a season of meetings