Going to get the underside of my car steam-cleaned today. I notice some oil around the transmission pan and I guess I'll try to find the source once (hopefully) all the gunk is gone. However, some cleaning related questions:

I was under the car today and notices like, a lot of grease (more like greasy dirt) coating the brake lines. I'm going to assume that that stuff shouldn't be there. But it's kind of weird, because where did it all come from,. It seems like a very even, uniform coat of gunk. So my question is, do I need to get down under there and regrease the brake lines after it gets cleaned? Actually, is there anything I should grease up afterwards?

Also, two related questions. The lower parts of the engine and the accesories also have a might coating of greasy dirt. I want to get rid of it. Can you pay people to do this? Is it ridiculously expensive? Since I'm guessing it is. What's the best way to do it yourself? Degreaser and paper towels? Anything to watch out for? Any tricks? Any tips?

And slightly related, where do I put the jack stands to raise the front of the car? Already punched one hole in the underside. I'm just lifting the car with the dealer supplied jack.

The brake lines don't need any grease they should be clean You can regrease with a grease gun the universal joints on the drive shaft and the front suspension or where ever you see grease fittings. I would get some old rags and spray engine degreaser and let it sit a few minutes than hose off or wipe off where its realy bad\greasy no need for it to be perfectly clean just clean it as good as you can.

My 86 240 dl has been leaking oil , very slowly, for a long time. It accumulates around the transmission at the bottom. But I realize that it came from leaky gaskets or even from an old back pressure leak that may have developed due to a clogged trap. Bottom line , my old 240 is always leaking a little although I've paid to have the gaskets/seals changed out a couple of times.

Before you do anything under your car you'd better get a couple of jack stands and know where to place them...Check out your owners manual....I don't believe anyone in there right mind should crawl under a vehicle using only the lift furnished with the car...

K. Thanks for the cleaning/greasing info.

I have jack stands. I don't have the owner's manual (which probably makes a lot of my questions seem stupid). So I was trying to lower the car onto the stands yesterday. Tried a few different points all with the same, unsatisfactory result.

Here is the owner's manual for 88:
http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/1988/1...00.htm#contents

Just looked through that whole thing. It only mentions the jack in relation to changing the tire, and says you should use jack stands if you're going to work under the car. Still no info as to where to place the jack stands. Hasn't anyone raised their 240 on jack stands and can just say "Place them here and here"?

Thanks for that link though. There was a lot of other info in there that was useful.

I place my jackstands at the jacking points indicated in the manual, orienting the support bar of the stand lengthwise along the car.....

HTH
YMMV
etc, and like that
:grin:

Hasn't anyone raised their 240 on jack stands and can just say "Place them here and here"?

The jack supplied by Volvo should stay in the rear storage area and should not be used except for changing a tire. That's my opinion.

Ideally the jack stands should be placed at two or four jacking points. Normally a floor jack is used to lift the car. In the center of the front crossmember. Or, in the rear, at the differential. Using a floor jack in this manner will raise the whole front of the car or the whole rear of the car quickly. Then place the jack stands and drop the floor jack.