i'm trying to remove my 240's RH headlight-BUT the aircon dryer is in the way, and I can't get to the 3rd nut behind it. I've been at it for over 3/4 hr!!! And I'm very, very angry at such perverse manufacture. Thank God I'm not paying a Volvo mechanic for this!!!!!! It continues to look like I'll have to break open the aircon system, just to undo one 5 cent, 10mm nut, so I can extract the headlight and repair the beam adjustment system with some silicone glue. That's a $600 job to fully recon the aircon and make it working again. or $50 to get it drained & flushed with CO2, because it's R12, and that's an illegal refill now. What a complete horror story! I haven't got a tool to get in there and undo it, in spite of several spanners, sockets, adapters, extensions, ratchet handles and an angle drive. My big hands are sore, damaged and I'm now so exhausted that I doubt I'll be able to get back to it for some hours. My left hand is almost useless now, as it has so weakened from the effort that I can no longer hold the tools. I'm mad as hell! This is why I hate cars! It took no effort from the maker to put the dryer in a better location, but they wouldn't do it, because it was cheaper to leave it there than be creative and save the owner expenses later on. Thank the Lord for some decent motorcycles which I've had the pleasure of owning and maintaining easily, because they were properly designed from the beginning. I'll admit they haven't all been such joys, and those manufacturers that failed the test were soon despised, their product sold off, & NEVER to be bought from again. <End rant> Bright workable solutions will be appreciated.

I know just how you feel. I took off both headlights last week to reglue the lenses and ran into the same problem with the AC dryer blocking one of the nuts. I used a small 10mm wrench and backed the nut off enough so that I could take it off with my fingers, but it wasn't easy.

thanks, but my hands are too big to fit in the tight space. I need another friend, but can't think of one available now. Not happy Jan!

Finally, it'sout. over 2 1/2 hrs messing around, only to discover the earth lead is mounted behind the windscreen washer tank!!! I'll cut the wire & install a joiner plug & socket-that will save me reaching for a different sized spanner just undo the radiator reservoir and the washer tank. I'm getting to Hate this job, I'll leave that nut out on refit, and use some mastic to glue the light in place. What a complete muck-up!!! Sadly, I'll have to watch for more such rubbish. When the car was new, it wassold here as a luxury European Car, and at that price, compared to the local product, I expect excellent engineering design and execution. I expect the maker to take care of his customers, not rob them blind on general maintenance. I expect an attention to detail, an elegance of simplicity, and a near perfect ride and adequate performance with good economy. Now, at 20 yrs old, I still expect the fundamentals to provide most of those benefits. I don't mind maintenance, but I object to the idea that I would be expected to pay workshop rates for such a long time to do a simple job. It's obscene, IMO-theft if you like, and had I hoped V were free of that thinking. BMW m'cycles pride themselves on the minimal annual hours they need to be in the workshop, especially compared to the Jap stuff, and I had expected V to be of similar thinking. At least it will be finished sometime tomorrow, it'll be better than it was originally made, and it won't have bankrupted me. I win!

Anger will get you no where - fast. Can you imagine my "other car" - a 99 Chevy Astro - where you HAVE TO TAKE OUT THE INTERIOR to see the engine? And you touch the car in the wrong way and the check engine light comes on and the car stops running? My Volvo - a very simple, easy to work on car ....

I used a 10mm gear wrench when I changed my headlamps.... didn't curse once.

Actually. I have found that my 240 is very easy to work on. Recently I bought a 91 Jetta to drive to work because of the high price of fuel. I spent several hours replacing the inner/outer tie rod ends and the love affair with the car ended abruptly when it took me three hours to get the steering rack boots/ pressure regulating pipe back on.

Still love working on the 240!

Sorry you had such difficulty. I too had to replace the RHS headlight on my 1988 240 wagon after hitting a kangaroo and I don't recall having all that much difficulty getting the old headlight out.

What I did appreciate though was the build quality of the vehicle, as all I had to do was to carefully ease back out the lip of the bonnet where it sits over the headlight. The only way you could see repair work has been carried out in this area is an almost imperceptible crack in the duco along the impact line and, if it wasn't pointed out, no one would notice it.

Manxman, I'm assuming you are from Australia (Oz) so let me tell you that in the same circumstances a Falcon or Commodore and all of those glitzy Jap tin cans would have probably been written off.

Oz it is, I would touch any chundadord in a fit! Problem fixed now, I've calmed down, but am less impressed than I feel I should be. they are solid, and well assembled, I just hoped for a little more customer care than perhaps could be afforded. I know it's man-made,and thus imperfect, but I always hope! Perhaps I'm being unreasonable & overly judgemental, & need a chill-pill. It did take a long time, and was very awkward-I succeeded only because I bent the dryer out of the way a bit, but when I recon the aircon, I'll remount the new one differently, perhaps angled straight aft & down at 45deg? That might stop it working, but I don't know....

Hi Manxman,just a guess but are you fairly new to owning a car ? Any older car is generally easier to work on than something modern as in having to remove the complete front bumper to change a headlight bulb on the latest Ford Mondeo,cars built without oil or gearbox sump plugs (new Merc,s).....the list goes on and on.New ish cars are a nightmare now

It's the newest car I've owned, and anything newer certainly seems even worse from my perspectives of affordability and DIY maintenance. FWD is just a con, AWD is unnecessary and 4WD is just too expensive to tolerate. I don't want too many expensive, hi maintenace or use-once & chuck it safety features either. I drive sanely and with care. I'm awake and critically thinking when I drive. I reckon that I don't need to have most of the heavy, expensive rubbish that's in/on the car unless it contributes directly to the long normal service life of the whole vehicle. I don't expect to kill myself, & if someone else kills me, then that's their responsibility. I won't have to worry about it. Death is rarely pleasant or convenient, and often without warning. few get their choice of when or how. I don't have to live, & when the time comes to stop, I'll have be content with what I've had. I accept that viewpoint, fatalistic as it may be. I didn't buy it for my safety, I bought it for purely functional and affordability reasons.

Sorry to hear about your difficulty, manxman. Maybe our cars are different. On my '86 I was able to slip a 6" extension to a 3/8" ratchet wrench onto a 10mm socket. The extension is next to the A/C receiver/dryer but the socket fits almost flush. Comes out in a jiffy.



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I has an 84 gle and I changed out my headlights with my fingers and philips screwdriver, the casing for the headlights are held in by some very ikeaish knobs. One of the easiest to work on systems I have ever encounterd. Too bad they didn't build your car like that.