Volvo 340DL CVT

Why a 340?

Due to the Saxo being written off, I had to acquire a quick replacement while awaiting a settlement. Enter Craig, who has kept his Volvo 340DL for the last five years as a spare car. The main point of interest with this car is the CVT transmission - infinitely variable between 14:1 and 3:1. It works using 2 sets of drums where the running diameter of the belt can be changed.

The Volvo 300 series was originally a DAF design, as was the Volvo 66 and the later 400 series. They were built in the DAF factories in the low countries rather than at Volvo's Swedish plants. It took some time for the Volvo standards of rust protection to make it to the 300 series, and even the late ones were more rust-prone than a traditional Volvo.

First conceived in 1970, the Volvo 300 series came into production in 1976, following Volvo's purchase of the car making side of DAF. Interestingly, the 340 was almost a BMW, and could also have been an Audi - these and other companies were all prospective partners during the development the DAF project P900, which became the 340. The car did poorly at first, partly due to its only being available with three doors and variomatic transmission, but Volvo's addition of more doors, different trim levels and a manual gearbox secured it a steady market.

When the 1,136,689th and last Volvo 340 rolled of the line at Born in the Netherlands on 13 March, 1991, it marked the end of an era; it was the last of over 1.1 million rubber belt drive cars manufactured at the plant. During that time around 80,000 Variomatic and 300,000 manual 340s had made their way onto Britain's roads.

How is it?

When I got the car, the gearbox was stuck in low hold. This means the car was drivable at up to 30 mph but was revving its nuts off. Some online research led me to believe that this was electrical so armed with a multi meter me and my dad set to work. The Low hold on the car is now fixed, turned out to be a faulty kickdown switch keeping it in low hold. The whole circuit is a ground loop consisting of brake, throttle and a manual override switch. Break one of these and the low hold switches on.

Next project was to replace the holy exhaust and sort out the idle. New exhaust was fitted for the sum of £80 and the car sounds much happier now. Still noisy but nowhere near as bad! Idle is on the list, but im driving the Granada at the moment and Craig will be using the Volvo again.

The Drive

Driving this car is interesting - place in drive and apply throttle then the clutch engages at 1200rpm and the car starts to move. The more power you apply, the higher the rpms rise, and the gear box constantly adjust the gear ratio to keep the revs steady. When you back off to cruise, the rpm drops to 1800 and the car just cruises along. In practice the engine noise staying the same and the speedo needle climbing feels weird! But it all works. The car is a bit slow and unwieldy, but when it's valued at around £150 it's not a problem. All in all I am quite impressed with this, nearly 20 years old and still soldiering on.

The End

After a while, I spotted a Ford Granada Ghia for £200 and the lure of leather seats and some power to go with that RWD got me. Craig took the 340 back and put her back in storage. Until some little *******'s broke in and tried to twock it. Seeing as the battery was several miles away on charge, they failed to hot wire it, and decided to set fire to it instead. The car was badly damaged in the interior and was scrapped the next day.

A sad end to a good car. Shows why I strongly belive in the death penalty for car thieves. Any one who breaks into a car should be disposed of in a painful, public manner. I suggest death by exposure in whatever passes for the town square.

See the Volvo Owners Club pages on CVT
See Jim Beeches experience of living with a Volvo 300