Let this be a lesson to you: Volvos were NOT designed to be washed.
When we first got our '88 240, I washed the engine compartment,
something I've been doing for decades. Almost sold the car as a result.

Actually, the pre-electronic era Volvos enjoyed a good soak. But the
only other car I've had die after an engine wash was a P1800E. The
ignition primary wire broke *inside the insulation*. The Last Good
Mechanic In Town was able to diagnose it. Today's mechanics would
probably have given up, or replaced the engine.

mjc13<NOSPAM> wrote:
>
> Let this be a lesson to you: Volvos were NOT designed to be washed.
> When we first got our '88 240, I washed the engine compartment,
> something I've been doing for decades. Almost sold the car as a result.
>
> Actually, the pre-electronic era Volvos enjoyed a good soak. But the
> only other car I've had die after an engine wash was a P1800E. The
> ignition primary wire broke *inside the insulation*. The Last Good
> Mechanic In Town was able to diagnose it. Today's mechanics would
> probably have given up, or replaced the engine.


I haven't really had much trouble with it. I wash the engines in the
family Volvos pretty much every time I wash the cars. In 15 years of
doing it the only issues I've had are wet distributor caps in 240s. Pop
the cap off and a bit of WD-40 fixes that problem. Naturally you want to
avoid spraying things like ignition boxes but for the most part there's
nothing too fragile under the hood.