Does anyone know how or if it's possible to fix this? I see on IPD's site it says:



That's precisely what mine is doing (on my 1990 245) - leaking at the switch. Is it possible to replace just he switch (although I think you'd have to be double jointed, left handed and Chinese to get at it) with out replacing the brake junction block?

Cheers,
Keith

As far as I know, the switch cannot be replaced on its own. That said, replacing the block is not difficult. I just finished doing this on my '75, and it took me all of an hour to replace, not including the bleeding. You'll need an 11mm wrench, a 10 mm socket and some patience.

Did you run into any problems with twisting the lines at the block? I know i had a heck of a time when I replaced the calipers on my 240 as the lines were nicely corroded so the fittings would not rotate without twisting the lines, I managed to twist a couple lines real nice despite using a whole can of liquid wrench. Then again the block is often protected by a nice layer of grease so they probably aren't as bad.

Greg lives in Lethbridge. He knows not of rust.

No rust on the three cars involved with the swap - that and a health covering of goo made the removal easy.

If you go looking for the block in the JY remember that there are two styles. The earlier cars have a block plumbed to the cross member and the later cars have it plumbed to the adjacent frame. I don't think the part if different, but you never know.

Yep, no rust here, and even with each one of the blocks covered in goo, the block is a little more out of the way than a brake caliper, so it gets less road debris.
The part #'s for the block are the same for all years of the 240 without ABS.

get an 11mm flare nut wrench, those brass fittings are easy as hell to round off. if you do f one up, twist it or round it, go to part source and buy replacement lines, they aren't pre bent, so bring in an old one to determine the length and thread patterns. bend them around a socket and voila new hard lines...

I've got the 11 mm flar nut wrench (thanks to dad owning Volvos since 1968 we've accumulated most of the oddball tools).

The thing I don't get is that you can buy a brake failure warning light switch kit. So if it's integral to the brake junciton box, what good does the kit do?


Although all things being equal, you probably still have to pull the brake junction box to replace the switch.

I guess this will be my xmas holiday project (a holiday with nothing to do but sit around and eat, drink and relax? Never heard of it).

you can do that, but i believe (correct me if im wrong) that the reason most people dont just replace the switch is because its tough to not break the little plastic peice, and seal it again. so most just replace the whole block. which in my opinion is the way to go

The other problem is that the block casting corrodes and even with new seals it leaks. Often it is easier, cheaper and more reliable just to replace the entire unit.

If the switch is leaking a lot, the valve in between channels is probably shot. Really, the little plastic switch has zero chance of standing up to brake line pressure (500-1000 PSI) so logic would say that anything more than brake fluid "sweat" and the whole thing is likely shot.

The reason for the switch kit is to maintain the safety feature of the failure switch. If the valve is wrecked, it's best to replace the whole thing.

I don't believe that the nuts on a 240 are brass. On a 740 I know they are, but I think on a 240 they're steel. It's been a while for me, though... <- edit - my bad! Just checked Hosuton's car and they're non magnetic. I don't remember having a problem rounding 240 brake pipe nuts so much as twisting the pipes with the nuts. On my 740 the pipe nuts were SOFT and rounded very easily.