I have been considering buying a used Volvo diesel. Is this a good move?

Are they built really well and do they experience the same reliability of My 86 240 Gas engine. Just curious,

Jack W.

I owned three. THe D24s lasted longer (298,000 mi) then the turbo one.

averaged 30-34 mpg. You need to know a good VW diesel mechanic tho.

My 84 diesel is still running well, with over 300k, somewhere up in Maine.

They s*ck. My local boneyard has several with presumably failed engines and perfect bodies and interiors. They are dog slow, won't start in really cold weather, fail after about 150,000 miles except in extraordinary cases, and have basically zero resale value. If someone practically gives you the car (and I mean much less than $500.00 in excellent condition) it might be a good deal, but the 4-cylinder gas 240s are just so much more reliable and hassle free, faster, better resale, etc. that a diesel just doesn't make sense.

Just my $0.02

Colin

I just recently bought an '84 260 diesel with 220,000 mi for an around town beater car cheap.

Aside from a ravenous appitite for oil it runs great.

I had originally planed to drive it into the ground, but after closer inspection I found that the P.O. had done megabucks worth of maintnence on it (almost all new suspension , brakes, etc )so I'm looking into a replacement engine when this one goes.

so far I've found prices between 2800.00 and 3500.00 through Pep boys and auto zone, and $3300.00 from a local forign machine shop for long blocks, ( havn't checked rebuilders that ship yet ) and a place in Oregon , Mercy motive , does them for about 2500.00 installed, and has some good info on diesels ).

The engine is an overgrown VW diesel . I owned one of those before and was very happy with it , but couldn't find parts in small town middle America (pre-internet days, gapa.com and others have parts).

If you don't do all your own work, be aware that most Volvo dealers and mechanics know nothing about these things, It appears that you have to locate a liberal minded VW diesel mechanic for service.

If you aren't used to driving diesel equipment ( i.e. old truck driver ) you might not get used to people shaking their fists at you after being stuck behind you on freeway onramps, hills, steep driveways or roadkill.

they run about like an old Detroit or Perkins diesel, on the flat they get up and go but if they even see a hill in the distance they fall on their face and it's time to drop gears.

I'm very familiar with diesel equipment and I knew this thing was a gamble at best, I just came out OK . If you are not familiar with diesels , I would avoid anything without a fresh engine or find one cheap (almost free, blue book on an '84 is between $0.00 AND $288.00) and plan on replacing the engine or driving it till it drops.

Hope this helps.

--------Robert

I assure you, the car was designed for 2000 mile oil changes. I never had the engine apart, but if you stuck with the 7500mi intervals, your engine was short lived indeed!

The brighter side is that, once the thing gets old and starts to use oil like a rocket, you should not have to change the oil as often since it's getting a constantly fresh supply :)

One more thing is that the heavy engine in the front gives a nicer ride than the gas 240.

The PO of mine definatly followed the 7500 mile oil change bit. The engine was just plain nasty inside.

I took a gamble today and ran two flushes , one for ten minuits and the second for twenty minuits (you should'a seen the yuckum that came out of that thing ), then refilled with 1 3/4 qts Rislone and the rest with Delo .

Then I took it out for a run that would normally gobble up about 1/2 to 3/4 qt oil, and it hadn't used any, and it has oodles more power now.

Looks like I may have freed up some very stuck rings.

Now all I have to do is watch out for the impending gasket leaks

You just did yourself a big favor, that's for sure.

I don't know WHY on earth Volvo marked the service for 7500 miles. The crank capacity just isn't big enough to support that horrible interval. Plus the Volvo/VW/Audi diesel makes a lot o' soot, which really makes the oil filthy. I changed my oil at 2000 or 3000 miles, depending on the service. Highway I stretched to 3000, but city I took down to 2000. The stuff was always jet black when I pulled it out, but I'd opened up my valve cover a few times and it was always totally free of sludge or deposits anywhere in sight.

Delo, and Rotella were my favorites for the diesel. I didn't splurge on Volvo oil filters because they were so expensive, and I changed the oil all the time anyway (my logic). Napa made a pretty nice (Napa Gold) filter complete with drainback valve (way better than fram) for $8. And their Napa Gold fuel filter was a pretty good deal too. Bosch and Volvo charge a lot for that beauty.

Have fun with the leaks. I could NEVER get the thing to NOT leak, even from way back when it had 50,000 miles. So I dealt with the occasional drip or splatter here or there. 35mpg goes a long way in making up for it :)

I mean, for the bargain price, what the hell. I'd still have mine but I made a pact with that poor, beat up car, that if it broke after 250,000 miles, I wouldn't try to fix it, and I didn't. I took the parts and ran!

I don't know where they came up with the 7500 mile figure when at the time the American Petrolium Institute only blessed Petrolium motor oil for 1500 miles between changes on a diesel without a by-pass filter (12000 with).

Believe it or not this thing had no oil leaks at 220000, but I bet it will now ( that soot and sludge was probably plugging a lot of holes )

Well I'm going to take it out today for a good long run and see if it misses it's old gook so much that it decides to fold up :-)

If it's quit using oil (or at least slowed down to civilized levels ) I'll switch it over to Amsoil and but a by-pass filter on it , and an amsoil air filter, that ought to give it a little more get up and go.

next project--timing belt

No, they suck.

I got 250k with virtually no maintenance, but I was almost anal about getting 2000 mile oil changes, using diesel coolant additive, and premium fuel.

Most people had thrown them out long before that.

A few of us did really well. The engines were very capable of going long distances with the RIGHT maintenance, and that is the maintenance that the average person does not want to provide or pay for. The gas engines are a world apart.

From what I've heard, no, Volvo diesels are not nearly as good or reliable as gas. They have a reputation for premature failure, well before the rest of the car is anywhere close to wearing out. That's why many of them have become V8-powered; the diesel crapped out but the car was worth saving. Maybe the owner was also tired of having too little oomph! My V8 240 wagon is an ex-diesel. Ironic, isn't it, as diesels in general are thought of as sturdy and long-lasting.

Do you live somewhere cold? Up here in Saskatchewan they last about half as long as a gas red block and cost around $7500.C to rebuild properly. They are heavy enough to anchor a farly large boat, though.

Well it can get faily cold in Massachustts but not as cold as the Great White North...