I am 16 and about to buy my first car of my own. Someone is selling an 85 240 volvo 4 speed with OD for 1500. The price is right with a perfect body, all the service records, new front end, good tires, and a bunch of other stuff but I want to know if I am throwing away my money since it does have 280k miles on it. I would be greatful if I could get a response. Thanks, Dennis

If you want to do some wrenching on your own this is a great car, especially if the body has no rust. As usual "Buyer Beware"!, an unknow car can have unknown flaws. That being said I bought my '83 245 with 400K for $500 canadian and all's well. The other day I checked the tappet clearance for the first time (probably ever) and not one was off spec.,. Old cars break sometimes, but these old cars break less than any other car I have known. The engine management system on the '85 is a little complex, make sure it is running, idling and accelerating well, with decent mpg, before you buy it, 'cause it takes mucho time/$ to fix wierd stuff with the injection/fuel systems.
p.s. offer the owner $1000. and see what they say. Personally that's all I would pay, but if you like it, you like it.
--
patrick of montreal, '66/120, '83/245.

Dennis -

Add to the car price (and the taxes and all that stuff) about $100 for the Bentley and Haynes Shop manual, and the Volvo Service Manual Wiring Diagrams, which is p/n TP 30808/1. Haynes at AutoZone, Bentley from Rusty at rprusa.com, and the Volvo WDM at www.volovcars.com/lit and look under service.

The 1985 is a transition model, (old type body, new type engine) but many bricksters have done very well with them. You should go through the servce records slow and careful. Look for major repairs, engine, transmission, and especially suspension parts. At 280K the front and rear bushings and shocks/struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. should have been replaced. If not, you will want to do all that soon, and it's big bux for a budget. Have a Volvo tech check it out, and go around with him. Pay him the $50 or whatever, it's good insurance. Especially since the car sounds like quite a good deal.

There is a Monday post about "Tale about two Volvos" that contains description of a compression test and the palm test. You should do the palm test, it will reveal the state of the positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV) of which the flame trap is a part. Run the compression test if possible.

While the car is on the rack, look at the boots on the tie rods. If they are broken, you will need to replaced them or prepare for tie rod replacement. That is another spot to evaluate the PO's maintainence persistency, along with the amount of crud on the inside of the oil filler cap.

BTW, whenever you take off the oil filler cap set it upside down on the hole where the hood latch goes in. Forgetting to put it on makes a mess. BTDT.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

PS Is it a DL or GL? GL has a tach, but you can put one in a GL, it's pre-wired. Look for one on eBay.

Is the tach prewired on an '84 DL also? That would explain some of the extra junk behind my instrument cluster.

Patrick, I really don't know. My 240's are the GL which has a tach where the DL model has a large clock. I know from other posts that the tach will go in where the large clock is (needs a rubber plug for the adjuster hole) and then there is a 3-wire harness to the small clock. There is a white/red wire, so I hear, that has a female insulated connector that is the line from the coil to the tach that carries the impluses. Have you got a wire like that? If yes, don't connect it to anything else, and don't try to test it except with a tach. The other connections are through the circuit board.


Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

I don't know who patrick is, but I do have a white/red wire with a female plug on it. (thanks for asking) I did plug it into the OD light on the dash once. It was dark and I grabbed the wrong wire. Judging by the way the light acted, it must be the tach wire you are talking about. That's good to know because that will be a bit easier to access for checking the idle speed. I used to open my timing gun and clip my DMM to the light. It worked but was a bit cumbersome.

Thanks,
Ben

A properly cared for car should be fine. This is the kind of mileage that you
may want to do a compression check to get an idea of the motors condition. A
careful inspection of the car for worn rubber parts like motor mounts, drive
shaft support, and suspension bushings is important. In general though, a good
body on the car is the best. You can always fix anything else much more affordably than the cosmetics. These aren't cheap cars to maintain properly.
They are what I call affordable. Cheap is for Hondas and Toyotas.

If you don't have a car savvy person to check it out. Put it on a rack at a mechanics. It's well worth the money, plus you'll get to inspect it from underneath much easier. Stick volvos are the best, in my opinion.
Dave 82 242ti

Volvo 240s are no more expensive to maintain than modern Hondas or Toyotas. Major jobs like clutches, timing belts, etc. cost less on the Volvo, actually. A 240 with oil and filter changes every 3000 miles and a new timing belt every 40,000 will run forever with no other maintenance at all. While it would certainly be prudent to perform other needed maintenance and repairs, 240s are not "needy" cars. A car with 280,000 miles is a high mileage car, even for a Volvo. If the seller has service records showing that the car had regular maintenance, it should be OK, but if the car's history is unknown, I'd walk. There are tons of 240s available (at least in my area-Boston) for around $1500, so don't worry about finding another one. If the car does have service records, find out when it last had a new clutch, timing belt, and suspension bushings. The clutch usually goes at around 150,000 miles, so it's probably been replaced at least once. The timing belt must be replaced every 40,000-50,000 miles. If it breaks, the car will stop cold and not run again until a new belt is installed. The suspension bushings generally go about every 80,000 miles. Both the front and rear suspensions have several rubber bushings that wear out with time. A good inspection by a Volvo specialist (any old mechanic will not do) will reveal any problems the car has. You can use the cost of any needed repairs to bargain with the seller for a lower price. 240s are great cars, so good luck
Colin