Okay - took it for a spin. Rode great, all the lights (SRS, ABS, Check Engine...etc.) worked fine. No musty smell, no condensation on any of interior gauges. Engine looked good, no apparent rust underneath/inside door/trunk. Actually don't know what "rockers" are so I don't know about the rust there...

Problems: Radio doesn't work (it's a stock and it seems to me that all volvo stocks pretty much stink), slight staining/fading on the fabric of the seats (front and back), one brake light out (to be fixed before sold) and (and this is my biggest concern) slght smattering of rusty/orange tiny spots along all 4 doors. Real faint and not noticible until you look up close. But, once noticed....stick out to me. Oh yeah, and no heated seats!

Like I mentioned before, he replace brakes all around, the water pump, distributor cap and rotor, timing belt, some other kind of belt I don't remember, the windshield and changed the oil. Also said if I get an afterarket stereo, he'll install for no charge.

Said he'd give me $800 off the asking price so it'd cost me $5K.

Comments? Suggestions?

thanks again,
amy

Flood damage is a very insiduous thing. Some friends of mine had a Jaguar XK8 that got flood damaged in a long term airport car park whilst they were on holiday. They actually drove it home after it was jump started and all that was obviously wrong were the electric seats. The insurance company took one look at it and wrote it off.

I recently did a lot of work on a Volvo P1800 that was flood damaged about 10 years ago. It still had silt in all sorts of weird places. The front suspension pivot bolts took an air hacksaw and an oxy acetylene torch to remove them. This despite the car being disassembled and restored in the intervening time.

I don't know too much about values where you are, I'm in the UK. But it sounds expensive to me. The bits that have been replaced are relatively cheap. If you want a salvaged car investigate buying one at rock bottom price as salvage, then fix it.

My personal principle is this; When looking at a car I never ever try to convince myself to buy something. Instead ask the question are there good reasons not to buy it? If the answer is yes walk away. I'll walk even if it is a gut feeling. Most car buyers just want to spend the cash, the price difference between the average and the very best tends not to be that great. There are any number of cars for sale, you only have the money to spend once. Of course you have to be realistic, my current '86 740 wagon is accident damaged, and was bought like it. The purchase price however more than reflected the damage. I won't bother to repair it it can stay as it is. The point is though I bought it from a main dealer as an unwanted trade in. Full main dealer history, 4 new tyres, new exhaust, new battery, and a dirty great dent in 2 doors, though they still open and shut perfectly OK. That'll be 300 Dollars please sir.


Regards

Pete

The orange spots would greatly concern me. Where on the doors were they?

As others have pointed out, galvanized does not rust this way. Galvanized steel is plated with zinc. The zinc rusts first to protect the steel. When it rusts, it is a light gray color. If the car has orange spots, the steel beneath is rusting. Additionally, when metal is treated with an anticorrosive coating and the coating is stripped away in a small area exposing the bare metal, that area of bare metal will rust much faster than metal that has not been treated at all.

I think you should avoid the car and keep looking.

Good luck
Don Tibbetts
--
92 745T 92K mi

did you try the blower motor (interior fan), that's got to be going soon if it was in water.

Rust is like cancer to volvo's. It'll kill them. Galvanized metal does not get orange spots, the zinc or magnesium (what ever is in there) gets oxidized first (greyish rust). Then the iron gets oxidized. My 87 still has does not have rust (orange) on chip with bare metal, for the past 4 years.

Not worth it if you ask me, for that price range you can easily find another brick.

Stock radio (rebuilt) can be had at Bortons for $150. The seat heater relays can be replaced for about $60 to make the heaters work. The rust is a bigger issue: take a look at the door seams and the drain holes (using a flashlight) for further evidence. Surface rust on a 92 is not good: they were galvanized.

IMO, and that is all it is,
little rust turns into big rust,
little rust that is repaired never really goes away.
that is way too much kitty food for a car with faded interrior and potential rust out. Sound like it may be from passing sand trucks.
I would continue to look, especially if I had a car that was reliable.

Very very pricey for a 240 with a salvage-flood title in the rustbelt. Fly to California-Arizona-Texas on vacation, find a nice rust -free 240 and drive it back for an adventure.

-Phil Punxsutawney

Why the guy at the parts window at the local dealer warned me against ever buying an S80:

They had one in with 965 miles on the odometer. It had been a bit flooded. Not too high over the door sills.

But enough to flood out the electronics. The insurance company totaled it. $38,000 book value and it was only good for salvage.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

What I don't understand about the vehicle described by Ryegirl is that it was flooded 10 years ago and it's just starting to rust. Seems to me if salt got to it back then, it would be all rotted out by now.

Maybe she should take it to a body shop?

Doug Harvey

Phil, do you have a lot of experience with this type of car? I'd like to compare notes. Brickstr too.
--
Chris Herbst
1992 745, 68k

And others:
93 944, 150k
90 245, 110k
88 744, 160k
87 245, 185k

This is just supposed to be one post.


Chris Herbst
1992 745, 68k

And others:
93 944, 150k
90 245, 110k
88 744, 160k
87 245, 185k