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I looked at a '91 today, give me some opinions please 200

I had asked in a previous post about a '91 240 sedan, 120K miles, asking $5K that I saw in the paper weeks ago. I looked at it today. I can turn a wrench, but I'm no expert and this is the first Volvo I've looked at. Original owner had it serviced by the local dealer up to 90K miles. I saw the dealer stamps in the owner's manual. The best I can tell the 1st owner's health declined (now deceased according to 2nd owner) and the car was neglected for 20K miles or so. The current owner has had it for 7 months. Before I drove an hour to see it he had told me that it was pristine in/out and mechanically. Note - I don't care too much about the car's appearance. I'm more interested in a solid driver.

-Current owner claims new tires/rotors/pads/CD player. The tires are "Sonar" brand, which I imagine are dirt cheap. He also had the roof (only) painted due to bird droppings. The rest of the paint appears to be original - some scratches and the paint has kind of faded, no dings, no rust, no apparent body damage
-It still has R12 in the A/C, the compressor takes 5-10 secs to start after hitting the a/c switch (is that normal?), I heard what sounded like bearing noise when the compressor kicked on, so I imagine that will need to be replaced soon, it did blow cold ($600-$800 or so for repair + conversion?)
-Last timing belt was at 51K miles (dealer sticker on belt cover), so it needs one plus drive belts and water pump now ($500?)
-Multiple oil (or ATF?) leaks – top of flame trap looked wet, valve cover (dried up oil only), wet oil in area on top of water pump under t-belt cover (a leaking front seal?), trans had a fresh drop of motor oil (or ATF?) hanging on the plug and trans pan was slightly wet with oil or ATF (maybe RM seal at $500 or so?)
-Did the flame trap test on oil fill cap, a little oil spurted out, then cap rattled away, no suction from what I could tell
-There was an electrical connector loose, kind of a clear looking tube mounted to the side wall under the washer fluid tank, what is that? The wire/connector was dangling near where it should be plugged in. I didn't plug it in to see what would happen. Owner didn't want too either.
-Little things - radio antenna was grinding but went up/down, rear bumper on both sides was separated about 1/8” from the car's side body on both sides (normal?), headlights had yellowed, splash shield was missing, appears to have the original plastic neck radiator, several power windows were slow up/down

I guess here is the good - Oil/ATF looked fresh, no noise from interior fan, ABS brakes felt good, felt solid and straight at 80mph, no rust, no warning lights, very clean interior. I'm a rookie, but I think I quickly found about $2K worth of maint/repair. Am I wrong on this and what do you think is a fair price?






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New I looked at a '91 today, give me some opinions please [200]
posted by  cajun626  on Sat Oct 27 09:14 CST 2007 >


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