I bought my 1989 Volvo 760 last year because it was nicer than my 1986 Volvo 740. It had wonderful features like ABS, power mirrors, and *HEAT*. My 760 decided last week that oil doesn't belong in the engine. Since the local Volvo specialist can't look at it until Valentine's day, I'm driving my 740 in the middle of the winter.

So... In the future event I need to ride my trusty steed next year, I would like to repair the heat. Let me state what I know, and maybe we can figure out what's not right here.

Number one, I bought the car knowing the heat was off. The heat slider has lost it's knob, and can rotate a little in it's groove. The coolant hose has been diverted from the firewall by looping it back to the water pump. The blower motor works well, even though it makes a caffinated-and-obviously-upset-chicken-in-the-glove-box noise when it gets cold.

My synopsis is that the hose was diverted because there was a leak inside the car. My big questions are, is the slider rotation an indication of it being broken, or is that normal... Number two, how hard is it to replace a heater core, in the event it has popped.

If you're not interested in the condition of my 740, you likely should not read past this line.

I would spend a fortune to have the mech do it, but I am avoiding putting money into this car. I know it sounds horrible, but she'd become a money pit. It has 250K miles on it, and has been in a couple of accidents. The front of the car is warped, the driver's door is cracked and dosn't fully close, there is *ONE* window in the car that works right, and under some hard accel's/take-off's, she burps and the rear wiper goes off. The heated seats appear to have gone long ago, the leather has seen better days, a few chunks of interior trim are missing, the windsheild is crached, the fuel gague wanders aimlessly, the tailgate struts are shot, the exaust rattles, and what's left of the sunroof causes it to rain harder IN the car than OUTSIDE the car. In other words, there's too much wrong with this car to give it more than just operational maintinance.

On the flip side, this car has never failed me. She always starts, always runs, always gets me from point A to point B. She is always willing to move mass quantities of equipment as well. Her ride is smooth and supple, conveying her mass well. She also does a killer fishtail when I'm in a Miami Vice mood.
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89 764 GLE 150k/ 86 745 GLE 240k