Hello all,

I have the opportunity to pick up a nice '74 164E w/ auto at a pretty good price but it's got 2 main problems and I'm wondering if anyone here will be familiar with them:

First is that the engine has some difficulty running. It runs great on the highway however it doesn't want to idle, unless you keep your foot on the gas it will stall out. Further, when accelerating from a stop it will hesitate for a few seconds before it responds to the throttle. This car has 73K original miles but pretty much all city driving. I'm not quite sure what the problem could be, it could be a lot of things :-)

Any ideas, common issues? I really don't know anything about the quirks of Volvos which is why I am posting here.

Vacuum leaks perhaps or some sort of ignition fault. It has a new coil, new plugs. The current owner pulled the head and took it into a Volvo specialist who advised him it didn't need a valve job. I am familiar with the D-Jet fuel injection but I'm used to the L-Jet instead since I currently own a '79 VW Bus.

The other problem is that when the engine warms up it will emit white hazy smoke from under the car, the oil burning off of something kind of smoke.

I haven't got a chance to look at the car in detail yet so I may see the cause when I do but any common problems with oil being spewed from the rear area of the engine near the bottom? I am hoping not a rear main seal issue but I suppose that's possible.

Any advice and things to look for when buying one of these cars would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sean Bartnik