That bad, huh? :-)

I'm not too worried about the FI, I understand and can fix that. I would be more likely to suspect some sort of vacuum leak given the symptoms of not wanting to idle, stalling, and hesitation on acceleration. I try not to suspect the FI right away because in my experience most "FI problems" have turned out to be vacuum leaks or ignition problems.

What in the auto tranny could cause such symptoms? Does it have a lockup torque converter like modern transmissions? Is shifting vacuum controlled in this tranny or governor controlled?

How do these auto trannies hold up? Word from the owner (a friend) is that the tranny is fine. I plan to go back sometime this week and look over the car more in depth and drive it to see what's up with all the running gear.

I'm not thrilled about the auto tranny either :-) but if I buy this car I may wind up ultimately selling it at some point to a friend who really likes old Volvos but can't drive stick. Or I may just keep it, guess it all depends on future circumstances.

Whether I buy it or not at this point mainly hinges I think on the source of the oil smoke. If the rear main seal is shot I probably won't buy it as I'm not much into engine pulls.

Thanks again,

Sean Bartnik