13 years since an MOT
 

Hi everyone

New to the forum, hello!

My grandma still has a silver 740 that she bought with my grandad new in 1989, however it hasn’t turned a wheel since he passed away in 2008 and it’s been sitting on her drive ever since.

I’d love to get it running again for nostalgia sake; I know she’d love to see it back on the road with me at the wheel. I was 1 in 1989 and I still remember jumping in the back on those icy cold leather seats when I was a kid.

She lives a few hours from me so I want to plan ahead with what I’d need to do. What do you think I need to prepare for that? What things should I look out for and what replacement parts should I get in advance?

It’s been sitting on concrete, not under a cover and has done about 90k miles. I should add, I don’t have any pictures; that’s beyond her technical capabilities I’m afraid!

Thanks very much!
Fred

A rag and a gallon of fresh engine oil. Check the dipstick has something on it, and top up with fresh oil. Bring a rotor arm.

Remove the spark plugs next. Then, using a socket (22mm IIRC) and breaker bar turn the engine over by hand several times. Be gentle, you may have to "rock" the pulley slightly, but do NOT force it. If it won't move then pour a mix of acetone and Carlube Synthetic ATF into the cylinder bores and stuff rags into the sparkplug holes. Leave for a day so the mix can soak the bores. If it's an automatic it might be worth jacking up the back axle so the rear wheels are off the ground, and moving the selector lever through the positions to release the starter inhibitor switch. (I didn't do this on a FIAT Mirafiori auto once and it started in reverse, leaping backwards into the garage door! I then jacked up the back end, scrambled underneath and checked that the switch was working while my father ran the selector through the positions.)

Once you know the engine will turn over get a gallon of petrol, a fresh battery and a set of jump leads. Again, turn it over by hand several times then put the petrol into the tank, connect the battery, put it into Neutral/Park, re-install the plugs and slave it from your vehicle. Do not rev it, just let it find its own idle speed and leave it runing for half a minute or so.

Thereafter it's a re-commssioning job. New brake fluid, engine oil and filter - with at least one flush - new coolant which is a 50/50 mix of water and ethylene glycol anti-freeze, again having flushed the coolant system, and new tyres are the start. You might be able to borrow a set of wheels.

Putting it in for an MoT will give you a list of items to tackle next.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

Welcome to this Section of the VOC Forum. You have come to the right place for advice.

Naturally, a picture of the car would have been helpful and some detail of the model (basic - what's on the boot/tailgate or the V5). Is it actually saloon or an estate?

That said if it's been in London all it's life it will have been spared the rigours of driving about with loads of salt on the road. 700 Series were well built with good rust proofing.

When a car hasn't been driven for such a long time there are many factors to be taken into account when putting it back on the road most of which will be age related associated with non-use.

Firstly and, in very general terms, check that engine turns over and then that the car moves!! What you do to achieve this will be based on your mechanical skills.

Best of luck,

Bob :)

The brakes will more than likely be seized after 13 years as well so be careful when you go to move it

As has already been said, please keep us posted with pics if you can. Hope it all goes well and another gets saved :teeth_smile:

Timing belt and tensioner!!!!!

I wouldn't normally push my suggestion above the other excellent advice you've already had but the last thing you want to do is wreck the engine before you even know it starts!

Chances are the timing belt has stuck in the position it was left in however many years ago and the tensioner bearings will almost certainly have Brinelled if not seized completely.

Check the engine is free to turn as someone else (Loki i think) suggested and as soon as you know that, replace the timing belt and tensioner.
It's about an hours work taking it easy.

While you're doing it (once you've got the engine moving and in the timed position), remove the old plugs and dribble a well-shaken mix of 50/50 acetone and Carlube ATF-U into the cylinders via the plug holes - again this was also suggested by Loki and will help free up the piston rings.

Once you've changed the timing belt and tensioner, turn the engine over by hand several times to make sure it turns.

If all seems well, add some fresh fuel to the tank with ~100ml of ATF-U which will help free and lube the pumps and injectors, reviving the rubber seals as it goes round the system.

Fit the fresh battery and try turning it over on the starter. Make sure the oil pressure light goes out after a few turns. Rest the starter for about 15-20 seconds and give it another spin over until the oil pressure light goes out.

Switch the ignition off.

Set the new plugs gaps to 0.65mm using feeler gauges and fit them and reconnect the leads.

Turn it over on the starter, if you're lucky it'll fire first time. Before doing this make sure it's in neutral if it's manual. If it's auto expect a squawk/hum from the torque converter for the first while until the ATF circulates, could take a while though.

After that let us know how you got on and we can guide you through the next steps.

Completely agree with Dave, first thing to do will be the cambelt and tensioner.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice; you really know your stuff! The only other info I know/can remember about the car and that I didn’t mention before is that it’s a petrol auto estate.

I’ll most certainly get some pictures when I go up there and will let you know how I get on!!

Thank you again
Fred

Hi Fred and welcome mate.

Some very good advice here, but before ALL that, go round the silks and chassis etc checking for rust. Its a volvo so itll either be surprisingly good, or dangerously rotten. No point going through all the get up and go if you can put your hand through parts of the chassis!

Inspecting the timing belt a gears will be useful. My 360 sat in damp conditions for several years and built up alot of corrosion on the head and block aluminium such that it clogged up the timing gear causing it to slip.

What engine / fuel system?