[ernie]

Having owned a couple of 245 estates previously, I bought a beautiful 1985 260GLE auto estate around 8 years ago. It was a genuine 1-owner-from-new car, waxoyled & with 82,000 miles on the clock & full Volvo service history. All was well for the 1st 4 months (and 6000 miles!) until, almost overnight, the valve gear became alarmingly noisy. If I had a £1 for everyone who said "I told you not to buy the V6" I would have got rich very quickly! I remember thinking what a bad decision I thought I had made. I couldn't believe how quickly this started, it went from totally quiet to sounding like a diesel in less than 300 miles! Anyway, ended up replacing both camshafts, all the rockers, both timing chains & sprockets, oil pump gears (just to be sure!) plus all the gaskets etc - an expensive job, around £350 for the parts if I remember right (and that was 8 years ago!). I did it myself in a weekend, not a particularly difficult job but a hassle I could have done without. The relief I felt when it started up was incredible & the car ran as quietly as it did when I got it. I had thoughts of selling it while it still ran OK but, not to be deterred, I kept it for a further 3 years, changed the oil & filter religiously, & finally sold it to a workmate of mine. It still runs perfectly today although the body is beginning to show it's age - usual rust on tailgate & bottom of doors etc. (as per 240!) My other not-so-fond memory of it was the difficulty getting to the distributor & the rear left spark plug was also a pain if I remember correctly. I now run a 1987 740 GLE auto estate which is a joy to drive.