just bought a 760 turbo intercooler e reg po

needed an estate and just saw this volvo for sale on a drive £750 ,amazingly good condition,took it for a spin ,never driven a volvo,offered 500 he took it ,no sevice history,told me his daughter owned it eleven years and only drove to the shops and back. I thought the milage was 135k but after a few days i noticed it said 13,500. The engine compartment is very clean but can any one advise if there is any way to be sure of the low milage by some detection. I am amazed at how lovely this volvo goes but it seems heavy on juice so i have put some redex injector cleaner is there any other method to reduce consumtion about 18-20mpg any comments would be welcome.Everything seems to work well exept the passenger electric window switch ,which drivers side can operate, plus the boot door seems very light and bangs down heavy when it closes, is this normal or has the pressure gone from the slider mechanisim, am i right to assume this model was a very reliable one ?

[Peter Milnes]

If there was anything wrong with the rear door it would seem very heavy to open. Most of them make a fair noise when being closed. If the door becomes heavy to lift open then a new pair of gas struts is required. Try smelling the power steering fluid. If it smells burnt then the mileage is more likely to be 135,000 than 13,500. 18 - 20mpg seems reasonable for a car that has only done short journeys. If the car looks like a 13,500miler then it probably is. You should not notice any play in steering/suspension joints/bushes. Make sure that the insulation on exposed wiring in the engine bay is not crumbling. Make sure that the starter cable mod has been done to prevent the car suddenly catching fire. As your car has a turbo and intercooler it would be adviseable not to stick the pedal to the metal too often as this will give very poor fuel consumption. If you get any problems, stick them up here and we will try to answer them for you.

All the best, Peter.

Thanks very much peter , I shall investigate and let you know what I find ,actually I pursuaded the wife to go for a drive ,guess what happened ...it broke down round the corner as i waited for her shopping .The AA turned up and removed an anti theft device on the battery which was obviously causing the problem.The AA man did make a remark as to how clean the engine compartment was ,infact he was a bit of an enthusiast himself on volvos and told me it was a fairly reliable model if looked after.It does seem that there is lots of electrics which could play up and yes some wires could be exposed on the end run to relays etc ....must get a book on 760s thanks vey much for the advice.


regards

paul

You will find that the window switch is very easy to fix, just be careful. You need to remove the panel from the door, and open the switch. For this, you need to unclip it, do not brake these clips or you will need to buy a new switch. Open the switch up, take care not to lose the two small balls. Clean all the connectors with a wire brush and it should all work fine. Of course, purchasing a new switch from Volvo will also do the trick; less work, more money. In every case, I suspect you will find that it is the switch that needs cleaning. Do not forget to lubricate the tracks for the windows, or the motor will burn out.

George

Resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler