Is she worth it?....

[Chris740R]

Leaving these problems:

The steering on full lock it grumbles and judders, almost feeling like you're driving on a loose gravel stone pathway, but is fine in all other conditions,
does it feel like the tracking is misaligned and the tires are skipping on the ground? Do you have any odd tire wear?

The anti roll bushes are rotted, and so are the nuts and bolts holding them in, (i won't be able to remove them)

New tie rods (the short rods that go from the anti roll bar to the suspension) come with replacement bushings and are about £10 each. Don't worry about the rusted nuts as they'll probably twist and snap when you remove them.

The water pump and filler cap expansion tank is leaking boiling off coolant (never has overheated)

What colour is the filler cap? And where is it leaking from the waterpump: hose connection, between the pump and the engine block, other?

Squealing rear brake i've tried allsorts on except replace pads..

brakes squeal because the pads are vibrating super fast. Replacing the pads with genuine volvo ones will probably cure it.



Have i bought a lemon?
It shouldn't cost more than £40 to fix the brakes and tie rods (assuming you do it yourself). If this is the way to define a lemon, every car I've bought would be one It should be fine once you get these last three sorted out

['88740GL]

Originally Posted by Chris740R

Leaving these problems:

The steering on full lock it grumbles and judders, almost feeling like you're driving on a loose gravel stone pathway, but is fine in all other conditions,
does it feel like the tracking is misaligned and the tires are skipping on the ground? Do you have any odd tire wear?

The anti roll bushes are rotted, and so are the nuts and bolts holding them in, (i won't be able to remove them)

New tie rods (the short rods that go from the anti roll bar to the suspension) come with replacement bushings and are about £10 each. Don't worry about the rusted nuts as they'll probably twist and snap when you remove them.

The water pump and filler cap expansion tank is leaking boiling off coolant (never has overheated)

What colour is the filler cap? And where is it leaking from the waterpump: hose connection, between the pump and the engine block, other?

Squealing rear brake i've tried allsorts on except replace pads..

brakes squeal because the pads are vibrating super fast. Replacing the pads with genuine volvo ones will probably cure it.



Have i bought a lemon?
It shouldn't cost more than £40 to fix the brakes and tie rods (assuming you do it yourself). If this is the way to define a lemon, every car I've bought would be one It should be fine once you get these last three sorted out

The tyre wear is normal, if you hold the steering wheel straight whilst driving, the car stays straight and true, so that is all good, i just need to change the rubber bushings on the track control bar? (two doughnut bushings on a vertical bar) on both sides

The coolant cap is grey, but the seal has perished and spilit, so i need to order one of those, but the water pump seal to the engine block is seeping coolant so i'm unsure whether or not to buy a new water pump + seal or just the gasket and replace the gasket, the water pump is making no grinding noises and seems to be pumping very well

I need some anti squeal shims before i put the new brake pads in, or won't that be a problem?

Thank you for all of this help!

[5t3w4rt]

Originally Posted by '88740GL

Thank you for the sugesstion, funnily enough, i was looking at this turbo wagon earlier on that day, just to see what available and it does look a very nice one too, one problem is the missus doesnt like the wagons, so to keep her happy it may have to be the saloons or a newer estate which i cannot afford,

i'll just drive my current one around, save my cash for a newer one and just basic maintain the one i have, i was looking at the 850 saloon models, but i'm not too sure what their looking out for problems are, i want someting with air conditioning, or even climate control, i love the crisp fresh air that AC provides, seems to clear my sinuses haha!

Thank you for the advice!

Women! My missus doesn't like the estate either. She says they look like an old man's car or cigar car??

[Paul240480]

You may well find that you can sort the squealy brakes by simply removing the pads, clean up calliper with a spray brake cleaner & smear copper slip grease onto the rear of the pads Obviously if the pads are knackered swap em'.

Sounds to me like you've already put some time in & spent some of your 'hard earnt' to get you to where you are now. It's always difficult deciding when to call it a day. This year alone I've put probably over £500 into my 89' 240 probably about it's value 'on a good day'.

Having just gone through the MOT, you have another 11 months to decide Why not run it & do just the 'more needed' repairs. Then chuck it in for MOT next year & see how it get's on. As you say it seems reliable.

As the engine is such a low mileage example, even if you ran it for say, another 3 years, it'll still be low mileage compared to the majority. So you'll still have people snapping your hand off for the engine I reckon

Good luck

[Chris740R]

The tyre wear is normal, if you hold the steering wheel straight whilst driving, the car stays straight and true, so that is all good, i just need to change the rubber bushings on the track control bar? (two doughnut bushings on a vertical bar) on both sides

ah, I might have experienced something similar, but not quite the same. Because these cars have a good turning circle, any inaccuracies in the tracking become apparent on full lock. My front wheels used to squabble and fight against each other on full lock, and I eventually worked out it was because the front suspension bushes were worn out. It sounds like you've got something slightly different going on by the way you describe it.

The doughnut bushings on the tie rods would not cause this problem, the anti roll bar is there to reduce body roll on cornering. Replacing the doughnut bushings would improve the stability of your car, but would not stop the juddering.

Maybe some one else can help with this one.





The coolant cap is grey, but the seal has perished and spilit, so i need to order one of those, but the water pump seal to the engine block is seeping coolant so i'm unsure whether or not to buy a new water pump + seal or just the gasket and replace the gasket, the water pump is making no grinding noises and seems to be pumping very well

I'd just get a replacement green one with a good looking seal from a scrapyard and that will sort out any coolant bottle leaks.

From what I've gathered, the water pumps on these cars go on and on and on. Personally I have never replaced one, and I can't see any reason why you couldn't just reseal your current one.



I need some anti squeal shims before i put the new brake pads in, or won't that be a problem?

Good question... not sure. It's a long time since I did my brakes. Probably best to wait for some one else to give a proper answer to this as I don't remember any 'anti squeal shims' on my calipers.

I do however remember anti rattle springs, rattles were the bane of my life before I discovered that they existed and were meant to be fitted!

[yoda960]

Does this car have a red interior and is it silver? Makes me wonder as I went to see a 740 saloon Manchester quite a while ago and it had similar mileage and was apparently used on a farm. I seem to remember a cracked back screen too. I walked away because it was it such bad condition, I remember rusty arches and generally bad condition!

['88740GL]

Originally Posted by 5t3w4rt

Women! My missus doesn't like the estate either. She says they look like an old man's car or cigar car??

Yeah, she was persistant in not letting me have a volvo in the first place, even more when we went to look at it.....needless to say when i picked her up from work in my current car of then, a vauxhall, she said 'I see you didn't buy that old volvo, did you?' ....i picked up the volvo keys from my pocket and dangled them in her face...and watched her smile fall away! haha!

She thinks the estate looks like a hearse or a hebrew gentlmans car, i live very near a large jewish community, and if you like volvo's theres a lot of them around here! I see it as a testament, i know that hebrews like most people want something cheap and tough, and luxurious, that will give them no trouble when motoring...if volvos are good enough for them, then its going to be a good buy!

['88740GL]

Originally Posted by yoda960

Does this car have a red interior and is it silver? Makes me wonder as I went to see a 740 saloon Manchester quite a while ago and it had similar mileage and was apparently used on a farm. I seem to remember a cracked back screen too. I walked away because it was it such bad condition, I remember rusty arches and generally bad condition!

Its silver, and it has a black interior and pinstripe grey seats, check my albums on my profile, yep was owned by a farm owner and has a cracked back screen....

[howie 1]

all depends whether you enjoy owning /driving old knackered sheds such as this, me personally? id much rather spend a few quid and buy a nice motor that you know isnt going to fall to its around your ears... were all different

['88740GL]

Bits from scantech arrived today, my set of brake pads, anti roll bar bushes (21mm Horseshoe type), water pump gasket and seals kit, coolant expansion tank cap, the only thing thats on backorder are the anti roll bar link rods and bushes, they won't be in stock till the first week of December, so i think i will install the bushes when they arrive, or when the weather gets less hostile.

Anyway, pulled the old rear brake pads out, and just as i knew it, some shoddy mechanic that the previous owner/s sent it to had put these old pads in probably using old or odd anti squeal shims....1 of them? where are the other 3? also, no anti rattle spring clips and rusty pad pins,

Out with the old, in with the new, copper grease on the backs of the pads, and new shims, , popped them in after persuading the caliper pistons the move into their bores, put everything back together, hey presto! Done!

Heres a picture of the old pads removed:

Noticed how the caliper pistons have bitten into the backs of the old pads..is this normal?

.........Next big job is the water pump seals and gasket replacement..., coolant is going to be changed, even though it is clean, and i'll flush the radiator through whilst i'm at it, possibly change the thermostat..and the radiator hoses... Got to fix the weird heater blower electrics tommorow when i have a spare 30 mins...