Volvo 740 running problems...

Economics decree otherwise, given how little these are worth nowadays, even
in mint condition... plus I'm busy with work etc., and it would cost an arm
and a leg to get a garage to do that much to it.

Unfortunately, it's just one of those things that once you get past a
certain point, aren't worth the aggro.

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is JackH:

Can't agree.

*Because* they are worth so little, you can afford to spend money on
them. I think of it as an investment (we're not talking tinny old
rust-bucket Ford here). If you can get your car running well, you will
have a strong, reliable, comfortable workhorse with the capacity to
last many years. When I bought my '87 740 five years ago it was the
oldest car I'd ever owned; it is now the car I've owned the longest
and shows no sign of giving up yet..


--

Stewart Hargrave

I run on beans - laser beans


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

Who cares what it's worth unless you're trying to fix it up to sell it for a
profit? Once it's running it's a good reliable car, and they can be kept
running very inexpensively, I've never understood the mentality of those who
are unwilling to spend a few hundred dollars to keep their old but mostly
solid car maintained and running, but will happily dump thousands into
buying a new one, a car generally isn't an investment, you buy it and it
drops in value continuously but if you keep it up, it doesn't really become
any less useful, and if you fix problems as they occur and replace parts as
they wear out, a well designed car can last indefinitly and unless your
needs change it will always meet your needs. Of course once someone neglects
a car long enough, it can certainly become hard to justify repairing it
since a nicer one can sometimes be found for less money. Around here it's
virtually unheard of for a Volvo with a straight body and decent paint and
interior to get scrapped, usually it's major collisions, or in some areas,
severe rust that kills them.

 

I do.

Ok, say I spend £600 fixing it as an extreme, and then I wrap it round a
tree tomorrow - I then either end up loaded up by claiming on the insurance
trying to recoup some of my losses, or I just accept the loss and try and
recoup money on some of the spares.

Either way, I've lost out, but more importantly I could go out and buy
something else in good running order for less than that, and not have a
seemingly unfathomable without buying loads of parts, frustrating mystery,
on my hands.

It may well cost hardly any more to fix, but given I'm £100 out of pocket so
far and its still running like shite, I'm not willing to throw more money at
it unless *someone* who knows what they are doing can just look at it and
say 'ah yes, it's "x", will cost "y", and we can have it ready for you on
"z", and I've heard too many horror stories involving problems like this
where even the main dealer can't fathom it out, but will still be charging
shedloads to determine this.

I'm trying to fix it up so I can use it, as I have a need for either a van
or estate asap - my normal plodder, Fiesta 1.8 Diesel, is fine for most the
time, but I really need something spacious for weekend family duties etc.

When I can go and buy a decent runner with tax and MOT for sub £500, I fail
to see the point in spending the same sort of money trying to fix this
one... it's already cost me over £100 trying to sort it this time, partly
due to bad advice, and partly due to the apparent obscurity of the problem,
and I've been here before in the past, throwing money willy nilly at a
problem and ending up no better off.

Having said all that, I agree they're a very well built car, and it deserves
to go back on the road - when I have driven it, up until it's given up the
ghost again, it's proven to be a very nice drive, which makes all this that
bit more frustrating!!!

 

As in my other post, say it gets written off the day after I've finally
fixed it, and at great cost... maintenance is something insurance companies
won't factor in with regards to a valuation of the vehicle.

Yes, I can see your point... just out of interest, what sort of MPG do you
get out of yours?

 

What is mine worth as it is, then?

114k, reasonably complete service history, clean in the body, seven seats,
good tyres etc.

Personal circumstances dictate I may have to offload it soonish, running
properly or otherwise, and I'd be looking for a quick sale.

 

That depends entirely on where you are, if you parked it in front of my
house with a for sale sign and a price of $2700 it'd likely be gone in a
week, that mileage is almost ridiculously low for a car that age, complete
service records are rare to find, and it sounds like a solid car that's got
well over half it's life left in it, however where you are I know it's worth
considerably less, must just be a different mentality over there, and I
always thought americans had about the most disposeable lifestyle in the
world.


Insurance must be more of a pain there too, my brother's '79 240 with 220k
on it got rear ended pretty hard, it's still driveable but will need some
body work, we pointed out that it was straight, clean, fairly well
maintained and was a solid car, and after a little dinking around they gave
him $980 and let him keep the car with a clean title. My mom's '86 got
munched in a parking lot, the insurance coughed up $1600 to have that
repaired. The insurance companies love old Volvos, according to my agent
they so rarely have to pay injury claims to those driving them.

 

Hi James.

Here in the UK, older cars, especially big ones which aren't perhaps as fuel
efficient as others, tend to be worth bugger all when they get past a
certain age here... I suppose petrol must be the equivalent of $1 per litre
here, for one thing.

 

Yeah that part sucks, here people bitch and moan when the price of regular
gets up to $1.70 a gallon, the different units are a pain, but the last time
I went to Canada it was about US$0.50 a liter and people were complaining.
Costs me about $22 to fill the tank of my 740 Turbo and that gets me 250-330
miles depending, here in the land of ridiculously huge SUV's that looks
pretty good.

I still don't understand why cars in general depreciate so much with age, to
me it's all about condition, a 20 year old car in excellent condition that's
been meticulously maintained is worth more than a 2 year old car that's
filthy and beat to hell, just seems like a no brainer.

 

Hi James.

Hi Jack,
Have to agree with you on this one - I'm currently on a 1990 740GLE Estste
Auto, done 230,000 miles, and is still running like a dream. Full service
history too - we've been pretty maticulous with servicing. Resale though,
is next to nothing. I may have to (reluctantly) sell it in a few weeks as
I've been given a 1998 V40, and can't keep both. They're going on eBay for
about £400!

Incidentally, insurance wise, they're getting enough out of me to pay out in
claims to many others!! Being a young driver (still under 25) even though
I've had no accidents, it's still costing me £750 to insure my 740... That's
with 3 years No Claims too! They want over £900 for the V40!!!

And petrol wise... ouch! It costs so much in the UK!
75pence per litre
£2.84 per US Gallon
$4.50 (approx, I think...) per US Gallon.

So getting 22mpg on average is costing me a fortune! Still, there's nothing
else quite like driving a tank around London!

Mark

 

Who cares what it's worth...

Two sides to the coin - and I can sympathise with both. Partly cos I've
been there. Made the mistake of getting a 440Xi 1.8, and had a problem that
couldn't be identified by 2 independent Volvo specialists, or one Volvo
dealer. Ended up spending way more in servicing this in 2 years than the
car was worth. Sold it on for next to nothing - hopefully someone got a
good deal. However, if a fault occurs, selling it to get another can be a
mistake... given many use substandard parts when using small garages,
there's often very little history. I've found with Volvo that when things
go wrong it's usually small 0 the problem is that the dealers are hopeless
at diagnosing it now unless a computer can tell them the problem. The 7
series needs decent mechanics - harder to come by now!! Would be
interesting to know what you decide - I certainly agree you shouldn't just
keep ploughing money into it in the hope it'll solve the problem... but
maybe it's worth asking a few dealers. I previously gave you the details of
Braydon Motor Company - they can be good... also you could try ringing
Pilling Volvo in Luton - don't know if you can get there, but many times
they've been recommended to me!

Mark

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is JackH:

That's prolly true. It's also true that the more I spend on my car the
more protective of it I am when driving it.

I daresay that makes me just like a Volvo driver.

In fact this is something that I've never really calculated, and is
complicated by the fact I fitted an LPG system to it.

These are the figures:

Last year I did 11,758 miles between MOTs
I spent 1,099.97 ukp on LPG in that time
LPG is about 38ppl
LPG returns around 80% of the mileage that petrol does

By my maths that equates to about 18.5mpg on LPG, or a theoretical
23mpg on petrol.


--

Stewart Hargrave

I run on beans - laser beans


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is JackH:

It can be hard to say - condition is everything at this age. These
cars are so cheap that a good application of Turtle Wax can double the
price - and still be very little. You'll often see them in Loot or on
ebay for between 500 and a grand.

But it's low mileage, and if the bodywork shines and interior is clean
and unworn, then realistically maybe 1000ukp, if it was working OK. As
it's not, you could struggle to get more than a couple of hundred.

Remember, there are still plenty of these cars around, and one that
has a major fault will be passed by for a good 'un at not much more
money.

This probably hasn't cheered you up any.



--

Stewart Hargrave

I run on beans - laser beans


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is James Sweet:

Nice Rolls Royce, sir, at a price to make you weep...?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2440244926&category=18308


--

Stewart Hargrave

I run on beans - laser beans


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

I just spent £500 to get a 1992 740 estate 2.0 GL automatic in mint
condition with 76,000 volvo serviced miles on the clock. Two prevoius
owners. This is to replace my '85 C reg 740 estate with M46 box + o/d with
320,000 on the clock that has succumbed to rust. I also have a sedan 740 SE
'91 with an M47 gearbox that is gone that I will use as a donor car to
upgrade the '92 estate to full electrics. Makes sense to me, gives me a car
that will outlive any new car on the road that cost £500, and have the
luxury of a fully equipped Volvo.