Volvo Maintenance Frequency

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a second hand Volvo 240. The car I saw was a 1990
model that had done 140,000 kms, an average of 10,000 kms per year.
The car had been maintained roughly every 10,000 kms (plus or minus
5000 kms) by an authorised Volvo dealer. This was done every 1-2
years. Is this regular enough servicing?

To me, it sounds like it hasn't been maintained well enough, but then
again, the mileage is much lower than my current car, so the much more
irregular servicing.

Regards,

Han.

 

That sounds reasonable. I give my own cars more attention than that, but if
all looks to be in good shape that should be fine. I've worked on a lot of
240's that got much less frequent maintenance than that, took a bit of work
to get them fixed up but they can take a good deal of abuse.

 

I have always changed engine oil @ 5000k and filter every 10,000 in other
cars, but the 1980 Volvo owners manual suggests 10,000k for both. I'm
prepared to trust that, it takes about twice the amount of oil as any car I
have had too - that should help I reckon.

 

Hi,

Is the fact that at times, the servicing was done at 2 year intervals,
going to be a problem (even though the mileage was quite low)?
Regards,

Han.

 

Twice as much oil? What motor does it have? My Volvos all take 4 quarts,
that's about the least any car I've ever dealt with has taken.

 

2.7 litre 6-cyl. B27E the book says 6.5 litres (11.5 UK pints) incl filter.
My previous '87 ford 3.3 litre took about 4 litres incl. filter & that's the
most any car I have had, used. OK it's not double but I always got change
from a 5 litre bottle. Maybe they changed in those 10 years & maybe the
fours use a lot less.

 

By "servicing" do you mean oil chnages? "Servicing" is a bit vague.

 

As you have a 260 and not a 240 you needn't have posted a reply.

Cheers, Peter.

 

I had a number of 240s without turbos. The routine maintenance was
every 10,000 miles or once per year, whichever occurred first. 10,000
miles is 16,000 km. So, this 240 was maintained very conservatively. I
always kept my 240s 120,000 miles (190,000 km) and they ran and looked
like new when I sold them.

 

I realise it's a different motor and 10 years older and qualified that, but
for relative comparison and if no more specific replies had been made I
thought the information might still have been useful. So far the most
helpful and in fact the only helpful reply has been "sounds reasonable...".
Did not mean to confuse or mislead. Or top post.

 

I think reasonable guidelines for any non diesel engine in normal service is
oil change every 5-7,000 miles or 6 months (whichever comes first). Other
service as reccomended by the manual. Check fluids every other fill up.

Howard
245 and 945T

 

Wow, I didn't know the V6 took so much oil. Another item on the long list of
reasons to avoid that motor I suppose.

 

120k is nothing though, a 240 could probably pull that off with oil changes
every 30k. It's when you want it to last 250k+ and still run like new that
the maintenance counts. I find that after 4-5k the oil is looking pretty
dirty, of course a lot depends on how the car is driven, 10k of pure highway
miles might not be so bad but oil is cheap, why skimp?

 

You mean the mighty volvo co built a dud, or just that a four is so much
simpler/more economical?

 

Heheh, to put this in perspective, the white blocks (4-5-6 cylinders)
take more than their share of oil too. The 5 cylinder takes about 6
qts to fill up, and I don't think 6 litres would overfill it either
(I know the difference between a litre and US qt).

 

I quite like the idea of a big sump, it should mean fuel pickup is "diluted"
over a larger volume and if it was losing oil it should take longer til the
pump sucked air. My uncle has a 740 (turbo) & also was amazed how much oil
it took.

 

The thread wasn't about changing oil, it was about buying a new car.

 

It was about service intervals in relation to a second hand car. Oil change
would have to be about the least reversible service omission.

 

740 Turbo takes 4 quarts of oil, same as any other 4 cyl Volvo. There's one
sitting in my driveway, just changed the oil a couple months ago.

 

Doesn't matter what the thread *was* about, it has branched off to oil
change intervals so that's what I'm replying to.