'86 Volvo Diesel

Would appreciate any input on the 1986 Volvo diesel... am considering one for my grandson in college with a long commute - he is not mechanically inclined.. thanks Ralph Griffith

Reply to
Ralf
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Not a good idea. Any Volvo with a red-block petrol engine from the same era would be a much better choice.

Beverly

Reply to
Bev A. Kupf

Avoid it like the plague, that's my advice. A select few like the old VW 6 cyl diesel they used, but unless it has a turbo it's very sluggish, noisy, and offers only marginally better fuel economy than the gasoline 4 cyl. They require a few specialized tools to work on and finding a mechanic willing to touch it can be a nightmare, you really have to find one of those crusty old Volkswagon guys who worked on a lot of diesel Rabbits back in the 80's.

Look for an older Volvo with the 4 cyl gasoline engine, they're very robust. So long as you get one with a manual gearbox they have reasonable power as well, the slushbox makes them a bit sluggish though. Turbo is nice, but it sounds like he will not benefit much from it and it is one more thing to go wrong.

Reply to
James Sweet

Oh how you stick with your "died in the wool" dislike of diesels. 'Tis time for you to update yourself. My 945 accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in a shade over 9 seconds. As I have said before it has been tuned and puts out around

20% more bhp than the standard 122 bhp (intercooled turbodiesel). The life expectancy is certainly in the order of a minimum 500,000 miles at which mileage the engine will need a small amount of work to keep it running for another 500,000 miles. They use the cleanest, greenest fuel around and put out much less particulates than a small petrol engine. I agree to steer clear of the 240 diesels as they had no turbo and only put out about 85-90 bhp. There are quite a few 740 turbodiesels (109 bhp) with both AW71 +overdrive autoboxes and also M46 +overdrive manual boxes (at least in UK/Europe for the manuals). The facelift 760s and the 940s were available with ZF auto (as were quite a few petrol engined cars including petrol turbos) but I do not think that those with M90 box (like mine) ever made it to the North American continent. The fact that a long commute is envisaged means that the diesel would be ideal, but as I indicated above preferably 740/760 turbo version or 940 turbodiesel (with intercooler as the 760 GLE turbodiesel has fitted to it). My 945 averages 35+ mpg (Imperial) on mainly short journeys yet bests over 42 mpg on motorway journeys (33 mpg towing a caravan).

Cheers, Peter.

Reply to
Peter K L Milnes

"Peter K L Milnes" wrote in message news:ctjr6s$2kj$ snipped-for-privacy@sparta.btinternet.com...

Holy crap man, will you drop it already? This guy is in the US (or so I assume), he wants the car for his non mechanically inclined son to commute in. The merits of *your* super tuned 940 TD have nothing to do with someone in the US who doesn't know how to work on their own car. Are *you* willing to come over and work on it whenever it has a problem? Would *you* like to come change the timing belt when he can't find a shop within 200 miles willing to touch the thing? Are *you* going to personally help him diagnose problems in a 20 year old car that has probably had poor maintenance due to so few mechanics knowing how to properly work on it? That's just fine and dandy that you can get late model 900's with Diesels over there, but the simple fact is you *can't* get those here, the options are '86 or older 700 series with a mechanically injected VW inline 6, of which 90% were automatics, perhaps 30% were turbo, and a scant few intercooled. This is the

*same* exact engine used in the 240 Diesels you yourself say to avoid. I try not to be rude but why you can't get it through your head that I *DON'T DISLIKE DIESELS*, I fairly regularly drive a wonderfully torquy turbodiesel truck, but that I (and virtually anyone else on this continent that you talk to) don't like *THE PARTICULAR* diesel Volvo used in the early 80's. Also I would *love* to see *ONE* with 500,000 miles on it, or better yet a million miles and still running, anybody? Come on, if 500k is nothing surely a few of you have 500, maybe 600 or 700k on your old 80's diesel Volvo? Perhaps someone in the UK where the diesel is lower in sulphur? A pic of the odometer even? A friend who's friend's sister's cousin's friend once had even? So far most of the ones I've seen have been dead in junkyards, with a scant few running ones smoking and rattling badly, none had over 150k on them. I don't care how wonderful *your* 945 is unless you can spawn a bunch of copies over here because it doesn't do any of us a damn bit of good recommending something we can't get! It may be a grand deal over there but you're recommending an obscure old car to a student who will have to search high and low for someone to maintain it for him, pay a premium for hard to obtain parts and more expensive fuel (yes Diesel costs more per gallon than petrol here) and in the end the car's resale value will be half that of a petrol model.
Reply to
James Sweet

Thanks James, good points and well made... and thank you also Peter - wish we could afford your kind of Turbo Diesel... but my grandson attends school in Knoxville, Tennessee and good mechanical help might be hard to come by re: repairs,, etc... Ralf "James Sweet" wrote in message news:YDeLd.184$Kj4.119@trnddc09... | | "Peter K L Milnes" wrote in message | news:ctjr6s$2kj$ snipped-for-privacy@sparta.btinternet.com... | > Oh how you stick with your "died in the wool" dislike of diesels. 'Tis | time | > for you to update yourself. My 945 accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in a shade | > over 9 seconds. As I have said before it has been tuned and puts out | around | > 20% more bhp than the standard 122 bhp (intercooled turbodiesel). The life | > expectancy is certainly in the order of a minimum 500,000 miles at which | > mileage the engine will need a small amount of work to keep it running for | > another 500,000 miles. They use the cleanest, greenest fuel around and put | > out much less particulates than a small petrol engine. I agree to steer | > clear of the 240 diesels as they had no turbo and only put out about

85-90 | > bhp. There are quite a few 740 turbodiesels (109 bhp) with both AW71 | > +overdrive autoboxes and also M46 +overdrive manual boxes (at least in | > UK/Europe for the manuals). The facelift 760s and the 940s were available | > with ZF auto (as were quite a few petrol engined cars including petrol | > turbos) but I do not think that those with M90 box (like mine) ever made | it | > to the North American continent. The fact that a long commute is envisaged | > means that the diesel would be ideal, but as I indicated above preferably | > 740/760 turbo version or 940 turbodiesel (with intercooler as the 760 GLE | > turbodiesel has fitted to it). My 945 averages 35+ mpg (Imperial) on | mainly | > short journeys yet bests over 42 mpg on motorway journeys (33 mpg towing a | > caravan). | | | Holy crap man, will you drop it already? This guy is in the US (or so I | assume), he wants the car for his non mechanically inclined son to commute | in. The merits of *your* super tuned 940 TD have nothing to do with someone | in the US who doesn't know how to work on their own car. Are *you* willing | to come over and work on it whenever it has a problem? Would *you* like to | come change the timing belt when he can't find a shop within 200 miles | willing to touch the thing? Are *you* going to personally help him diagnose | problems in a 20 year old car that has probably had poor maintenance due to | so few mechanics knowing how to properly work on it? That's just fine and | dandy that you can get late model 900's with Diesels over there, but the | simple fact is you *can't* get those here, the options are '86 or older 700 | series with a mechanically injected VW inline 6, of which 90% were | automatics, perhaps 30% were turbo, and a scant few intercooled. This is the | *same* exact engine used in the 240 Diesels you yourself say to avoid. I try | not to be rude but why you can't get it through your head that I *DON'T | DISLIKE DIESELS*, I fairly regularly drive a wonderfully torquy turbodiesel | truck, but that I (and virtually anyone else on this continent that you talk | to) don't like *THE PARTICULAR* diesel Volvo used in the early 80's. Also I | would *love* to see *ONE* with 500,000 miles on it, or better yet a million | miles and still running, anybody? Come on, if 500k is nothing surely a few | of you have 500, maybe 600 or 700k on your old 80's diesel Volvo? Perhaps | someone in the UK where the diesel is lower in sulphur? A pic of the | odometer even? A friend who's friend's sister's cousin's friend once had | even? So far most of the ones I've seen have been dead in junkyards, with a | scant few running ones smoking and rattling badly, none had over 150k on | them. I don't care how wonderful *your* 945 is unless you can spawn a bunch | of copies over here because it doesn't do any of us a damn bit of good | recommending something we can't get! It may be a grand deal over there but | you're recommending an obscure old car to a student who will have to search | high and low for someone to maintain it for him, pay a premium for hard to | obtain parts and more expensive fuel (yes Diesel costs more per gallon than | petrol here) and in the end the car's resale value will be half that of a | petrol model. | |
Reply to
Ralf

You're right James... an old diesel isn't the right car for this guys non technically inclinded grandson... In fact an old car in general isn't a good idea.

Back to diesels, I know a technically inclined guy who drives a 91' Jetta diesel around, and for all the tinkering he has to do, and all the trouble he has in the winter with getting the damn thing running there is no point... I've got a modern diesel for commuting, but on any day less then -10C I wish I was in the Volvo - heating being the main issues, and the lack of it on a diesel.

You need to be technically inclined to drive an older car... especially a diesel (in North America).... the shops here just don't service them, even the dealers don't know what to do with the old ones.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Maybe a newer model, reliable, safe 4 cylinder gasoline powered car would be in order, budget permitting.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Aren't they usually tuned?

Reply to
jg

What do you mean by "usually tuned" jg? Both mechanically fuelled and electronically controlled fuelling diesels can be tuned above spec and will produce pretty comparable gains in power and torque, which also means better fuel economy normally. The difference is in the method. The more recent electronically controlled diesels are usually rechipped (engine remapped) to take up some of the considerable slack in the standard tune from the manufacturers. The mechanical fuel pump can also be tuned and tweeked which is what has been done to my car's engine. Does that help? Does the scene differ in Australia?

Cheers, Peter.

Reply to
Peter K L Milnes

In Australia, tuning means setting everything adjustable to manufacturer's specs. Farting around with it we call modifying, if a car is so all-round deficient out of the showroom most ppl stop buying them & drive something else. These days petrol-heads just buy Subarus & their standard range of bolt-on "performance" depending how fast they want it to wear out.

Reply to
jg

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