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.

Reply to
han_chung
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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.
Reply to
James Sweet

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.

Reply to
jg

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.

Reply to
han_chung

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.

Reply to
James Sweet

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.
Reply to
jg

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

Reply to
Tim McNamara

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

Cheers, Peter.

Reply to
Peter K L Milnes

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.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

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.

Reply to
jg

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

reasonable...".

Reply to
Howard Nelson

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.

Reply to
James Sweet

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?
Reply to
James Sweet

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

Reply to
jg

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).

Reply to
Jim Carriere

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.

Reply to
jg

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

Reply to
Stephen Henning

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

Reply to
jg

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.
Reply to
James Sweet

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

Reply to
James Sweet

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