I have the opportunity to purchase an 86 Volvo DL 240 from a friend. I was very impressed with the performance of the car considering its age. One major issue is keeping me from purchasing this car. When I turn on the ac/heater, nothing happens. What could be the causes and of all the causes, what should I expect to pay to have this issue fixed?
Check the fuses first. If you're lucky, it's just a matter of a blown fuse.
depends what you are paying for it - is it a private sale? could be heater matrix??? Where do you live? Do you really need aircon or will just a heater do. hope its the fuse
If there's no air movement and no fuses are blown, it's probably the dreaded blower motor - Volvo built the car around it, so repair involves lots of labor, and would run about 700 bucks inc. new motor.
Then you'll get to find out if the heat and a/c actually work - if they don't, repair total will exceed the value of the car.
There's lots of tricks to fix this stuff if you're up for some do it yourself mechanical work, I wouldn't turn down the car just because the blower motor is shot.
I've done 2 blower motors, one doing the complete dismantle and the other using some cut-out tricks, and I'd pass it up.
Besides, '86 240s were rust buckets with disintegrating wiring harnesses and few redeeming qualities, other than stellar performance in demolition derbys.
Later Volvos like the 700s and my 900 are so much improved that I wouldn't take a 240 again if it was free, even though I drove them for over 20 yrs.
On my recently departed (sniff sniff) 84' 760T, I noticed that the blower motor had previously cooked the fuse block.
A previous owner had rewired the fuse seperately from the box, but had put in a 25 amp fuse instead of the needed 30 amp.
Of course it blew, but once the proper fuse was installed, all was fine. The wiring never got hot when the blower was running at all speeds, so it was a lucky break for me.
Always check the simple and obvious, rewiring may be a good option, I would check the condition of the fuse box to see if yours had a similar problem.
Of course, I never had to dig any farther than the fuse box, so I can't tell you how much labor would be involved with replacing the blower fan itself.
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