I am not sure at this point... The seller of the 240 told me the car was serviced regularly at a Volvo only independent shop. He even gave me the name of the shop which I investigated and then called. The mechanic (one of two there) gave the car a clean bill of health and said that it was regularly serviced and mechanically well taken care of (as well as stating that the PO has his 740 Turbo serviced there as well).
I wonder.... I haven't gotten deeply into the mechanics of the car yet (starting this weekend), being that it has been running decently. I have finished with the interior and lighting, so here is what I have found so far (comments are, of course, my opinion and open to debate and interpretation):
[S= possible safety problem. L=legal problem according to the veh. code]-Replaced 6 of the tail lights -Both license plate lights were burnt out (L) -A pair of bulbs (brake) were quite black inside from age (S) -A pair were mis-matched bulbs (brass and chrome)
-Both front seat belt buckle lamps were burnt out
-All three center dash bulbs were burnt out and two of the sockets with wires attached were laying in the dash, loose. (S)
-One of the heated seat switch bulbs was burnt out (haven't tested the seat heaters themselves yet, but the switches are good) (S- if thermostat fails closed)
-One dash illumination bulb burnt out
-A HUGE pile of dry leaves in the ventilation system at the opening of the evaporator (S- possible fire hazard)
-Both headlight lenses were loose on the reflectors (one almost fell off by itself) and both needed regluing/sealing (S)
-One of the backup light lenses fell off in my hand when I was cleaning them.
-Head gasket leak (not bad- car used less than 1/2 qt. in over 800 miles including quite a bit high speed in high temps).
-Clutch was WAY out of adjustment- about three or four times the maximum freeplay. So far out that the cruise didn't work.
-It appears that while both front motor mounts are still attached, they are both showing signs of deformation and one is apparently cracked (in the rubber). I don't know how "soft" they should be or how much the engine should be able to move, but these motor can be easily shaken side to side by the valve cover. (S)
Today I opened the distributor (which is all it is on this car) and I had to pull HARD to get the rotor off the shaft. There was a think, gummy substance in there which looked like hardened lubricant, but since this distributor does not need to be lubed from above I don't now what it was. The tip of the rotor had a heavy and hard build up of burnt on crud. The contacts in the cap have grooves worn in them where the spark hits- There was also the predictable burnt on crud on those as well. All indications are that the cap and rotor have been on the car for many miles.
More to follow in the weeks ahead, but it would appear that this shop, which personally gave their assurances that this car was in excellent mechanical condition, is apparently not to be trusted..
If you are in the San Francisco Bay area and are thinking about an independent shop in the East Bay, contact me and I will share the name of the shop with you privately. If I continue to find the likes of what I have related here, I will share it publicly with the group in a month or two.
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"