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240 180k miles, no records...What should be done on purchase?

Tremelune

Tremelune

New member
Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Location
Hollywoo
I'm casually looking at a '93 240 from a fly-by-night dealership. They have no records besides the clutch having been recently replaced. They say everything about it is great. Little old lady sold it to them. Price is top-of-market.

Assuming it all looks and feels good (no rust, drives straight on the highway, engine runs flawlessly), what would you do to this car upon purchase? Timing belt? All fluids and filters? Just wait for cheap stuff to break and upgrade...?
 
Realistically, most of the same stuff that would be needed on any RWD volvo. I just bought a 75k mile 740T wagon and it needed almost all the same stuff my 250k 740T needed when I bought it.
Strut bearings, bump stops, brake fluid flush, timing belt tensioner, engine seals, fuel filter, diff + trans service, flame trap... more, i'm sure.
That being said, it drove incredible well even with all those issues.
 
I wound up passing in favor of a modern ****box. Extremely clean smoothtop manual wagon in Los Angelas:

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/ctd/d/los-angeles-1993-volvo-240-wagon-5/7077940088.html

No evidence of damage, minor surface rust, very little on the chassis itself. Clean, original interior. Orange peel on the paint, but it did look excellent.

It started and idled smooth, pulled to redline no prob. Soft in the suspension, but comfortable.

Bad stuff is pretty much no records. Smelled like someone may have smoked in it. AC "needed a recharge" which of course should never be the case in a 134a system, but.

A very nice example.
 
I thought we weren't allowed to talk about 240s that cost more then $500 here?
So you bought the black one? Very clean car, should serve you well.


AC needs a recharge means they have no idea if it has or will every work, but do an AC evacuation and see if it has anything in it, if so its broken, if not its broken...
 
Tremelune said:
Bad stuff is pretty much no records. Smelled like someone may have smoked in it. AC "needed a recharge" which of course should never be the case in a 134a system, but.
Click to expand...

Even in a properly sealed AC system the refrigerant can leak out through the rubber barrier hoses - they're resistant to refrigerant leaks but not completely impervious. There's a lot of barrier hose in a 240 AC system. If it's been a long time since the system was serviced it's not out of the question that it might need a recharge, though I agree that a lot of used car hawkers use it as a catch all for any sort of AC issue.
 
New water pump,t belt, front cam,crank, intermediate seal,acc belts,plugs,wires,etc,oil& filter, trans oil change. Check brakes, how old are the tires? We just bought a 1987 245/180k miles very,very clean $1500 dollars, plan on doing all of the above,just to have a good starting piont
 
kampman said:
Even in a properly sealed AC system the refrigerant can leak out through the rubber barrier hoses - they're resistant to refrigerant leaks but not completely impervious. There's a lot of barrier hose in a 240 AC system. If it's been a long time since the system was serviced it's not out of the question that it might need a recharge, though I agree that a lot of used car hawkers use it as a catch all for any sort of AC issue.
Click to expand...

All automotive AC systems leak, period. It's just a question of how much do they leak. When new, you might get 10 years out of a system before it needs a recharge.
 
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