I have just been lucky enough to have purchased a 1989 760 turbo with all the gadgets and gizmos and a pucker leather interior and would be gratefull for some help the engine is a 2.3 and is the b230et engine i am told that it has been running on unleaded but on looking through the service history found a bill from local volvo dealer saying that it was not possible to convert this vehicle to unleaded and that it has no cat fitted i hope to convert it to run on unleaded and liquid petroleum gas so anyone out there who is running on gas your comments would be appreciated.The car has been stood up for a year due to the exhaust manifold leaking it starts ok but seems to run faster than it should and is chucking out a lot of grey smoke also the engine itself seems to smell rather hot and i wonder if the turbo may have seized as unlike my turbo diesel sierra it does not seem to be making that turbo whistling sound how can i tell if the turbo is working ok? and do you more knowledgable people think the large amounts of grey smoke are just due to the manifold leaking and the fact it has stood outside in the english weather for the past twelve months or is it something more serious.I am going to have to strip the turbo to get to the manifold so will be able to take a closer look then but would be glad of any info to help any other things that would be worth checking/looking at ,it was delivered on a trailer so i have not given it a run at all so am a bit in the dark as to the condition of the engine gearbox (automatic) so any ideas would be most gratefully recieved,that said i am really pleased with the fact that all the electrics seem to work ok sunroof windows mirrors seat and even the air conditioning working spot on which is more than i could have hoped for
thanks for any info help
x1sjwebster

Sounds like either the turbo is bad or the headgasket is blown.You can remove the rubber hose from the front of the turbo and try to spin the turbo and see if it is seized.Only try this with the car turned off.Even though it won't run with the hose missing.I just figured I would tell you to be safe.Pull the dipstick for the oil and make sure it doesn't look like choclate milk if it does the headgasket is bad.Im not sure about the fuel situation Here in the U.S. all we have is unleaded.From what I was told in the past you can run a leaded car on unleaded fuel but you can run an unleaded car on leaded fuel.Im not sure if it is true but thats what I was told.


Hope this helps you some.

I have taken the pipe of the turbo and everything seems to spin freely since my last post i have let the car run for longer and reach normal temperature the smoke now seems to have cleared so am asuming it was just condensation (bit of luck for a change) I will fix the manifold leak and take it from there the car starts really well so i don't think there can be to much wrong with it just one thing that i would like to know for now, how can you tell which type of shocks are fitted as i am hoping mine does not have the really expensive nivomat? type although they seem to be ok at present apart from the rubber gators being torn i would just like to know what could lay ahead in terms of expense
thanks
x1sjwebster

If you get the numbers of the old shock and call the dealer they can let you know if you have nivomats or standard shocks.Thats what I would do try driving the car and see what happens.