Hi everyone...I have just joined this forum and it looks quite interesting!
My brother recently bought a 91 240 wagon with a 5 spd manual xnsmission.It turned out that the ECU was bad and the car would frequently break down.Well this being our first experience with Volvo turned into a nightmare...unless you spend $800 for a new ECU and $400 MORE for the labor to install(?) it.Otherwise it is foolish to try and replace it with another used unit or even remanufactured one.I was told by a Volvo specialist that the 91 240 wagons with the manual xnsmission were more prone to ECU failures than the automatic cars.Is this true of all manual shift 240's???? This car is now sold as my brother decided to get rid of it......
I am considering buying an '89 Volvo 240 Wagon with automatic xnsmission.The car has around 140k miles on it...What I would like to know...Are these cars reliable???Are there design issues I should know about???What is likely to go bad??What should I be looking for??
Thanks for all comments...... BNE

 

Those cars are commonly referred to as bricks, like solid as a brick. I have never owned a 240 but many think they are the best Volvo's ever made. They are relatively easy to work on and I never thought them to that expensive for parts. Hopefully somebody who knows more about them will reply, but I would think and 89 245 with 140K on it would be worth buying.

 

Thanks for the quick review.I will most likely buy it as it is only $1700 usd!The condition is absolutely clean throughout.I just like to try and learn as much about a car's shortcomings in advance ....so i hope to be more aware of what the weakpoints of this model line are??????
SO I appreciate your comments ...hopefully some others more knowledgeble of the 240's from 1988 -1993 will HELP ME OUT ???!!!
BNE

 

Hey BNE, Welcome, I have had 5, 4 cyl Volvos and I love em. If you change the oil on a regular basis, which I mean no more than every 5 K miles and use good quality oil. I never use anything but 10W30 all year round. Clean the throttle body and related parts once in awhile, It will run just about indefinately. Also change the trans fluid on a regular basis too. I think you will really like them.

 

Hi Buck! Thanks for the input I really do like the 240's...more than the others...my main worry is that i could get stuck with something because i was not aware of its shortcomings...so i try to do some research before hand...most of what I have heard ppl say is that these are very good reliable vehicles and that their simplicity of design makes them easy to work on as well.As noted in my original post I would rather not have a repeat of the bad luck my brother had with his first buy of a 91 240 wagon 5 spd....oh well again Thanks for the welcome and enjoy chattin' with ya. BNE