Hi everyone!
I've just joined up, on the site and as a car owner, and I had a couple questions I was hoping someone more knowledgable than myself can answer.
I bought a 1988 240 DL wagon a couple months ago which I paid $1000 for. The car has no rust on the body or frame and looks fantastic. When I first got it it was pretty loud and jerky and had my mechanic do some repairs on it. He replaced the water pump, timing belt, and a couple spark plugs. Did some other things too. The bill came to about $1000.
On my way from LA to Las Vegas with a bunch of bicycle samples that needed to get to Vegas for a bike show that night the car overheated on the mojave freeway and left me stranded. big let down. This was about a month after the purchase and repairs.
I got the car back to the mechanic and I had blown the gasket. Instead of replacing the gaskets in the engine (just want to be clear, i don't know what i'm talking about) we decided it best to replace the engine with a re-conditioned 240 engine which my mechanic had in his shop. So, a new engine is in and a new radiator along with that, plus a few other things. The whole job came to $1400.
The question: When is enough enough? Am I going crazy in believing this car is a super reliable vehicle? So far i've spent a total of $3700 on repairs and the price of the car itself. I just was hoping someone could tell me to either cut my losses and try and sell the thing or if it's worth it to keep going and have an awesome road trip vehicle.
Thanks to anyone who replies.
I'm feeling down about this car at the moment and need a bit of a pick me up. Also, i've never owned a car before this. Just thought you all should know.

thanks,
Aaron

 

Aaron, welcome to the forum.

I am here to tell you that the 240 Volvo is usually one of the most reliable low cost cars ever made. I use to drive a 740 GLE which had the same drive train and it cost me about $3,500 in maintenance and repairs in 18 years. I purchased the car new and put over 400,000 miles on it.

Here's the deal, you purchased a 25 year old car and had no ownership experience. Not saying you did anything wrong, just maybe you missed a small thing that cost you big $$$. Old cars break all the time, usually it's just little things that you can ignore or may annoy you. You have to decide which it is. Having the timing belt replaced was the right thing to do if it was overdue or you didn't know it's history. As for the head gasket, there was a cause that you may have able to avoid, not sure (water over the bridge).

Cars can quickly overheat for the following reasons:

1. Coolant leak goes un-attended and sooner or later you're driving with no coolant. The car overheats and you loose a motor.
2. One of the OLD water hoses that should have been replaced fails, you loose all of your coolant in seconds, the car overheats in less than 2 minutes and the motor is damaged.
3. The radiator has a small leak that suddenly turns into a massive leak under pressure, you loose the coolant, you know the rest.
4. Your water pump fails, coolant is NOT being circulated in the motor, the car slowly overheats (maybe 5 minutes), head warps due to the heat, engine failure.

So, it's very unfortionate that you suffered the overheat problem. Hopefully all of the necessary maintenance has been done to avoid a repeat. Did the exchange motor get a new timing belt, new water pump, and new water hoses? If so, you should be good. Always watch for fluid leaks.

 

thanks for the reassurance. There was already a new water pump in the car before the overheating incident. New timing belt as well. Although, the car was running needlessly hot yesterday so i'm bringing it back to my mechanic for another look.
thanks again for the reply.
-aaron