Hello my fellow Volvo enthusiasts, I am a first time Volvo owner (as of three days ago)... In fact, this is my first car I've ever truly owned! The car I purchased has a pristine interior and exterior, been in the west its whole life and drives pretty good I think! I thought the engine had about 220,000 miles on it, but now I'm finding that it had potential roll back that could put it more in the ball park of... ready for this? ... 410,000! Um. Eek? Yeah. Eek is right.

I'm sure I paid too much for it. It was also a salvage title. Gets worse. AC doesn't work and the oil pressure light flickers on and off all the time. Before you all come down on me like a ton of bricks (I did this to myself and believe me, my wife is already doing the brick throwing) I love this car.

I love, love, love, love it. We first saw an 87 wagon for sale that we just had to have, but after talking to my local Volvo guru, I learned that it was better to go with a 92 or 93 if we could find one. And find one we did, and bought it immediately (blindly) without even bothering to check the VIN number. Yep, I'm an idiot. But I loved it! Carfax was going to tell me something about her that I didn't want to know: like how many people she's been with, or how roughly she was handled over the years. She just LOOKED so good, I didn't care.

That is, until we drove her 500 miles home. I white knuckled my way the whole way home in 108 degree heat with no AC for 7 hours. I just watched that oil light every other second. The car felt fine, engine sounded great, and it rolled along smooth as silk at 60, 70 or 75 mph. Still having never driven this far in a Volvo I was sure she was going to explode any second. That oil light just kept warning me: "stop driving me". We did end up stopping during the hottest parts of the day to let the car rest - we were so worried. We were heating up more than the car was. Somehow despite the 108+ temp on the road, and the flickering oil pressure light, the temperature gauge stayed just under the center point!

Turns out, the climate we bought the car from liked 10/30 oil and the Volvo manual said we should be using 15/40. This might have caused the problem, then again I didn't mention that I knew it had an oil leak when I bought it. It was such a small leak! Just a few drops near the back of the oil pan!

Anyway. So I have an appointment with my mechanic in a couple of days. Thought maybe someone would have some "older" and "wiser" advice for a 30 something who loves his 93' 240 wagon?

Man oh man. What a weekend.

 

Your wife just read this and you're in even bigger trouble than before.

 

Roh Roooooh! lmao

 

Congrats on your "new" car. I'm wondering if I could ask a favor of you. I'm trying to determine what Cylinder head is on your model Volvo engine. There is a casting number stamped on the side of the head between the 2nd and 3rd exhaust ports where the exhaust manifold attached to the head. it should be a number such as "1000 530" or "1000 531". I think you should be able to see it with a flashlight without too much trouble.

I would really appreciate the help if you would be so kind.

Thanks, Jim

 

Mechanic ensured me theres no way this vehicle has 400+ miles on it. Car fax must be wrong. Engine number says 1000530.