Any thoughts on this one? Spoke to owner he says he rebuilt engine in summer 2013, however I checked the VIN and no emissions test done since 3/2013 so car must be currently unregistered. He says car has an oil leak of one pint a month but runs strong. Also says full a/c charge leaks out in one week and was unable to trace the leak.
1993 Volvo 940 turbo

 

rebuilt means many different things to many different people!
who did it?
what was done?
why leaks if recently rebuilt?
these motors last forever if remotely well looked after, a rebuilt before 500k means something neglectful happened. rebuilt volvo engine not a plus in my book.
if you have ever done a rebuild (or attempted one) you'd know that it is quite complicated and cannot be done well except at a very high cost and specialty tools.

 

I heavily doubt 24mpg average unless thats pure highway miles at 55mph steady. a turbo 940 gets 16-18 MPG zipping around town, mine rarely gets better than 21mpg on road trips.

broken headlights/turnsignals are going to take a few $100 to fix.

looks to be oil all over the valve cover, which suggests said oil leak is the front camshaft seal, thats relatively easy to fix, but I would clean the engine with Gunk, then drive it for 1/2 hour and inspect for source of leaks.

a mechanic should have found the a/c leak, you charge it with some UV dye, run it for a bit, and use a black light to inspect for the leakage. it could be the AC evaporator (inside the airbox behin dhte center dash console), those are very time consuming to replace (expensive if you're paying someone else).

I'm with Lev re the rebuild. odds are it just needed a head gasket due to an overheating incident, maybe a valve job, some folks seem to think thats 'rebuilt'. a full engine rebuild is a many-$1000 job, not worth it on a volvo brick, easier to get a junkyard engine and swap.

 

Based on your feedback, and since it was 45 miles away, I decided to pass on that blue one. How easy is it to replace a 940 front fender and a rear quarter panel? Here is another local offering, quite nice apart from the bodywork issues. I like the wheels on this one.
1993 volvo 940 turbo

 

i generally figure bodywork at $1000 per panel that needs repairing, if you want a decent job done. front fenders are a little cheaper, rear quarter panels are harder as they have to be cut off and welded on. proper paint is the real expense.

 

The front fender is easy if you find the right color at a JY--just a bolt on DIY job, $30-40 from a self service yard.
The rear looks nasty, depends on who and where it's done-- a cheap job on that rear may be $500? Go on up from there. You're in AZ so plenty of cheap body shops from what I remember...

 

I saw the green one today, drove it a bit. The bodywork is pretty bad all along the passenger side and the drivers side rear quarter. The windshield had a crack all the way across. Drivers rear-view mirror also needs new glass. A/C worked well but the blower had an intermittent horrible noise like someone screaming in pain. Front tires shot, rear tires iffy. Drivers seat leather cracked. Passenger seat and rear seat pretty good. Are these really leather? Looks like painted vinyl, black paint worn off in several spots. I've never driven one of these before but it drove like a tank, heavy and unwieldly. Under the hood looked really nice and clean with everything shiny and newish looking. Timing belt cover had '105k' crayoned on. Car has 228k miles. Cavernous trunk looked immaculate. Seller said he would go down to $1100. The major plus is it has a new emissions certificate which is good for 2 years. I'm thinking this ones a pass too. Needs too much spending on it. Hard to find a good one in AZ, there seem to be a lot more in CA.

 

heavy steering is an indication of worn joints and/or bad wheel alignment and/or bad tire choice.

the volvo leather is quite hard, it does have some sort of surface finish on it, which makes it durable.

timing belt should be changed every 60k miles but if it breaks, its nondestructive, other than needing a tow somewhere.

that sounds like a $500 car to me.

 

There are no $500 cars in Arizona because junkyards will give you that for a scrap car. I figure the car I looked at needs $300 for windshield, $300 for tires plus whatever it costs to do the timing belt, just to begin with. The going rate for a nice example seems to be around $2500 but most of those are in CA not AZ where I live. I'm really sold on the 940 though now that I have seen one in person. What are the differences between the 93 940 and the 94 940. The 94 has the one piece headlights, any other differences?

 

the plain vs foglamp headlights was more a case of GL vs GLE trim levels, but the default trim levels do vary from year to year, and the last two years (94, 95), they did de-option the last 940's a fair bit. OTOH, 94/95's are often turbo charged even if they don't /say/ TURBO on the back.

 

Can anyone tell me if there is something missing below the headlights on this car (see photo #3 at link)? 1993 volvo 940 turbo
Also how easy is it to access the a/c fan on a 940 to cure a squeal?
Lastly, this car just passed emissions but the HC and CO levels are not very good and the NOX just squeezed under the limit, do you think this could mean it needs a new cat soon or just a tuneup?
You can see the emissions if you go here http://65.82.88.75/myazcar/histinq.exe/muinput and enter the VIN YV1JS8702P0128554
The seller states this car came from Washington State and I was able to go to the Washington State emissions site and check the tests there. But it's not possible to compare since WA gives the results in PPM and AZ gives them in Grams per Mile.

 

yes, its missing the trim strips.

this is a 940SE which is a 960, but it has the same headlights (albeit badly yellowed)



the ventilation fan is fairly easy on these cars, remove the kickpanel under the dash above the passenger footwell, remove the glove box, and the fan is inside the far right side of the a/c air box. if the fan is squealling, odds are you need a new one, they bolt in from the bottom of said airbox.