Hey guys,

I'm checking out a 744 Turbo Intercooler this week, not exactly sure which year but I think its a 87-89 since it has the quad headlights. I currently own a '88 244, which I've had for 3 years and love to death, but after I lost power driving to work the other day, I decided It was time for something else. The 744 is an automatic, 170k (he says the ODO works), owned by a mechanic friend of mine who specializes in old Volvos (he is the president of our local VCOA group and knows a lot about them) and I trust him more than a stranger. He bought it a few years ago, fixed it up and tuned it, and is asking $2000, which seems a bit high and i'm going to try to talk him down a few hundred.

Overall the car seems clean, except for the red paint which was repainted poorly and is mismatched, but I don't care that much. The body is dent and rust free, interior is very clean w/ leather and he says all electricals and a/c works.

I mostly want to know what problems to look for. I'm sure most of the problems are the same as a 240 (electrical gremlins, crappy plastics, rust etc), but this will be my DD and I want something more luxurious and faster. This will be my first experience with a turbo, and I have wanted a turbo brick for a long time. I know these are mechanically similar to a 240 and I know how to do basic work on them, so anything particular to the 740 I should look for? i'm mostly worried about the interior electricals breaking.

Thanks, you guys rock!

PS not sure what i'm doing with my 240 yet, but I want to give it a good home

 

the 740 electrics are better than the 240's... blade fuses, central relay cluster... wiring on the '87 and some '88 is the biodegradable kind--watch out for that!

 

Thanks lev

found out its an 89. Those quads headlights are sexy as hell imo.
looking at it this afternoon.

 

89 turbo is the last year for LH2.2 EFI for what that's worth. non-turbos switched to 2.4 in 89, while turbos switched in 1990. . main difference is, LH 2.2 used a hall sensor in the distributor for its timing, while 2.4 uses a crank position sensor. also, 2.4 has some basic diagnostics on a blink LED, but those diags are often vague and lead down bunny trails.

 

Went and checked it out the other day. Wasn't that impressed with performance, but I haven't driven an auto trans in a while and it felt weird. All the gauges, A/C, lights and electrical components worked (except for the rear passenger window and sunroof). My biggest problems were; The breaks felt really hard, like I had to apply a ton of force to get the car to stop. The owner said he replaced the break fluid recently, and the rotors look clean. Also, right at 70 MPH, I felt the whole car start shaking violently, I wonder what could have caused this. Otherwise, the ride was pretty smooth and quiet. I did notice significant jerking when the overdrive engaged on the highway, but given the age i'm not very surprised.

I'll probably buy it this week because "muh turbo", and I feel like I know what i'm getting into, but let me know if theres anything else I should look for. The owner did replace the fuel pump, relay, put on OEM volvo spark plugs and OEM brand spark plug wires within the past year.

 

shuddering at speed could be from worn suspension bits, and/or a badly out of balance wheel(s).

the brakes on a turbo should be smooth, strong, progressive, and quite easy to control, its possible the brake booster isn't getting good vacuum or something if they were that hard to stop, but it has good rotors and pads.

the OD engagement should be very smooth, barely noticeable.

 

i wouldn't touch anything that was shaking violently at 70mph... unless you could pinpoint exactly what the issue was and therefore estimate a cost to make right.
the brakes sound like they have major issues ... scary
all gears should engage super smooth.
sorry, if it was me, i would pass on it.

 

yeah, I should have said, these cars should be quite smooth up to 120 MPH or faster. a non-turbo might have trouble getting much over 100MPH, but again, should roll smoothly at all speeds.

 

Thanks for the concern, guys. I may have exaggerated a bit but i'll check it out again this weekend.