Hello,

Being without a car for nearly a year, this is my new ride. Paid $800, bought from a dealership. The back story is that some kid drove it down (to Florida) from Arizona to stay with his parents. They decided it wasn't a decent enough car for him, so they traded it on a Jeep.

This is my 2nd Volvo, the 6th in my family. An '86 745 Turbo was my previous. I took my driving test in a '90 245 at 18; learned how to drive in that car. Same car that saved my Dad's life when a guy ran a red light. Volvo For Life.

The car is in need of attention. It's rough around the edges but going to be a fun car to say the least. The only thing I've done is clean out the Air Box and remove the Pre-Heat Hose flapper, which was stuck. Plus a good vacuuming of the inside. Problems do exist however...

The exhaust was just hanging at the first muffler. Cancer on the pipe welded to the cat caused it to separate from the first muffler. The rest of the exhaust is fairly rusted and the first muffler is loose & sliding on the pipe. I ended up removing everything from the cat pipe back. Obnoxiously loud for the time being. I'm considering ordering the complete replacement exhaust from IPD for $160+$40Sh. Or, just the first muffler $53 plus some creative welding (which I would be paying to have done). I'm not sure if the cat is Ok. Any advice on the exhaust? There is also banging over bumps, like the exhaust banging around. I think it's time for Engine Mounts from IPD. Shop neighbor mechanic wants to charge me $50 to change both out with my mounts.

The service light comes on for the first few minutes after startup, then turns off. The car starts strong without much cranking. Isn't losing Oil or any fluids. Transmission shifts well.

Have had electrical problems. Car died while driving for a few seconds then everything came right back on. Also, a couple of times while going to start the car there was no power at all. As if the battery was dead. Car eventually acted normal and started right up with full power. Happened again today so I popped the hood the check the battery and while fiddling heard clicking coming from around the dash near the steering column; so I tried the keys and it started right up. Something is killing all the power. I suspect fuses so have ordered fuse kit from IPD. Will sand terminals and replace all ceramic fuses.

Car turns to the left fine, but feels like no power steering to the right. There is some sort of suspension issue front passenger side, not sure what and if it's what's causing the heavy right steering.

There are many rubber lines and electrical connectors not connected or broken. Some are detailed in the pictures included in this post. My garage has other pictures of the car.

The car has been hit more than once. The passenger rear corner is crunched in behind the broken bumper. I'll post pictures in a following post as 5 picture max. The driver rear door and front door are dented in from some sort of collision.

Other than that, I'm still learning about the car and it's little peccadillos. Oh, and the windshield has a nice crack running top to bottom. Try not to hit railroad tracks too fast.

Thanks for reading this. Please, if you have any ideas, suggestions, advice, anything. Feel free to reply. I appreciate any help. I'm still learning about mechanics and am sort of new to it. Cheers.

-Eric

 

The hard broken vacuum line goes to the ignition control unit on the windsheild washer fluid container. The disconnected vacuum hose is for your vent controls (attached to the intake manifold). That green wire is part of the A/C controls.