Hello all,
I am going to go look at a 240 wagon this weekend and was wondering what i should look out for. I am not familiar with volvos but am with cars. Looking to buy this for my son for a first car to get to college.Claims to have new exhaust and brakes. is there something i should be looking into more in depth? What are the known problem areas for these? Any information would be appreciated. They are asking $2000 for the car. It is also an automatic. do not know mileage yet, and looks to be fairly rust free.

Thanks Eric

 

Check this link out:
240 260 buying tips

Problem areas are often oil leaks, cheapo interior plastics, ripped wires in the rear hatch area, overdrive relay not working right, failed odometer, and from my experience AWFUL CUSTOM AUDIO WIRE SPLICING!

And regardless of miles, $2000 is a bit pricey for that wagon. Haggle off $500 at least so you have money for spare parts.

 

all the usual used car stuff, look for signs of sloppy bodywork, make sure it tracks straight, the steering should be quite nimble and precise, tires should be evenly worn. at sub 25mph speeds listen for clunks and ****** when you get on/off the throttle (driveshaft center bushings are often worn on higher mile cars. the brakes shouldn't pulll left or right at *ALL*, you should be able to hammer down from speed without any fuss or drama. Straight line hard braking from high speed shouldn't have any 'shimmy' (usually a sign of a bad rotor, not actually warped, they get uneven deposits on them). more than 2 hard full stops back to back from freeway speeds likely WILL overheat 240 brakes and cause fade, but thats true for most cars.

verify the odometer is counting off miles while you test drive, otherwise its not to be trusted.

car should turn on a DIME at full stop, like in a U turn. shouldn't be any klunks from the front or rear ends when you go stop to stop while accelerating or braking (slalom test in a big empty parking lot?).

make sure it happily shifts through all 3 main gears, and into 4th/overdrive. the button on the shift **** toggles OD off (if the yellow up arrow is lit, then it will NOT shift into overdrive, just 1st-2nd-3rd. with the OD light off, it will automatically shift into OD at speeds as low as 35-40 MPH if you're coasting along). if you're coasting along in 'D', it should readily downshift without having to give it a whole lot of throttle until you're up well into upper speeds, for instance in D at 65MPH, it doesn't take a lot of gas for it to drop out of overdrive and go into third.

they only have 115 HP but a fair bit of torque, it won't win any races, but it should accelerate reasonably strongly without any hesitation. going up hills even at freeway speeds, you're probably going to be in 3rd not overdrive. in 3rd gear (OD disabled light turned ON), you should be able to rev up somewhere past 75 before you hit the rev limiter. in 2nd, I think its around 45 or 50.

the temp gauge should stay in the middle no matter what you throw at it. ideally the coolant is pale gold (Zerex G05), or Volvo green, but regular green is OK as long as its changed regularlly (the gold G05 and green Volvo stuff is good for 2-3 times as long).

idle when cold is around 1200-1500, but should quickly warm up and drop to 600-700 and be very steady. foot on brake, put in gear, idle should barely bump and go back to same 600-700. ditto, AC compressor turn on or off, idle should be steady with only a instant of bump on the transition. a consistently high or erratic idle suggests the engine was tampered with by someone trying to fix a problem and its all messed up.

the AC should be cold, the fan should work at all speeds, the vent control buttons should turn the defroster vents on/off, and the footwell/heater vents on/off, the third button is recirculate air. heater on max should about melt your sneakerrs once the car is at operating temperature, and when you should the heater off with the fan in 1 or 2, it should go back to ambient air temp in a minute or so. the dashboard vents are always on unless you manually close them with the wheels next to them.

windows should roll up and down smoothly, or you're looking at window regulators. all 4 windows up (and sunroof fully closed) and the cabin should be reasonably quiet but not mercedes silent at 65 MPH. anywhere above 65, 240's get some wind noise, I dealt with that by turning the stereo up

doors should be really solid, and close with a very satisfying CHUNK, rear doors included. doors shouldn't rattle at all.

look under the car for signs of oil leaks, old or new, both sides of the engine block under th manifolds, under the oil pan, under the transmission, and under/back of the differential.

IMHO, the 1990+ 240's were the most sorted out of them all. they have the more efficient LH 2.4 fuel injection, which has some simple diagnostics that can help troubleshoot,

gas mileage should be around 23-25 MPH when leadfooting around town, and as high as 29-30 MPG on a long road trip at a steady even 70 MPH. we pretty much averaged 25-27 MPG in our 240 sedan.

deaddrop your weight onto the back of the wagon, note how much it sags, and how much it 'pogos'. ideally, it drops, maybe rebounds a bit and thats it, no pogoing. otherwise you're looking at rear shocks (cheap, easy). ditto, drop your weight onto the front bumper, it should drop a inch or two maybe rebound a bit and not go up and down and up and down at all, otherwise you're looking at front mcphersons, not as easy.