I am looking to purchase a wagon. I have narrowed down my choice to a 1986 240. n/a automatic, or a 1992 740 turbo, also automatic. Both cars are clean and around 200,000 mi. Both can be had for $1200. The 240 is on a dealer lot and has a clean Carfax. The 740 is from a private party. Which one would you select?

 

I've had several of both and although higher mileage, no knowledge of any service records, ownership history, etc... my choice would be the '92 740 turbo wagon hands down.

Newer, more modern, turbocharged, etc... Note: It's hard for me to say that because I love 240's but they are getting old so something newer seems to be my preference now.

Both are RWD with the ultra dependable motor so.......... your choice I guess.

 

+1. Turbo all the way.

 

I own a 240 wagon and have to say I love it so much. It's really easy to work on. With a turbo, you'd just have another thing that has the possibility of going wrong. However if I were given the option, I think I'd go for the 740. If I could buy one of those I probably would.

 

If you want a cheap car buy the simpler 240. Turbos that go bad can cost 1000s to restore.

 

If you don't care for the extra oomph, get an NA car. Turbos are more problems prone, get 4-5 fewer MPG, leak more, cost more for the turbo, trannies last less...
I'd look for a late NA 940 (1993-95).

 

I would purchase the one that shows the best care. Both can be excellent, but how prior owners have treated them would come first with me. Good service, and cosmetic care will go far in determining the final value.

 

86 is right in the middle of the window of biodegradable wiring harnesses. that alone woudl have me avoiding the 240.

as an owner of a 1992 745T, well, I'm biased. we also own a 1987 240 sedan.

 

Pierce, what do you mean biodegradable wiring harnesses? Haha

 

some time in the 80s, Volvo switched the plastics in the electrical insulation to something that was more environmentally friendly (effectively, they implemented RoHS, Reduction of Hazardous Substances) about 10 years earlier than the EU directives mandated. Anyways, the first generation of these new plastics turned out to be shortlived, the insulation turns brittle and flakes off. often inside the outer black plastic tubes the harnesses are routed through, so you can't even see the damage. exposure to heat and motoroil dribbling accelerate this process.

some time in 87, they 'fixed' this and switched to better wiring, so cars from late 87 forward don't have this problem.


btw. you said one car was at a dealer, while the other was private party.... that dealer car probably has a $1000 markup.

I would give that 92 turbo a very thorough visual inspection under the hood. it should look like this...


note all the hoses are in good condition, the wiring is clean and neat and not been messed with, the belts are fresh, etc. if you see that, its a good sign the car has been well maintained.

there's tons of stuff that can go sideways on a 20 year old car, virtually anything that can go wrong probably will. I bought mine for really cheap ($1200) knowing it was going to need a new head gasket soon, that was the last straw for the PO, who had spent oodles over the years on maintenance at a local volvo specialist. the car already had a new radiator, most of the hoses were new (I ended up having to replace the air hose between the MAF and turbo). mine had two badly bent rims (15" Aries) and 4 bald tires, which gave it a bad shimmy driving, I found 4 16" Hydra wheels off of the local Craigslist, slapped new Michelins on them and poof, rode sweet. the bent rims had hammered the front end bushings and steering tie rods, so I ended up doing a full suspension rebuild (all new bushings front and rear, new IPD swaybars, bilstein touring shocks front and rear, new tie rods, new ball joints, etc). probably should have skipped the swaybars and stuck with Boge/Sachs shocks, the ride is a bit harsh as-is, but man it handles well.

 

Pierce

That is a nice car. Makes me wish I had waited for a few weeks and bought the 740 instead of the 240.

Are the headlights glass on that car or just really nice plastic?

As for the headgasket issue, was that because the car was a turbo or is the the engines in the 240,740,940 (aka the red block) headgasket happy?

 

they are plastic. the right side had been recently replaced before i got the car, since i took that pic, I replaced hte left side to match, both using "Depo" brand inexpensive aftermarket stuff, which seems to be almost as good as the much more expensive OEM stuff.

the headgasket was failing due to a overheating incident, from a blown hose. I knew this when I bought the car, it was seeping a little coolant out near exhaust headers 3-4... 6 months later, it failed entirely, I towed it to my favorite shop, and had them do a new headgasket, so they also did timing belt, main belts, water pump, thermostat just on principles.

also when I bought the car, the original leather front seats were pretty trashed. I found a couple seats from a later 960/s90/v90 on craigslist and bolted them in (all 740/760/940/960/s90/v90 seats are interchangeable, although I had to add the wiring for the power seat since my originals weren't powered).

 

Turbo cars are harder on head gaskets than n/a cars but the real issue is aluminum heads bolted to iron blocks. They expand/contract at different rates. Still...keep in mind these motors are all pretty much 20+ years old. A head gasket failing should not really be a surprise...

 

That is a hard choice to make. Both are good cars and all honesty while I like my 240 if I could have gotten a 740/940 instead I would have as i like the looks of the of the 740/940. Both have that classic look to them

Some things to note about the 86 240 is the pre 1988 Volvo's tend to rust easy. by 1988 they made the cars more resistant to rust. By way of better treated metal.

Here is a 1991 Volvo 240 sedan in the local junk yard (I bought the head lights/floor mats from this car) with the fender off. It seems like Volvo treated the metal to a tar like undercoating to better fix the issues that caused the cars to rust in the past








Both are going to suffer from the effects of bad tailgate wiring designs. The 240 wagon more then the 740/940 because not only does the wiring go through the hinge but the hinge on the 240 is external so that exposed wires get corroded. Mine suffered this issue and I wound up replacing the wiring. I could have decided on the IPD kit and ran the wires through the hinge again BUT I feel that is only a temp fix and the issue will crop up again so I decided to wire the tail gate inside. It looks not as neat as the original way but will last longer. I used solder and shrink tubing and then used some tubing to cover the wires and then covered the whole thing with electrical tape.





It ain't pretty but I valued function over form and nothing sucks more then getting pulled over at night for your tag lights winking or off when a cop is behind you


The 740 seems more refined riding. My 240 and all the ones I have driven are a bit agricultural riding(read truck or tractor) the 740's i have driven seem to have a softer ride. None are going to have the ride my old Olds Cutlass had(a wallowing land ark that thing was)


Does the dealer selling the 240 give you a warranty?


If I had to chose I would chose the 740 as it looks more refined. All the 240's in the local junk yard have broken and brittle inside plastics, all the 740's look good

Good luck

 

our 87 240 came from the factory with a heavy tar-like undercoating. afaik, the body up to the roofline (but not the roof itself) were zinc dipped (aka galvanized) at the factory prior to paint and assembly, too.

re broken and brittle plastics, the tan plastics are the worse. dark grey or black are the best, blue is OK too. I haven't seen any with red or brown interiors.

re: exterior paints, solid colors like white, or light metallic colors like silver, gold, seem to hold up better than dark metallic colors, this is true on ALL volvos. the dark blue/green metallic ones from the early 90s look really ugly when clearcoat fails.

 

I've always wanted to meet the poor bast#$d in Goteborg who's job it was to spray that crap! 20-30 years later and it's still nasty! Lord knows how he was able to clean up for the weekends!