I just picked up what I feel is a very cool 740. It was bought new by an 82nd airborn solder stationed in Germany. He drove it there for a short time then shipped it back to North Carolina. After years of driving it he passed it down to his son, who listed it on craigslist last week. I believe the rest of the story is obvious.

I have been a vw guy for years, this it new territory for me. If some of you wiring gurus could give me a moment;
The car runs great, but it has a couple issues that need to be addressed ASAP.
First, when I turn the high beams on, the car shuts off. Period. Giving it gas has no effect.
Second, the drivers headlight is dim. I suspect a bad ground, but I am not sure where to start.
Third, the driver front turn signal is intermittent. If someone could give me an idea where to start I would appreciate it.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Volvo's! If you don't have 'em already, get a digital multi-meter and test light; Volvo's demand 'em. I feel you're on the right path as to grounding w/ the headlight. The parking light could easily be a bad socket, bulb grease often fixes it. Volvos are prone to ground issues; corrosion and/or loose. Just start at the offending item and work your way back. As to the headlights, it might be your headlight relay or stalk switch...never run across it killing the car though...

 

You bought the car from the US, from a guy who worked in Germany and imported it from Germany?
Therefore, it was most likely built in the Belgium plant (look for code 2 in 11th spot in VIN)and was never a Swedish local market car. Gothenburg is merely Volvo headquarters, some small amount of domestic market Volvos were built in Sweden but even the Swedish market sold cars made elsewhere.
Swedish built Volvos are very, very rare outside Sweden (unless you own a truck).

 

He was US military, i found a map of gas stations on the autobahn in the glovebox this afternoon.

At the bottom of the certificate of origin it says Goteborg, Sweeden

 

On your 89 745T, the 11th digit tells what factory built it...

0 Sweden (Kalmar) 1 Sweden (Torslanda) 2 Belgium 3 Canada 4 Thailand 5 Malaysia 6 Indonesia 7 Sweden (Uddevalla) A Sweden (Uddevalla) D Italy

 

nice score, a grocery getter with an attitude!

the car was more than likely purchased through the armed services sales, and delivered to him in germany... been there, done that

 

Interesting, it has the quad square headlights like the USA spec versions. I would think that it would have the euro spec ones. It has the cool bumper reflectors. Other than those it seems to be the closest car on here to mine: 89, 740 turbo wagon with a manual. A hard find in America. My car was made in Belgium. If yours turns out to have been made there, maybe our cars have met.

 

My father served with the British NATO forces in Germany in 1986/69, doesn't make his Cortina Swedish.....it will have been delivered by the nearest Volvo dealer and teh documentation merely originated at Gothenburg.

 

Honestly, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it was built elsewhere. That said the eleventh digit is a one, that makes her a sweed right?

A Vin decoder just came up with a Factory in Sweden also.

 

Regardless of the vehicle's original configuration the headlamps, exhaust and emissions would have been amended to US specs prior to importation. Although I can only speak to the US market and not the UK...a simple Google search would confirm that from 1965 to 1995 countries of origin for US imported Volvos, in decreasing order would be 1. Sweden 2. Belgium3. Canada. I've owned 7 Volvos in the last 10 years; without exception they were all built in Sweden.

 

It is a 1, the car was made in Sweden for sure. Everything that I have seen points to the owner's story being true. I guess it's a rare car??

 

Congratulations on a SWEET find! And a Manual M46 with Overdrive to boot! How cool is that! I bow to SwiftJustice on the electrical stuff. I'd like to weigh in on the manual you have....

Early on, Volvo had a few issues with these. Don't abuse it and its likely to be fine. But over the years Volvo kept changing the spec on what to put in them. If your overdrive ever gives you trouble, i.e. the light comes on, but doesnt engage, make sure your tranny fluid is full because the OD works on it too, but then you may have a piston issue in the OD. There are newer "apply" pistons that fix that problem and they have much larger o-rings. I run Mobil One ATF in the winter, with Lucas Oil's tranny additive. Summer I run ND-30 weight with the same additive. No issues since then.

Oh, if you ever service the rear end....congrats! its got both a drain and fill plug. Don't remove the cover! (Had a buddy do that once!)

 

this is a "european delivery" car, so it is US spec, made for the US market and complying with all us laws and regulations. it was just delivered in europe, then imported to the us. the european delivery is still in force for volvos, among others, and actually i have had several which had come this way. that sticker is one way they used to mark them, owner's manuals were different as well. not very rare case by any means.

 

I'm thinking post #13 might be spam. If not, I think maybe it should be in the "meet photo" section.

 

#13 is in Russian. It's poorly written, no punctuation, no capitalization and all sentence fragments. I don't get the "Hi Guys," and that's in English.

Back to the topic: They updated the M46 Transmission over the years. One book I have says that in 88 they added a bunch of needle bearings to the transmission. My transmission only once gave me trouble with overdrive dropping out. That was because of wire chaffing in the shift lever. If you do swap fluid, just be careful not to booger the fill plug. Make sure you can get it off to fill with new fluid. My syncros aren't quite as good as they were probably meant to be, but I double clutch for down shifts and never have any trouble getting the car to downshift into lower gears. I recently had to replace the master and slave cylinders, but I'm still running on the original clutch.

I'm glad to see other fellow 700 series Volvo owners with sticks. I love how no one can figure out where 5th gear is and how to get the car in reverse.

 

I have the full kit that came with the car for foreign delivery. There is some paper work, a cpuple books, and a binder with the diplomat and tourist sales logo.

 

the nice couple in the pictures, what is the nature of their volvo problem? may be some russian speaker can translate?
otherwise, hello, moderator?

 

Why thank you moderators!

 

Really...wrong thread for bent rods!

 

I am also a big fan of 80's boost gauges.