Hello, I just got a 1988 740 GLE today. Nice car, looks nice inside and out, and has 121,000 miles. It does have a few issues though:

1) There's a slight vibration around 35-45 mph. I think it's either u-joints or a carrier bearing. No big deal, I can fix that (I hope!).

2) It also has the bulb warning light on when I put on the brakes, and also when the lights are on. However, there are no bulbs not working. I'll try looking at the solenoid tomorrow.

3) The gas filler door seems like it's about to fall off. Looks like there was once a rubber mount between the car and the plastic piece that the door attaches to. Has anyone else run into this problem? Using search yielded no threads on the subject.

Other than that, it looks to be a solid car and I look forward to driving it and learning more on this forum.

 

Welcome!
1. Better look at your tires first, like balance. Those other things act up on takeoff usually.
2.Bulbs have to be the same in pair by pair, or the indicator will trigger.
3.There is no rubber mount, there are some push pins that go into the black plastic base mounting points(4). Those are probably broken-common...

 

Thanks tedv, that's good to know. I'll pull the lights and check the bulbs to make sure. Also good to know about the gas filler door, I imagine the local Volvo dealer will have a few in stock. As for the vibration, it doesn't feel like tires, it feels like u-joints that are just barely beginning to go. I guess it would be prudent to just go ahead and do both u-joints and the carrier at the same time. Do you know if the u-joints have a zerk fitting on them? I've been too lazy to look that hard under the car - but I think that's gonna change soon.... ;-)

Thanks again for the great info!

 

No zerk fitting. Keep us posted on the progress.