Having owned some Volvos in the past (S70 and XC) I have acquired a bit of a fondness for them. The 240 had always interested me, but I never put much focused on getting one. I recently stumbled across a classified ad for a 1988DL. It belonged to a elderly gentleman who recently passed and the daughter was not interested in keeping. The daughter said the car runs fine, but knew it needed front end work and tires. I test drove it, and sure enough it needs attention in the front end. Clunking and some rattling was clearly evident. She gave me a list of things he did over the last several years. He had noted an issue with the front driver side caliper, as well as it needing other front suspension work. Apparently that was going to the next thing he was going to do before he got ill. -- Will this cost me greatly if I have a shop do it? I'm not sure how much I can do myself (I don't have a car lift)?. Any suggestions on how best to tackle this? Just trying to get a reasonable expectation on scope and cost.

I'm just looking for a car to tinker with and use around town. I know it will need some $ to get the front end right, but not sure what I might be looking at cost wise. I'm guessing it probably is going need ball joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushing, stabilizer bar link, maybe strut mounts and new struts? Possibly that Caliper on one side. The front end definitely needs to be addressed before any regular driving. It's possible that all rubber in the front suspension is original. There are a bunch of new parts in the trunk, which I think include rubber bushings? Car has 172K, and seems to run fins, no smoke, no leaks, seems to shift fine, and exhaust sounded ok. Brakes need to be looked at, but didn't seem to bad. Overall, the car was as described. Will need tires (It has the Volvo steel wheels).


1988DL

1988DL

 

How about a specific list of exactly what's needed - you've given a list of just about everything in the front end. And congratulations on your new car.

 

I doubt that it needs all of the entire suspension redone--you get that list from unscrupulous shops. Chances are that it needs one or two of those items to make it a decent driver. You can probably handle the brake issue yourself but the suspension work requires more heavy lifting, and preferably a lift and power tools.

 

Thanks. I haven't taken it to a shop at all, so I just kind of listed what I was aware of. Your right, probably doesn't need all of that. I didn't have any front end issues (luckily) with other the Volvos, so this is new territory for me. I definitely don't want some shop to give me the full gamut, but not sure where to start. I guess my best option is to do my research a find a honest shop.