I'm leery of electrical issues but I haven't been able to view this car. I've been assured the engine and tranny are in good shape and run excellent.

If it could be obtained for 7-800 would you buy it? I'm looking for a beater wagon and I like this style Volvo....I'm wanting to do some shadetree work but electrical issues usually throw me a loop....

If you have any thoughts please feel free to school me...

 

It's a wagon. The light harness goes through the hatch and fails over time. Rather simple fix. Finding the voltage draw is tedious but generally simple. First, check to make certain the alternator is actually charging. Assuming it is, it is a matter of pulling fuses until you find the draw. It's a Saturday job...Beer level 3.5.

 

As long as it isn't a diesel, it's a fun car to work with. Nothing too difficult.
Ed

 

O.K thanks.

 

I would buy it to.

 

So this is fairly common? I'm still working on a deal with the owner but its a good negotiating point to have as they seem clueless as to what the deal is....
Me, I'm not afraid to dive in and get my hands wet but I assume the harness wires break? I still haven't viewed the car but I made a standing offer over the phone and I'm thinking it will be accepted as I get the drift they are ready to move it out of the driveway...

What engine can I expect to see on a 1986 740GLE wagon anyway? The lady said its a 6 cylinder but I wonder if its more like a 4?

 

It's a I4, B230F. If there is a V6 in it, the car is a 760 and the motor is not as reliable. I had a '87 740 GLE that I put over 400,000 on.

I usually don't make offers over the phone if I have never looked at the car. If they offer to sell it for less I might agree but it's usually poor negotiating and they will often sell the car to someone else just because they are mad at you.

 

Thanks, I asked about the engine and it indeed is a 4 cyl in it. Most likely the one you mentioned... According to the owner it runs/drives good. Has 212,000 and he mentioned a bunch of service recipts etc from his father in law who was the original owner.

They did accept my offer of $700 but I'm still in the air on it as the electrical draw could become expensive. Is that too much for a mechanics special or?? (I pulled the ad, I didn't want someone buying it out from under me..)

So, my question is....do most electrical issues like this one where there are two, one with the tail lights not working properly and something draining the battery associated? Or is it a chain reaction with electrical on a car from that era (86)? I just don't want to deal with getting one thing fixed then have to move onto another....over time sure but not constantly...I asked about the last timing belt change and he didn't know so there's something that I'll have right off too.....Is it hard? I suspect not on that inline four but not sure....

I'm at the point of flipping a coin...heads I buy tails I leave it....

 

My '87 740 GLE had bad wires. I would not let anyone work on the car because of them. Volvo, in an effort to be agressive in the "save our enviormant" movement, decided to use rubber made from recycled material to coat their wires. After several years the rubber coating on the electrical wires, especially in the motor area, started to turn very brittle and flake off. Anytime someone moved a wire harness, pinched a wire, bent a wire, it would leave exposed wire that could short out.

Needless to say that there are tales of these mid '80's Volvo's catching fire and burning to the ground. I believe they realized their problem around '89 and stopped using that sorry recycled rubber on their electrical wire. Most of the cars were around 10 years old or so before the problems surfaced so there was NEVER a recall on the wiring. My solution was to never touch a wire that I wasn't prepared to replace. Some cars have had wiring harnesses replaced with good ones but I assume that was mainly on the wires under the hood.

FFwd 25 years and now you have wires throughout the car that may still have some of this old crappy wire in it. The heat related wires under the hood has surely been dealt with, however, the wires going through the rest of the car may or may not be suffering the same fate.

What you could do is go in the trunk, find a wire and pinch it to see if the coating will come off in your hand. Other than that I don't know how you could tell if you have a bad wire situation that may be grounding out in the middle of a door or under a carpet, etc.

I still think that $700 for a nice 740 is not a bad price. You can always put a meter on the battery, pull fuses one by one to track down the draw and fix it from there.

 

The B230F motor is NOT an interfierence type and most belt breaks do not damage the motor. Not sure how hard they are to replace but I use to run mine 75,000 miles instead of the 50,000 they recommended.