Hi. Just joined this morning because I'm looking at buying a used volvo (in subject line). We went down and test drove it yesterday and heres's what I could tell.

It's an automatic and shifts fine but runs sluggish like the cat is clogged.
Paints good with some roof fading.
Headliners falling. (It's humid here and the a.c. was broke.)
No leaks or smoke, and the turbo seems to work by sound.
A little carbon deposit on the valve cover but the engine is clean.
Over all it doesn't look like any stupid mechanical work was done.
2nd owner and he bought it as a trade in 4 months ago.
Seats are leather and look nice with a little wear on driver seat.
All electrical works.
Odometer is froze at 73k but the owner estimates around 122k which would be consistant with the vehicles looks and operation.
Struts are bad from what I can tell.
At 122k or more, it probably calls for a timing belt but I'm not sure.

Here's my concerns. There is a sensor that the owner replaced for $10.00 for the a.c. and is located toward the firewall. He said it had gone bad and someone put a jumper on it so the a.c. would work. This switch works with a switch at the front of the vehicle. It caused the original compressor to burn out so he bought a good salvage one and had it put it. A.C. blows cold but when you stop and idle, the a.c. stops working until you shut the motor off and restart.

Tell me if I'm off-base here but I think that what probably is happenning is that it was running rich or something causing excessive carbon emissions (build up on the valve cover) clogging the cat which in turn is causing the engine to stress and shut the a.c. off. The check engine light comes on intermittently.
What do you think? Are the struts easy to replace on a volvo or do you need a special tool? What's a good strut that won't break the bank? Can I just get some of the headliner adhesive and reglue the fabric to the backing? Oh, and what's an affordably catalytic convertor that will last since I hate to have to gut the original?

It's priced below $3500.00 but I don't want to have to put much more than a grand in it but will probably have to pay for the timing belt and exhaust work but do the struts and headliner myself.

-Adam

 

What year is the car?
The running could be many things.
Im not sure what you mean about Carbon on the valve cover. These cam covers(proper name) is like almost no other car out there. They are not easy to replace the chemical gasket. They almost never leak as well.

If the A/C blows cold when you start but then stops the compressor might just need a reshim. I made a post about it.

Also search about the struts. There is alot of Info on this site try searching for it and you will be surprised at what you will find.

 

Oh, it's a 95. There is a goldish brown film on the cam cover. I figure carbon because the guy obviously cleaned the engine but wouldn't have thought to use carb cleaner? Also, a warning light comes on when you hit the brake and he said it was normal. Maybe for people that drive with both feet? Ha Ha. I think he pulled that out his butt. Maybe a engine perfomance problem would cause a brake vacuum problem. I thought that the slug engine (which sure acts like the cat from my experience and the brownish film on the cam cover) maybe it was causing all the other problems. It is really a nice looking vehicle and drives nice and tight. Engine is quiet and bone dry underneath.I would just hate to find out that some high dollar parts are required on what seems like minor problems. I found a strut, shock, etc package on ebay for around $350.00. Cats are around $300.00 and I can get upwords of $150.00 for the scrap. Those are the givens. Only problem is I don't know for sure what that A.C. problem is and if I bought it I bought it. Darn used cars anyways. Just wanted something safe for my daughter.

Could a clogged cat cause the a.c. problem and the brake light to come on? If not, then I could plan on checking the A.C. shim and anticipate an issue with some part of the brakes, possibly the antilock mechanism. I'm not concerned about the struts and shocks because I think they just wore out. Wonder what the going rate is for a timing belt job. I don't know if I can tackle that. I'm mechanical but don't want to wreck a motor.[sm=badbadbad.gif][sm=badbadbad.gif]

Hmmmm...

I guess I found the smileys!

-Adam

 

The film on the Cam cover is a film installed by the factory. That has nothing to do with teh running or what is wrong with the car. That is normal all of them have it unless someone took the time to clean it all off.

In the 1995 it has OBDI read the following link to learn how to pull codes.
http://www.troublecodes.net/Volvo/

The cats on these cars hardly ever clog up.
If they go bad they come apart. In the years I have been working on these cars (almost 10) I have only ever seen one clog up.

I would read the codes first and take it from there.
The car might have just been low on freon so jumping the low pressure switch would have made the a/c work even though the freon level was low.

The light you speak of might only be the Bulb Failure light meaning you have a brake light bulb out.

 

Thanks. I'll check for the obdi reader. I doubt the autozones will read the volvos here. I wouldn't know which reader to get. I saw one for $170 and I see them for $40.00. The biggest concern I guess on this vehicle is the slug in the engine though it sounds smooth, just sluggish. Oh, and the a.c. not working causes the windows to totally fog up when it's raining. That would have to be fixed. I guess I better give this some serious thought. I have always liked volvos but know the parts can be expensive and there's alot of high tech stuff in there for a low tech guy like myself. Thank god for forums!!

-Adam

 

No, you do not need a scanner to read codes from OBD-I; it's in the engine compartment and you won't need any tools/scanners to retrieve codes. See attached pic for the location. '94 & '95 models have both OBD-I and OBD-II (in front of the shifter under coin holder).

Windows fogging up may also be the setting of the ventilation. See if it's set for "Recirculation Mode", which is one of the most common "fogging up" problems. Set it back to outside air mode, if above turns out to be the case.

Code accessing instructions are everywhere in this forum & on-line.

I hope this helps.


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/F4F0FA331C70441C9B233BB2DD3DD744.jpg[/IMG]

 

That's high for my area, price wise. Also new plugs if running rich... you can find somethin turn-key for $3500...

 

Tech. what can I use to clean that film off without scratching too much? It really annoys me every time I see it, but I have tried to remove it without too much luck.

 

I would not spend $3500 for a 95 with problems with the A/C. Unless you can fix things yourself plan on dropping another $1500 into the car. My daughter, whose husband is a mechanic, just bought one for $3,000 with the A/C not working. They dropped $1500 into it with him doing the work, including the evaporator on the A/C. We knew what we were getting though.

 

Did he at least get an R for that money?

 

I use Brake clean all the time to remove it.
You have to soak it pretty good to loosen it up.
Also it might take you 2 to 3 times of spraying and wiping to get it all off.

 

Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll try that.