Bought a really clean 240 for $800 :)

[Edward Wyatt]

Ha! Made you look....

It's a 1992 Volvo 240 GL with slightly over 300k miles on the original drivetrain. I bought it from my neighbor down the street who decided to buy a new Honda Accord instead of replacing the four bald tires and charging the a/c.

She was the second owner who bought it in 2002 with 220k miles and had it well maintained by the local Volvo only Indy shop. It came with a stack of service records and the fully stamped by the dealer until she bought it service book. It has light blue original paint with navy blue cloth interior. Considering the miles it's really clean. She kept it in the garage at night and in a parking garage during the day. The only nits are missing map pockets for the front doors and a couple of scratches from her huge Rottweiler. It has hardly any blowby, and after charging the a/c and a new set of Michelin Defender radials it's been a great car so far. Yes, I cleaned out the flame trap the first day I had it.

This year 240 is one of the last and best with a full galvanized body and no wiring harness issues, it also has ABS and a driver side airbag so the insurance is almost half of what it was for the 320i. With the four speed automatic with lockup torque converter I'm getting around 26-27 mpg hwy and around 22mpg in town.

These cars are great value for the money, and are a great alternative to a W123 diesel.

[spdrun]

Yep, good cars, had a wagon a few years ago. Also relatively easily convertible to a 5-speed manual (or a 4-speed + electric OD).

[Edward Wyatt]

Originally Posted by spdrun

Yep, good cars, had a wagon a few years ago. Also relatively easily convertible to a 5-speed manual (or a 4-speed + electric OD).

The thought has crossed my mind, but the AW70 automatic is a pretty decent transmission and with the miles it has I don't want to put strain on the crankshaft thrust bearing. I did buy a set of Volvo accessory gauges, oil pressure,oil temp, voltmeter, vacuum guage, and the small tachometer. They are made to install seamlessly in the dash and will look factory. I might be going slow, but I'll be able to monitor the old B230 engine pretty well.

[spdrun]

Also look up the temperature gauge mod. Unlike in old Mercedes, the temp gauge in the dash has a control board that creates a dead spot at the "normal" temperature range, to avoid complaints from silly people about engine temp varying with load. That board sometimes fails in a way that has the gauge read hot when the engine is running at safe temp. You can solder in a wire and remove the board to get a correctly-reading gauge without damping.

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1172774/220/240/260/280/replace_compensation_board_jumper.html

[Idle]

I once had a Volvo salesperson tell me that many of his customers had just come from the Mercedes dealer where they were looking at a 300D or 240D. This was in the early 80's.

He would also encourage shoppers to check out the 123 280E because he knew that nothing would make them come back and buy a Volvo faster. After looking at the Mercedes the Volvos seemed cheap.

And they do hold up. The last one I had finally quit at about 360,000 miles.