volvo 940 turbo buying

Iam thinking of going for a 940 turbo volvo,but I need a few pointers on items to look for and things to consider.
Obviously well maintained cars,not cars run on a budget and ignorance.
How do the turbo charged engines and the turbo chargers themselves take the miles.
I have come across one guy owning a 940 who had his engine rebuilt due to excessive blow by,would it be wise to reject cars over say a certain mileage 100k?
Are the turbo units prohibitively expensive to replace if things do go wrong many thanks

A rebuilt turbo will set you back some 300-350 quid plus the bother of getting it out and back in again for which you will need some gaskets and stuff for maybe 20-30 quid.

Number one issue to look for is smoke. If the exhaust is smoking, you have an engine that needs attention. What I talking about here is not smoke on idle but go down the motorway at 70-75 for a good half an hour and pull into a service station, smoke? Then you're in trouble. Why? These turbos are oil cooled which is good but if the engine is driven hard, the turbo full of oil and then engine switched off, there is a build of oil in the turbo that fails to drain off, it will carbonise and clogg the turbo oil lines. This will cause no end of trouble. Perfectly fixable but a lot of work. I am doing one of these engines as we speak. Remember that the block is the same as all B200/B230 so that is ok, can go on for 100000s of miles without any trouble. You need to get a good feeling about the car and the seller. If the car is clean, the rugs brushed off and the glove compartment cleared of sweat wrappers then your car is probably looked after. If, like in my case, there are mouldy chips stuck in the seat, then the engine will have been trashed too. For trouble free motoring, you do not want that.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K, 90k)

[Peter Milnes]

Go for a 944/945 from model year 1995/6. You will get the best sunroof (glass) and you will also get a built in child seat (with three point seatbelt) in the middle of the rear seat.

All the best, Peter

[srtames]

I am also interested in buying a 940 but do not want a turbo so if you buy a 940 turbo with a worn turbo at an approptrate discount ,can you take off the turbo and revert to standard 940 performance or does the 940 turbo engine have lower compression ratios?

thanks, Steve

In theory I suppose you could but you would have perhaps around 60-70 bhp. The compression is way too low and the hole valve set-up is different. You could of course get a 940 turbo with lots of goodies but a blown engine and put in a second hand good B200E say with much better economy and insurance. But it is expensive.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230ET/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K/M55, 90k)

[srtames]

thanks george , 60-70 hp does sound rather too low for useability . I am rapidly going off fuel injection after seeing the problems listed on brickboard. I believe that if you fit an older carb engine pre 92 in a later car its subject to the pre 92 emission regs only .

regards, Steve

Have a look at the problems with carb engines and you'll go off that too. I find it quite amazing that people expect not to have problems with 10-15 year old cars having done 100k, 200k and even 300k miles. They have been beaten and abused for many, many years and for many, many miles. Of course they will break down, of course they will cause problems but if you don't want that, get a brand new V70 with warranty and RAC cover, not a 15 year old banger. My two turbo cars may have all power equipement, drive me to Sweden and back without any problems and offer more comfort that my living room couch but they are still bangers.

Don't get me wrong, if you want to get a carb 740, then fine by me, they are great cars and essentially the same as all the other Volvos but do not expect not to have problems unless you virtually rebuild them which is what I have done but then again, I have spent around 6 000 pounds over the last 12 months on car repairs, parts and such. To stick a B200K in a 1995 945 is going to cost you, I would expect to pay around 3000-4000 quid for the car, 300 quid for a good engine and 500-600 for labour.

If you really are into the idea of making your own car, I would rather than ripping out a perfectly good engine from a perfectly good car buy something salvaged or trashed out but with a sound body. They can be found looking around. Check out places like www.ebay.co.uk and www.simpson-salvage.co.uk and contact www.volvocarparts.co.uk in London. By doing so and having it all done by someone you trust or even by yourself, you will be certain that the car is in top condition. Item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...&category=9872 is an example of a car I would buy and do up. Expect the engine to be trashed.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230ET/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K/M55, 90k)

[srtames]

thanks george for that 940 on Ebay but but I have seen many rust free 960,s for free!
This obviously means they are too expensive to repair so that is why I am avoiding fuel injection . I have had problems with carbs, of course, only of blocked jets but even a new carb is far cheaper than an ecu,flow meter, or cat .
I do not object to fuel injection itself just that the spares are a rip-off as I develop microprocessor controlled equipment and know the cost in their manufacture is peanuts in comparison!

regards, Steve

This latter point is indeed true. Mention computers and cars and everyone thinks "this will cost me dearly" and thus the dealers can charge the earth. The reason 960's break down is because of one of two things, 1 the belt snapped and the engine is trash or 2 the block has cracked and the engine is trash. It has got nothing to do with fuel injection, however if you could get hold of a nice 960, stick a B200K in it and mate it to the autobox and the airco and the cruise, you'd have a pretty nice and economical car you could fix yourself when it broke down.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230ET/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K/M55, 90k)

Hi,

I have been interested in your article regarding buying a trashed engined good body car as the car your link points to on ebay is my own Volvo 940 Turbo. I have since taken the turbo off to find that the impeller is stuck stiff with gunge probably from not allowing to idle after use. I bought the vehicle from a a chap who owned it from new and I think it was probably used a school run car in its later life hence lack of use and allowing to idle etc. Is it possible to clean the turbo up or should I just buy a new/recon one? Also the turbo is a Garrett example but will this make a difference? I was also wondering whether the oil that is pumped into the Turbo woul be pushed through somewhere else in the engine as there is some oil on the cam cover case. I have been driving the car without the turbo although it is extremely slow.

I look forward to someone maybe answering some of my questions.