Buying advice please

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Nine40

I really only do town driving with most being 30 mile round trip, it appears that the hole is a rubber hose pipe, i have photo from seller,

You have a PM about the photo.

With town driving, a 2.3 would be better on fuel for you as it has more low down torque which is handy round town.

[Laird Scooby]

These are the photos - maybe someone can shed some light on which hose it is!





I'm not familiar enough with the turbo installation to know exactly which it is.

[Laird Scooby]

Now i can see the pics at a decent size, that's the inlet trunking between the AFM/MAF and the turbo.
It would be a relatively simple repair but check your plugs as it may have been running lean for a while. Also check the PCV system as it sounds as if it may be blocked if your getting odd smelling fumes from it.

You could simply remove the hose, measure the internal diameter and get a joiner (plastic or metal) from ebay, fit it with a couple of large Jubilee clips to secure it and with any luck, a general check over and service plus cleaning the PCV system should have it running as sweet as a nut.

I'm glad the photos proved me wrong anyway!

PS see if you can haggle the price down a bit to cover all your faffing about fixing it!

[john.wigley]

Not detracting in any way from what 'Laird Scooby' says above, I would still like to see the car come with a decent MOT. 'Runs out in March' (sic) means that, at best, it has six weeks MOT remaining, at worst, as little as two!

I would neither buy nor expect to sell a car with so short a test, unless it was strictly for spares or repairs. If the vendor has confidence enough in the car, they will have no compunction about putting a year's ticket on it. It would then make it more saleable and potentially worth upwards of the figure mentioned.

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

I'd forgotten the MoT was short, have to say i agree with John, either ask them to put it through an MoT (even if you have to pay the £55 for the test) and if it passes, give them the agreed pricce (agree the price before it goes for test), if it doesn't and it's not something relatively minor you can fix easily, walk away.

It's still cheaper than buying it, having it transported and then putting it in for a test and finding it's as rotten as a 9-day old curry.

When i bought my current 760 2.5 years ago, it was on fleabay for "Spares or Repairs".

Querying the seller revealed the brakes needed attention - the owner (sellers father) had been quoted nearly four figures to sort the brakes out.

When i got it home after winning the auction, i did indeed discover the brakes needed attention - and the springs, shocks, various suspension bushes, PCV system and a few other things.

Pads and discs on the front, new pads on the rear, new brake fluid and a bleed, new springs and shocks all round, spaceship bushes and ARB drop-links and some other work and it flew through the MoT with the tester, once again, trying to find the non-existent catalytic converter! "Well i can't see the cat but it must have one somewhere to run that clean" was his comment.

Since then i've found and fixed other faults, some are still "Work In Progress" but are close to being fixed, others i haven't even started as they're not essential.

In other words, you could have a bargain but the bit i haven't said, it still had 4 months MoT on it when i got it and even with the various bits and pieces i bought for it, it still owed me less than £500 with a years MoT on it, including buying it.

Depending how much under the £500 mark this one is you're looking at, allow at least £50 for the bits and your time to fix that leak and then decide whether it's worth your while - there are plenty out there, most are the 2.3 version which as i said earlier and has been backed up by others, would be the better choice.

[Stephen Edwin]

Ahem. So far as I read this, the only information is what the seller is saying, some photographs and MOT information from a tester not known to you. It is for sale for hundreds of pounds and there will be a delivery company's charges to pay.

Is there something about this car that makes it worth taking so very much risk?

There is usually a better option, nearer home, if one waits.

.

[aardvarkash10]

Mon Dieu, its a 500 quid car. Thats the price of about 6 tanks of gas - an MOT would double its value.

Everyone wants perfection and seems oblivious to the fact that the car is now knocking on 30 years old. A dose of realism would be much more useful than quibbling about which pipe is broken or the relative merits of a 2 vs 2.3

ANY 2, 7, or 9 series Volvo is now an old car (actually, so are the 850s, the V70s...). Old cars are inherently unreliable and expensive to operate, especially if you lack the mechanical ability to work on them yourself.

They are a hobby, a passion, an obsession. They are not a rational transportation option.

If you want a reliable car to drive a total of 30 miles, get a Vauxhall Astra. Hell, get a Nissan, because, let be honest, the Astra was always a POS.

If you really want a 2 litre Volvo, go get this one. At worst, you'll scrap it for the purchase price. At best, you'll have a lot of fun, learn some new engineering tricks and trundle to town and back with a smile on your face. Mostly.

[slowprop]

Originally Posted by aardvarkash10

Mon Dieu, its a 500 quid car. Thats the price of about 6 tanks of gas - an MOT would double its value.

Everyone wants perfection and seems oblivious to the fact that the car is now knocking on 30 years old. A dose of realism would be much more useful than quibbling about which pipe is broken or the relative merits of a 2 vs 2.3

ANY 2, 7, or 9 series Volvo is now an old car (actually, so are the 850s, the V70s...). Old cars are inherently unreliable and expensive to operate, especially if you lack the mechanical ability to work on them yourself.

They are a hobby, a passion, an obsession. They are not a rational transportation option.

If you want a reliable car to drive a total of 30 miles, get a Vauxhall Astra. Hell, get a Nissan, because, let be honest, the Astra was always a POS.

If you really want a 2 litre Volvo, go get this one. At worst, you'll scrap it for the purchase price. At best, you'll have a lot of fun, learn some new engineering tricks and trundle to town and back with a smile on your face. Mostly.

I wouldn't argue with that. I'm expecting that I'll have to fork out for some repair bills for my 940. On the other hand my other nearly new car is sitting there depreciating. I do enjoy driving the 940 more though

[john.wigley]

Sorry, 'aardvarkash10', old cars are not, in my experience, necessarily unreliable or inherently expensive to run. Quite the contrary, in fact, and I have detailed figures to support that view.

As 'slowprop' correctly states, it is depreciation that is the big expense on new cars. I lost less than £100 / year on my last 740. Despite the fuel consumption, I regard them as one of the greenest cars around!

Regards. John.

[aardvarkash10]

depreciation is a killer on brand new cars. Not on "recents" though (3 - 7 years).

Again, lets talk in practical generalities, not extremes. Old cars are comparatively unreliable, comparatively thirsty, comparatively reliant on our acceptance of thier various faults and shortcomings. The existance of this very forum attests to this reality.

If you want reliable low operating cost transport, an old Volvo is not a great choice.

On a smile per mile basis, they are excellent value.