Looking at a 740 on Thursday

[MaxTS]

Hello,

I will be looking at a '88 740 2.0l manual GL on Thursday. It has 10 months MOT, fair condition with a blowing manifold gasket.
There is little to no service history so I will probably do the cam belt on it which shouldn't be that hard but I am just after some pointers of what to look out for


Thanks

[t5 pete]

Main thing is rust everything else can be repaired cheaply also it will most likely need a fair few bushes replacing.

[hemihusky]

is it that blue one on ebay? main areas of rust on a 740 (talking from experience as i own one and have owned a saloon!) is front of the chassis rails as they curve down they sometimes rust as the underseal gets chipped off. floor boards if its had a leaking heater control valve. estates have corrosion on the tailgate but they are aliminium so its a fairly easy fix that one. arches on the lower areas are a common issue. and around the studs in the engine bay for ABS etc they always seem to rust there. other than those areas. ive seen sills go but on rare occasion normal its where someones clattered it with a jack and not painted back over it. so it starts to rust. my current one has rust on the bottom of the doors on all 4 doors but has spent a LOT of the time by the sea. my prior saloon didnt have this issue.

now other 700 series faults. if the fuel guage dont work dont worry its a common as muck fault. can be the sender in the tank OR check your earths if it seems to work but on occasion / when you fill it right to the top the battleship did that n it had crap earths. headlinings will always droop. swap them for a 940 one and they are good as new. any other questions im here for 700 series help. the little i know =)

[hemihusky]

also forgot to mention if its a Kjet car and it runs lumpy on idle also dont worry. it will be the injector seals. doddle of a job to fix. or the engine mounts going. also a doddle of a fix (Done both to my current driver and its rather smooth now for a redblock)

[MaxTS]

Thanks for the help both.

Hemihusky I must say that your saloon it what sewed the seed to get one of these. This ones not on eBay as it's from a friend of a friend who knows I'm a Volvo nut.

The guy send me the MOT certificate and it had an advisory for inner track rod play and nothing else. Also noticed it's only on 70K which seems very low to me...

[hemihusky]

inner track rods is what my red one has too. little more than sometimes a slight steering wheel wobble and in my case a rattling noise at 27MPH and only when turning right (Left side is the noise) so once again not like undrivable just a neusance

EDIT: Also another issue i thought of. if it struggles to start after being sat for a while on Kjet. once again easy fix its your fuel accumulator about £80 if you want a proper bosch one

[MaxTS]

Went to see this last night! It's pretty rough round the edges but that doesn't bother me too much and the guy was a good laugh.
The turning circles are epic on these!

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah108/maxts5/IMAG1163_zpstrlo6tjr.jpg (http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/maxts5/media/IMAG1163_zpstrlo6tjr.jpg.html)

[hemihusky]

nice color. F reg like mine. and you got a head lining! i got a set of wheel trims that are free to a good home if you dont want the steels =) and you got foglights! never break them. they are impossible to find. and re-installing the brackets (as i found out today) is a HUGE **** if you do buy it n need parts give us a shout

[Biff]

Went to see this last night! It's pretty rough round the edges but that doesn't bother me too much and the guy was a good laugh.
The turning circles are epic on these!

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah108/maxts5/IMAG1163_zpstrlo6tjr.jpg (http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/maxts5/media/IMAG1163_zpstrlo6tjr.jpg.html)

Looks like a cracking project! Be good to see what you do.
What are your plans?

[MaxTS]

Thanks Hemijusky, the car is a little run down so I may get in touch over the weekend!

Biff, I plan to use it as a daily so just maintaining the thing and enjoy it for what it is but I know that won't stay that way...

Picking it up tonight

[960kg]

Just trying to help...

I had two of these back in 2001 a red one and a blue one. The red one was a lot quicker than the blue one and never found out why? so fitted a Weber conversion on it and then it went well.........and had trouble with the heater just being warm......was changing the heater hoses in the engine bulkhead and was pulling them off and the whole copper pipe came with them and coolant spilled in the cabin everywhere.

To get the matrix out the whole dash has to come out some 8hr job for replacement!

So when removing these hoses just cut them off instead of pulling them off the copper pipes gently without pulling as the copper pipe is directly into the matrix...


Also if the steering gets a bit stiff....first go to the very small universal joint at the bottom of the rack on the out side just after the bulkhead....it is right near the hot exhaust and the grease dries out....Lol....my local garage just heated it up with a blowtorch and then re greased it somehow but it worked ok then...i am not sure if you can get these joints new anymore?

[MaxTS]

Picked her up earlier for £375.

It's a perfect cruiser which I found out on the way home and is perfect for my needs.

So, issues;

Really nasty nasty clunk over slower bumps/holes in the road. Kind of has a 2 straw clunk and squeaks when you push down on the front.

Interiour is really grubby and a little tatty

Needs a stage zero and cambelt, but I believe it is a non interference engine (?)

Boot doesn't open from the outside so you have to open from the inside.

Weird squeaky sound from what I think it's the fuel pump but it doesn't cause any issues

Fuel gauge doesn't work.

I'm looking forward to tinkering at the weekend and get it all up to scratch :)