Looking at a 745 - advice?

[DennisCA]

Looking at this 1992 745 with a B230F and M47. I admit a huge part of the appeal is the color.







414,000km odometer, inspected July 23rd and passed.





Seller claims clutch has been serviced, as well as brakes. Has some clear coat peeling:





I think this could be stopgapped, sand the edges and clear coat with 2k over it and blend.







Drivers seat a little worn... Speedo not working properly, think seller is referring to a component behind the dash as the culprit. Sometimes it has an idle issue where it goes high. I think the speedo issue is a voltage stabilizer or maybe a capacitor. Not sure what the occasionally surging idle is about.

[matthew1]

Overall I think you're on the good side of the gamble with this car if it's priced well. Did you check engine oil for level and color? Does it have service records? Service records since new would be asking for a lot, but maybe the last 5 or 10 years would be a normal expectation.

If you can, watch the exhaust on a cold start for blue or white smoke. All the usual things.

Great color.

[DennisCA]

Any idea what the occassionally surging idle might be about? I am wondering if it's something electrical, if it was a vacuum issue it ought to be always high.

[matthew1]

Idle - vacuum leaks... https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threa ... ft.277495/ or IAC

Speedo - https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Electr ... Repair.htm capacitor repair

[volvolugnut]

What Matt said. I have several similar Volvos.
volvoolugnut

[DennisCA]

Gonna go look at it this saturday, haggled a bit but seem stuck on 3500€, it's a borderline case for me if the car is worth it or not, because it doesn't come with winter tires.

What's gonna determine it mostly though is rust. Since this is a 92 it has a galvanized body AFAIK and should not be that terrible underneath, I hope. Based on Baked Beans Garage 740 series the floor pans and front of the front wheel wells are places to look at, but that was an 86 model so it was not galvanized.

[scot850]

Check the following for corrosion:

1) Floor pans as you said. Pay particular attention to the jack points and the 2 short chassis out riggers at the front. Also look at the driver's floor at the front as they can corrode especially just in front of the 2 short out riggers (my young friend with the 740 has this issue with holes in the floors).
2) The 2 frame rails again where they drop down at the front. They can corrode from inside out. Same again at the rear over the wheels
3) Spare wheel area.
4) Behind the rear wheels in the trunk area.

Those are not all possible places but if they are bad, there will likely be more elsewhere.

Good Luck and hope it all goes well!

Neil.