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'90 740 Turbo Wagon - questions after test drive

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on all Volvo's "mid era" rear wheel drive Volvos.

1975 - 1993 240
1983 - 1992 740
1982 - 1991 760
1986 - 1991 780
1990 - 1998 940
1990 - 1998 960
1997 - 1998 V90/S90

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PDXin
Posts: 1
Joined: 16 August 2016
Year and Model: TBD
Location: Portland

'90 740 Turbo Wagon - questions after test drive

Post by PDXin »

Hey Folks! This forum has been a wealth of information while I've searched to procure a Volvo wagon. After living in the city for a year, I'm done renting cars to make it to the coast and the mountains on the weekends. I recently walked away from a sale of an 850 NA after a laundry list of issues were uncovered during an inspection and the buyer and I couldn't come to agreement on a price.

Now that I'm back on the hunt, I wonder if ya'll may be able to offer your .02 about a car that I test drove today. Here's the link:

1990 Volvo Wagon 740 Turbo

The body is in decent shape but there are some dents on the rear lift gate and drivers side door. The interior is worn as expected, but it's still a comfortable environment. During the test drive the car handled really well and I thoroughly enjoyed the pickup courtesy of the turbocharger.

After driving the car I popped the hood and pulled the oil dipstick and was met with a brief puff of smoke? Will a damaged PCV system put out continuous smoke from the dipstick or just a puff? Seller did indicate that the car will leave a few drops of oil after it's been sitting - would this be indicative of a RMS leak?

When looking under the hood I wasn't able to locate any information that would indicate that the timing belt has been changed. I also took a quick look through the service records that the seller provided but none of the documents revealed whether or not the timing belt had been changed. With 84K recorded on the clock and an estimated 120K due to non-working odometer, I feel like it might be time for a "change".

The current owner of the car is the daughter of the original owner. Since the daughter took ownership, it has been maintained by a local mechanic (non-volvo specific) who the owner spoke highly of. Although heresay, he believes the car to be mechanically sound and the owner recently drove it down to Eugene - about 222 miles roundtrip.

Given the asking price, I'm not sure that an inspection ($100 at Volvo specific garage) is worth it. Am I crazy? Assuming that the PCV system will need some attention and the timing belt will need to be replaced, what's a fair offer for this car?

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