740 overheating problem

[bigbenn]

Hi,
Just before Xmas 2012, I was driving my 740 turbo normally on the local freeway, when it suddenly overheated and the engine siezed.
It turned out that a pin prick hole in the heater hose, caused the cooling stuff to run out under force, until the engine, which was no longer cooling correctly, overheated, because of the extreme heat generated, so that the engine oil ceased to lubricate and that was that.
I love my 740 turbo, even though it is now about 24 years old, which in Aussie, now makes it a vintage car and of some value as a collectors vehicle as this turbo model, is becoming quite rare, so I have arranged to have a new engine recondition to be done and hopefully I will have my car running again, in the next few weeks - certainly a much better proposition than the cheap jap cars which have flooded Aussie, have a poor crash rating, are designed to run for a few years and are then discontinued, when parts are no longer available............
Meanwhile, I am running around in one of these vehicles, a Diahatsu Handyvan, which cost me $1,500, runs on the smell of petrol and has turned out to be quite extraordinary for a 3 cylinder vehicle - now my second vehicle.

BigBenn

 

[Richard Noakes]

Well, after some thought, I decided to restore my 1989 Volvo 740 turbo station waggon to as new condition and the overall cost was roughly A$25,000 - with Volvo Mag Wheels which take standard tyres,
My Volvo sold in Aussie in 1989 for A$75,000, so I have an as new, Volvo for roughly 1/3 of the as new 1989 price with (hopefully), nothing left to renew and pretty much, the only Volvo of this type, left here.
At traffic lights and when I want to have a bit of fun, I leave the other modern cars for dead, not bad for a 26 year old car - have to try against a V8 sometime - once rolling and the turbo kicks in brrrraaaam, the front lifts a bit and it goes off like a shower of shit and I get pressed into the seat from the power of the turbo - awesome performance, however with the turbo on, the petrol tank indicator goes down quite fast.
It is possible to buy computer chips for a better high end performance (A$800 last time I checked), but they only kick in at 100kmh and with a speed limit of 110km on country roads, there really is not much point - now if there were chips for the lower speed range, I would have gone for it, hook, line and sinker.
I had an expensive A$4,000 paint job, with pin striping and 4 yellow fog lights under the front bumper - to make them light up, I have to be on high beam and with the fog light switch on and I had the raised "enclosed scoop" on the bonnet painted black, which gives my Volvo a wicked racing look, certainly a head turner for a rev head.
The airconditioning had packed in and I had that fixed especially as the radiator which sits behind the dash board became corroded and blew, wetting my feet and cost A$1,500 to replace including labour - so the new replacement fixed the problem and everything is fine now - we are just entering our summer months and the temperature today was 25C, warm enough for aircon in the car, when out and about.
The worn out parts were the most expensive expense and came from Germany, England, Sweden and from locations, in some cases, in Australia.
It seems to me that my Volvo is becoming as rare as the parts which I purchased to become road worthy and in all probability, it is one of the few, if not the only Volvo 740 turbo station waggon in Australia.
A mechanic replaced all of the brake hoses underneath the car, because they had become cracked and likely to blow at some critical stopping time.
I always wanted to "do up" a car and this was what I eventually chose - it is nice to be able to be different, my other cars are a Diahatsu Handyvan (a grey import) and as rare as the Volvo, for local running around and it goes on the smell of an oiled rag and a Ford Territory which I recently had resprayed - and looks brand new, now for my lady companion.

BigBenn