Never see any 16-Valve Volvo's how come?

Hi everyone... was just talking cars with the folks, talking about our
previous Volvo, a 1989 740 16 Valve... and realized that none of us have
ever seen another 16 Vavle 740 on the roads in all those years!... Did they
de-badge this engine quickly after it was released, or was it a blunder and
cancelled quickly?

I was told it was smooth running and pretty powerfull for an 80's 4
banger... Too expensive compared to a more powerfull turbo-4 or something?

 

I see them occasionally, they were only made for a few years though, and
quite a few of them bit the dust due to timing belt breakage.

 

No, I don't think it was cancelled that quickly. I think the B234
was introduced with the '89 model year in NA (or maybe '88) in 740,
and in '91 was used in the 940 -- I have seen 16-valve 940s.

I don't know why Volvo went back to using the 8-valve B230 for
'92 onwards with the 940.

The B234 was an interference engine, so maintenance schedules
had to be followed more rigorously -- but by '92 Volvo was making
other interference engines, so that alone couldn't be the reason
they switched to the B230 for later model years of the 940.

Beverly

 

There are a few (saloons and estates) on the VOC 700/900 register. They were
badged as GLT, the "T" standing for Twin-cam. They had 10 bhp less than the
B230ET/FT but were a bit complex when it came to belt change time as the
engine was fitted with balance shafts and had a balance shaft drive belt
that had to be changed at the same time as the cambelt. The engine was a
lively unit and could be driven hard with no worries.

Cheers, Peter.

 

I had one...a wine red '90 745 GLE..fully loaded with leather seats and
power sunroof. it was quite powerful compared to regular non-turbo
740s...that thing was moving...fast.. I sold it due to ABS problems..Had to
replace the ABS pump which was expensive. When I sold it couple of years ago
it had 148Kmiles and looked like quite handsome. I still miss that car.

ahmet

 

Wow we had the same car, options, and colour... just an 89... Wine red is a
gorgeous colour on that car, with the chrome accents, and the polished
aluminum rims... We've got one picture of that car, and it looks way nicer
then our 960 (charcoal grey with the old style "760" front end... looks so
narrow with those headlights)