I agree with everyone else about the red block being an excellent engine block for longevity and about the absolute necessity of religious oil changes. It helps if the Volvo is either original to you, or you are the second owner - after that, a whole lot of the car's repair history gets lost. One of the biggest factors, in my opinion, is that most Volvo owners of the "boxy but good" vintage tend toward the obsessive side about their Volvo - I know I do. As a result of that "obsessive" impulse concerning my 1982 245GL B21F-9 MPG, I continued with the scrupulous maintainence that the first owner (a Navy Submarine Captain) started. The longevity of my car started with the first scheduled dealer inspection service. For Volvos of the 1982 vintage, it was between 600 and 1200 miles. My car had it's first scheduled inspection service at 1142.6 miles on June 3rd 1982. The original owner showed up at the Volvo dealer for every single scheduled service required in his Volvo issued maintainence booklet.

I was considerably more fortunate than many other BB members, because the original owner also maintained absolute records of every single time it went to the shop for anything - including new tires and all oil changes - from the day he bought it until the day I bought it. There are many aspects of Volvo engine longevity that I don't have any experience with because of the completeness of records I received when I bought the car. All I had to do was continue on the excellent maintainence program that the original owner started...all he did was follow the Volvo recommended maintainence schedule. As a result, I had eleven years of trouble free driving. Every time I turned the key, it started - except three or four times - when the batteries died of old age, or a part wore out. I didn't have much incentive to learn how to do serious maintainence on my car because...well...it always worked - until recently - but that is another story.

Many of you have Volvos that have way more miles than mine - my odo currently reads: 296,832.9 - I'm close to the much coveted 300,000 miles(engine unopened), but many of you, with way less care by previous owners, have way more miles than I do on an unopened engine. What that tells me is that love, persistence, knowledge, obsessive oil changes, and a lot of money - can make almost any forlorn 200 series Volvo run strong for a really long time....much to Volvo's irritation, I'm sure.