I purchased a 1990 940 gl yesterday from a private party!!!!! Now what have I got myself into? Its 153000 miles showing. What are the pros and cons of this model?
I am a long time brickhead with expierence on 140s,240s,740s,and belive it or not 850. I was attracted by the normally aspirated 4 cylinder power plant. The car appears to be sound yet I will be asking about swapping out my stero from my 850 to the 240? Is this possible and practible? The nicest thing on the 850 that I liked was the super sounding stero. Any way how about some input for me to get up to speed on the 940, looks like my 740gle only larger! Hope it is as reliable as the 740. Mike G

My 1991 has served me well for 250,000+ miles and won't part with it for what I'd have to pay to replace it.

If you have 740 also, as do I, you won't find it much diffent for usual maintenance and expected part replacements(fuel pump relay, fuel pressure regulator, rpm crank sensor, keeping the throttle body clean, etc.)

In North America, the 940 was introduced in '91.

Regarding the stereo: it's not going to be a direct/bolt-in swap. It will require some rewiring, then some clever modification to mount it. A $99 unit from Crutchfield will sound better and install easier (because they will have a mounting adapter and a wiring harness adapter.) If you upgrade to a $150 unit, you'll have a huge improvement in sound and media capability (mp3 compatible, USB port, Ipod input, etc.)

Good luck.
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Jeff Pierce (Post back with your results... it's what makes this forum work.)

if you do upgrade- consider a radio w/ an HD tuner, you will have many more stations to listen too, w/ more added all the time....

* on our car, the OE radio was an Alpine made unit, and you can add a alpine or volvo cd changer in the boot.
I already had a nice deck to drop in, so removed that unit. crutchfeild should supply all the wiring and trim ring if your going new. other wise I got a harness for like $8, shipped(ebay, PN is in the FAQ), and finally found a trim ring in the junkyard.

My 95 940 needed a head gasket at 175K, my indie replaced it and did a valve job.
He said the turbo puts more stress on the redblocks. I think 175 was pretty good....It runs fine now at 196K. The interior is several steps up from the 240, except for the interior door sills that pucker up! The auto trans is starting to weep out of the shift linkage and the tail shaft. If it goes, I am looking at all the info on the M46 swap. It looks doable if you can find a 740 donor car, however a lot of work. The 940 has many of the same mechanicals that my 84 245 had and that went out to 320K. I think they are a keeper.

Crutchfield makes a DIN adapter/trim plate for the Volvo so you can fit any after market stereo in the slot. Speakers are kinda tough, I couldn't find anything that fit the openings, so I still have the OEM ones.

Ed

At least 90% of a 940 sedan is identical to a late 740, if it's a wagon, it's more like 95%+. The main differences are the shape of the rear bodywork and, in some cases, the 9 will have independent rear suspension.

The most important thing to be aware of is that the 16V engine found in some 940s (similar to an 850 engine, but with 4 cylinders and an iron block) is an interference design, which makes keeping the timing belt up to date a whole lot more important---major damage occurs if it breaks or skips, and there are two belts on this engine, one for the cams and one for the balance shafts. Many 940s have the good old reliable B230, with or without a turbo, You are already familiar with those.

I have been impressed w/ our 93 940- replaced the radiator and front seals, belts and hoses when we got it- no issues in over 20K. well- I guess I did have to delete the shift lock solenoid. ours has Regina ignition- not really sure how much that matters...

the radio- you want to swap OE units? cant help there. I did replace my OE w/ a CD deck, used wiring info from the faq and an adapter from ebay. our 940 does have component front speakers. sound is pretty good w/ the OE speaks.

I think that older 940s have ZF tranny as opposed to the durable AW70 found in later 940s. The radios in the 850s are dual DIN (twice as tall) and will NOT fit into the dash of a 940. Although the 940 has a removable pocket beneath the radio, there are a couple of tall relays behind which don't allow a dual DIN radio to fully set.