I'm considering a 1989 740 16 Valve Sedan. The belts were done 25,000 miles ago. The sides of the engine are covered with oil residue. Could be old valve cover gaskets that leak. The down pipe from the manifold to the cat is like swiss cheese and makes a racket. The body is just about perfect as is the interior (CA car). Leather is good and dash only has a couple tiny cracks. The inside of the engine is immaculate - NO sludge AT ALL. Has all the other usual Volvo 740 issues: Red bulb relay has gone south, antenna doesn't retract, headliner needs replacement, connectors for ABS need a good cleaning and maybe a sensor replaced, heater control cable is loose, and the AC barely works. Price is fairmarket blue book (around $1,000). Should I buy it or run away?
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D '90 745T 229k, '88 744GLE 129k, '96 328i, '73 911T 100k+

I had an '89 16v a couple of years ago that I sold to a friend. It was a great car for me and still is running well for my friend. The car now has almost 300K miles on it, but I always kept the belts changed. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one if I nice example came along. These cars got a bad reputation but it is mainly because people don't take care of them.

I only have two words for you....RUN AWAY!!!!!

Why do you say that? As long as he knows what to expect, (make sure that timing belt is always changed), it could be a very good deal. It's getting harder and harder to find a good vehicle that one can maintain oneself.
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Paul NW Indiana '89 744 Turbo 145K/ '90 745 turbo 127K

I agree with the last part of your statement and it looks like you are lucky enough to have two really nice ones. However, having lived through the B234 engine and the headaches and heartaches I saw it cause so many people, including people who knew what to watch out for, I couldn't recommend it to anyone. I stand by my comment.

Donn

headliners can expensive to replace unless you do it yourself.
here is the relevant engine info for your dohc car.

Engine name: B234F

* 4 cylinders, 4 valves / cylinder
* Turbo: no
* Fuel type: gasoline, Fuel delivery: Bosch LH-Jetronic pulsed fuel injection
* Displacement: 2.316 litres = 141.3 cu. in.
* Compression ratio: 10.0 : 1
* Notes: Double overhead cam (DOHC), low friction, tough and durable, interference head so make sure to change the timing belt every 50,000 miles!
* Cars that use this engine: (1989 740 GLE) (1990 740 GLE) (1991 940 GLE) (1992 940 GLE) (1993 940 GLE)

............i prefer to stick with single ohc engines turbo or na rather than go with interference motors in models that offer sohc engines. but that's me!

this engine car mating is not that common so finding spares in junkyards might prove difficult. and the 940gle's as far i know except for 91 were all canadian cars.

The only contribution I have here is to the headliner-
I put one in my 89 700 turbo wagon. I got luck because the previous owner hadn't damaged the fiberglass backing. Most of the time they get damaged by removal of the fabric or those pins people use to keep it from sagging. Then it's off to the scrap yard for a fiberglass lining that is still good.
It as $125 from ipd. No extra materials were needed, save the haynes/other service manual for dissasembling the sunroof. That was most of the time anyway. Those are tough to get just right. Luckily, the kit came with about enough material to do it twice. I recommend you get the biggest kit, even though yours is the sedan. I also hearsay the sedan is harder to do because you can't just send the liner out the back of the car. There is a way to do it, I think it's described in the FAQ.
About 6 hours by myself, but I've had most of the the roof apart before.

One other thought I've been toying with: It would be so cool to clean up the wire runs with conduit, pull the entire headliner and backing, mask off the rest of the interior, and use that truck bed coating on the underside of the roof. Then you'd have all of that stuff accessible for when you need it. It would be a cool look too, me thinks.
B

Valve cover gaskets are a special issue in the DOHC engine. They encircle the spark plug holes, which are centered between the two cams, the center portions are prone to failure, and the plug holes collect oil.

My spouse drives a 1990, and aside from that issue, it has been trouble free for three years. I do like the extra kick when I'm accellerating on the on ramp to the interstate.

the best way to solve that problem is to put healthy dab into the plug wire slots with dielectric grease as they mate to the top of the spark plug

You can't go too wrong for a $1,000, but the question you should ask yourself is whether you need a project or not--that's what I ask myself in these situations. Also, Blue Book values are irrelevant for these cars... And even if they were relevant, all these repairs needed are to be deducted from the price stated, and only then is true value determined. (in this case, as in many other older cars needing things, one may very easily have a negative Blue Book value once a budget is made for repairs.)

It really boils down to how much the car is worth to me. I add for lack of rust, clean interior, and above average service; then deduct all the repairs, most of which I can do. This would be the fourth 740 I've worked on so I know what to expect. The price I come up with is within 15% of what the owner is asking.

Spoke with my spouse and she says the holiday season timing is poor so I'll let it go. Car is in NE Ohio and it's got one of the cleanest bodies I've seen in a LONG time - ZERO rust and no cracked leather!

Thx,
Doug
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D '90 745T 229k, '88 744GLE 129k, '96 328i, '73 911T 100k+