I have come across and amazing 1981 240 diesel wagon with 55,000 original kilometers, original owner. However after talking with my expert volvo mechanic I am having second thoughts. He says he won't even work on them and that they have been nothing but trouble due to the fact that volvo did not design its own diesel engine, but rather purchased through VW. It's a 6 inline. Does anyone out there have an opinion. I was surprised and of course disappointed to get his assesment.

Cheers,

Michael

These zealots want you to own a diesel to make themselves feel better. Take your mechnaics advice and avoid the diesel. It will help keep your life simple.

I would go for it. I got 280k on my 82 diesel before a rebuild, then it went another 150k. I have quite a few diesel tools I would sell you cheap.

Personally, I'd grab it in a heartbeat.
A little sludge can be cleaned out.
Keep in mind that to own one of these you need to invest in about $500 in special tools and volvo green manual to work on it ( even if you don't do your own work,and have a good vW diesel man around, you still need the tools if you travel any, because a mechanic in dirtwater is not going to buy the tools or books to fix it correctly, unless you are in europe, where diesel mechanics grow on trees).

My daily driver '84 240 diesel has about 240,000 miles and running strong ( We're taking it across the country on vacation shortly).55,000km is barely broke in, it hasn't even had it's first timing belt change yet (although with that many years, I'd be inclined to change them early)

The engine is not a problem engine....if you follow directions. Something that many 'expert mechanics' seem to have trouble with. If you have the right book (not chiltons, it's wrong), and tools, and follow directions, explicitly, it is a very simple engine to work on. I aquired both of my diesels that had been left to scrap after expert mechanics got their hands on them and tried to dig in without the proper tools and book. I don't care how good you are with toyotas or whatever, you can't eyeball anything on these engines, and you can't get around the special tools.

Tools can be purchased through www.baumtools.com or www.etoolcart.com you haveto call either of them, diesel tools don't show on the websites. Volvo green manuals can be regularly found on ebay, and the engine manual is still in print through Volvo bookstore.

Feel free to Email me if you need any more info.
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-------Robert, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel , '80 245 diesel

If there any old time VW mechanics in your area, you may want to ask one of them about the engine. The D24 is basically a VW 1.6L 4-cylinder diesel engine with 2 more cylinders added.

Have to agree that extremely low kilometers is not necessarily a good thing (diesel or otherwise). Cold start short trips are not very nice to the engine. If you are lucky, the low kilometers was a 30+ minute highway trip every couple of weeks instead.

Its true the diesel engines would not be my first choice,2nd 3rd, ect just kidding. A coworker of mine loves diesels but has told me that they were only good for about 110k miles if they were taken care of and the rebuilds were expensive. AS far as being hard to work on he said no but its tough to find a good diesel guy as they havent made one of these gems in almost 20 yrs Depending on the price if it runs I might take a chance and worst case find a wrecked 240 and drop in a newer engine or a v-8 good luck

Man, if the price is right, grab it! I might opine that one of the reasons your 'expert' Volvo mechanic WON'T work on the car is because he CAN'T. Perhaps he's just not familiar with the diesel and doesn't have the stones to tell you. Why not take the car to a diesel shop (or a VW dealer) and have someone check it out? At least you're more apt to get an opinion that's worth something as opposed to a lot of second-guessing and pooh-poohing about the engine. Granted, they're not perfect, by a long shot, but why pass on a great car otherwise, especially if the price is right, the mileage is right and the body and interior are sound. If worse comes to worst, you can always do an engine swap...either drop a Volvo gas motor into it, or go the whole boat and convert to V-8 power (but leave the diesel badges on the car, you know, just to screw with Mustang owners...)

Brad

Among other things, low kilometers is the WORST thing you can do for this engine. Low kilometers means short trips. Short trips mean engine never fully warms up. Engine never fully warms up means sludge. Sludge means poor oiling.

In this engine, oil flow to #5 and #6 cylinders is already pretty weak. Sludge will kill it.