1981 Volvo 264 GLE from North America - Comments

First thing that went wrong, volvo decided to put V6 Pegeot/Renault Engines in their 240's for two years and call it a 264 GLE.

Second, it would take some serious cranking of the key to get it to start up. minutes it took. I had a shop rip me off about $400 for a few vists where they "fixed" my car, but said nothing was wrong with it to begin with (ha).

It was given to me to move to florida in (for school). I wasted my time with said mechanics and so the starting problem persisted for the duration of the car's life with me.

Windshield came off of car, "liquid nailed" it back on pretty good.

The paint job where the previous owner had paid a retarded monkey to paint OVER the old paint, clear coat and all with a single layer of paint, suprisingly peeled off in the car wash.

Sunroof crankshaft was ruined by previous owner when he paid the same retarded monkey to put the wrong kind of screws in and thus stripping the gears.

And again he paid this retarded monkey to put the tape deck where the cubby hole is and vice versa, making my time putting in a cd player very intersting.

On my way up home from florida, it screamed like a banshee, belts needed changing, but last me 500 miles on eggshells. tail pipe was torn off due to exessive rust and a truck tire on the freeway, so it was louder than it was when it had an exaust system.

Couldn't change the oil because of the wierd drain plug.

Put new ignition wires in, old ones crumbled when I pulled on them. wierd.

I actually grew accustomed to driving this, and starting it up everytime like I had to became subconscience and I often forgot that most cars start up within the first 3 minutes.

It was extremely confortable. volvo knows how to make an interior. kudos.

And what a tank of a body. it feels like driving a redwood tree down a mountain. but it was fun.

I hated this car with a passion, but when I "got rid of it" I really started to miss it.

I know volvo makes pretty good, solid cars, so their 264 wouldn't ever turn me away from their cars. but I would never wish this model on anyone.

A bit of a negative story with a positive twist in the end.

I'm sorry to say, but you have been busy describing a road-going wreck on wheels. I am 100% sure you would be very positive if you had been driving a normally maintained vehicle. It's a very comfortable, SAFE and reliable car, but it needs its oil-changes and maintenance regularly, otherwise it pulls tricks on you...

Sander

Volvo 264 GL Aut. 1975.

Blame the retarded monkey!

I have to agree with Sander - I was the second owner of a 1979 264GL that was very well maintained by its' original owner. During the four years we owned it the only things I had to replace were the clutch, heater fan, water pump, radiator and muffler (twice!). For a car that was eight years old when we bought it with almost 100K miles on the clock that isn't bad in my book. Religious oil changes help keep the PRV camshafts happy and if they are happy, the engine is happy. Always started easily, handled well (for a Swedish tank!) and was extremely comfortable; the front seat bun warmers and the rear heater ducts were ahead of their time. It wasn't as cold as Sweden in Maryland, USA, but they were appreciated nonetheless.

Tracy

79 264GL

79 244DL.

May be you can help me:

I need a new radiator for my old Vilvo 264 GLE from 1980.

It is in best condition and has less than 100K km.

If you have any advice please send it to

Werner@bohmeyer.com.

The start up problem is caused by a faulty "start up" injector, which is the 7th injector on the Bosch mechanical type injection. It is controlled via a simple solenoid in the injector. My 264 also required about 5 seconds to fire while the main injector distributor developed pressure. Can also be caused by a faulty pressure return valve (to the fuel tank) since about 70lbs pressure should remain during regular use of the car. They weren't meant to last 30 years!