1987 Volvo 740 GLE review from North America

This car was abused by a *prior owner* so the engine failed at 150,000 and the trans at 160,000 (fluids were neglected for about 40,000 miles, I would guess). I put in a salvage yard engine and have had no serious problems since ; and a new trans.

Here is the stuff I've fixed:

exhaust sytem from cat back. Cat failed at 192,000 (not too bad).

Dash sorta caved in - I put a dash cap on.

Instriment cluster occassionally quits, but can be revived with tapping on plastic in front of cluster.

Trunk shocks, of course.

Seat heaters are gone.

A/C is out.

Radio amp failed, it was replaced.

Rear speakers crackle.

Footwell have rusted - fixed with fiberglass. (Probably due to cracked plastic inspection covers).

My interior black plastic is crumbling all over. I usually just cut off what is cracked.

Replaced plastic radiator with metal.

There is a plastic valve that I believe conducts radiator to heater core - valve cracked. Cheap plastic again.

AS you can tell, most of the problem come from the cheapo plastic in unexpected places. But these defect can't really kill this car. My exterior looks pretty good and car runs great.