1989 Volvo 760 Turbo intercooled from North America - Comments

The secondary Fuel pump failed.

The muffler came off.

Whenever I drive this car I always find myself giving it a pat in the dash because it impresses me so much. It's a very reliable car, I mean the fuel pump broke, I fixed it and the car has been going ever since. I bought this car from an old man who had died, and he had taken phenomenal care of this car. I mean it's basically in like new condition. It has a nice way of going about bussiness. Real light and easy. The motor isn't beautiful sounding, it's just this very quiet, peaceful relaxed four, that just steadily hums. And then I turn on the stereo and I groove. I mean this car has an amazing radio. Six speakers, very well engineered. The motor is very nice and efficient. It's a 2.3 liter four with a cast iron block and a aluminum single over head cam head with 2 valves per cylinder. The cast iron block is tough and quiet. The cam is timed by a belt which is very quiet and has to be replaced every 50,000 miles or else it may break and then the valves will hit the cylinder resulting in catastrophic engine failer. But apperently if you change the belt every 50,000 miles the engine will run very long reliably and efficiently. The turbo is a real upgrade. It makes more power, lower down, uses less fuel, makes less noise, and has lower emissions. I mean my car with an automatic goes 25mpg city 30mpg open road. The motor has a bosch fuel injection system turbo with intercooler, and behind the turbo there is a catalytic converter and two mufflers run one after another. So very quiet and clean and efficient. The motor makes 160hp at 5800rpm, and 180 foot pound of torque at 2800rpm. So it a very broad power curve, and it has a very smart way of casually making speed in real everyday situations. It never strains. It really kewl you hear this little four cylinder motor, but this big car is really getting going. SHHHHHH and it's gone. The brakes are the strongest aspect of this car performance. There's vented disk in the front and solid disk in the rear clamped down by dual piston floating calipers controled by a Bosch power anti lock brakes. This car makes a 7 on my performance scale because of it's abilty to accelerate and hold speed to the last second and stop very quickly. It only get's a seven because of it's poor handling. It's really not a very agile car. It;s smooth, but it's kinda an old foag in the tight corner. However it has extemely precise and wonderful power steering and it is really good in high speed corner out on the open road. It a unique and good looking car with a wonderful interior, that's very warm and stylish. It's certainly the nicest car I've ever owned, although I would say the best would be a volkwagen and the most relaible would be a honda. But the bug isn;t as nice and the honda isn't as well built as the Volvo. The automatic transmission is the classic tough american hydromatic transmission. It's got a very quick shift, that works best under power. Unfortunately it doesn;t have a torque converter lock up like on a mercedes benz. So the fact that this car get's 30mpg on the open road is really a testement to the efficiency of a small turbocharged motor. Also this car weigh on 3200 pounds despite being a full size car, which means it was very efficiently constructedr because it's such a large car. A new Porsche or Mercedes weigh 3200 lbs. Power everything. The only way in which this car is lacking is it doesn't have a diesel and runs on gasoline. Apperently volkswagen made a diesel for this car, but apperently it didn't work out very well. So I had to by a volkwagen Rabbit with a diesel and converted it. I hardly drive the volvo anymore so that I don't use fossile fuels. But I'm not going to sell my Volvo it's been such a good car, and it's never let me down, so I'm looking at swapping a diesel into it. So ya who wouldn;t be happy with a volvo?

"But I'm not going to sell my Volvo it's been such a good car, and it's never let me down, so I'm looking at swapping a diesel into it."

NO, NO, NO!!! If you really want to ruin it, that's how!!!

I agree whole-heartedly...diesel shmeazle!!!

It is'nt even that much cheaper anymore!!!

Your car sounds nice the way it is... I love my 89 760 GLE too.

Don't mess with it!

We've crossed the 50% mark. 2010 will be when oil will be unafforadable. I'm also looking at other higher quality diesels like the elsbett diesel. I could get 90mpg with that motor. www.elsbett.com I'd have to get a modified bellhousing, and modify the motor mounts, put in an electric heater. But it is designed to run on str8 veggie oil. Maybe buy a new volvo diesel. Volvo makes great diesels, diesels that are supercharged off the line until their turbo spools up.

This engine is a non-interference design. Breaking the timing belt won't damage anything inside the engine.

I want to comment about the reliability of the 1989 Volvo 760! I recently bought a used Volvo 7670 with 258,000 miles on it. I was amazed to take the car to a mechanic and be told that since this car is well maintained then it is only a baby. I paid $ 1,500.00 for the car loaded with all of the bells and whistles and feel I got a steal. I feel safe, happy, and smart driving this car. Volvo hit a home run with this car.

I bought this car about three months ago after my Dodge got a transmission problem.

What a great car to drive. I probably drive 200 km a day, leave home at 7:00 am and get home at 6:00 pm, and just getting into this car and driving it to and from work for three hours a day is probably the best part of my day.

Sunroof motor seized up, so I brought it to my shop and they managed to get into a closed position, and the windshield washer pumps don't seem to work. I'll get that fixed, with a motor savvy uncle, a shop manual, and a part of Ebay.

This car has weird harmonics. When it vibrates at certain frequencies some parts of the car seem to shake with it. It reacts the same way when the stereo is played loud.

Still, I enjoy driving this car. I got it up to 190 km on my way to Calgary and the only thing that bothered me was the wind noise.