Sadly the time has come to sell our beloved Volvo 340. This is the first time I’ve ever just been sad to see a car go – but we’ve now got 3 and only a 2 car garage. And tbh he’s not going to get used enough. I’ve actually put him up for sale on the Volvo300 forum, but it occurred to me one of you guys might be interested…
He’s a 1989 340 GL Variomatic. Recently serviced and with a fairly complete service book/history. Invoices for all services since we purchased him, and stamped service book up to around 65k. Always serviced at Volvo or Volvo specialists.
Lots of work over the past few years including 4 tyres, exhaust, replacement vario controller, replacement ignition unit, two good (second hand) replacement front struts, new radiator, rear flexi-brake hose, rear brake cylinders, battery and water pump. Last month the carburettor was stripped, cleaned and a carb rebuild kit fitted – we’d just covered 1300 miles on a tour of France and the car wasn’t idling very well (but otherwise performed flawelessly, flying down to the South of France, into the Alps and back). The carburettor was full of crud, it seems, having cleaned it the car has been returned to running well.
He’s covered 105,000 miles (or as Volvo put it – he’s about run in).
Bad points:
– Front valance fairly lacey on the bottom edge
– Seat heaters don’t work
– Rear wash doesn’t work (wipe does) – probably just wants the pipes flushing through
– Heated rear windscreen only works intermittently – suspect wiring to the tailgate, but not really explored
– Power button on the radio is very finicky (not an original Volvo radio) (but powers on with ignition, so we just hit mute if we want it off)
– The clip that retains the heater hot/cold cable is missing it’s retaining clip (adjusting the heater is done via the valve in the engine compartment – we just never got around to replacing the clip)
– Idle’s still a little uneven
– Can be a bit finicky to restart when very hot (but has only not started once, and that was with a 5 year old battery)
– When the fuel tank is completely filled there’s a smell of petrol. We just never fill it right up – the garage couldn’t find any leaks.
– The clock only works intermittently
– Indicators don’t self-cancel
Good Points:
– Very reliable
– Ace car that’s served us well for 40k miles.
– It’s a Variomatic! They’re brilliant!
– MOT’d (Mid August) / Taxed (End August) – Passed the last MOT with [b]no[/b] advisories. Count ’em, none, not-a-one :)
Anyway, without further ado, the star of the show:
The only bits of welding:
Front Valance & rust spot on driver’s sill:
Underside:
Interior:
Some of the service history & Docs:
So I finally got around to getting some shots of Chester – sorry for the delay. Sensible offers welcome, he’s a good reliable car (around £300 feels right to me). I think I’ve caught most of the flaws in the description but at 24 years old I’m not swearing to have remembered every minor little problem. But I’d much rather be honest and have a happy sale than someone wasting their time turning up to see something that’s not what they’re expecting (I’ve turned up to see complete sheds before, it’s very depressing). I reckon for a well used 24 year old car he’s in pretty good shape…
Sold… to the first punter :)
