I apologize if this is in the wrong section, but I wasn't sure where else to put it...
There is an 85 Volvo 745 GLE that I'm considering buying. It has 282,000 miles and the guy is the second owner. He claims the owner before him maintained it "impeccably", although I have no idea how accurate that claim is. He's had it about five years and says in that time he's replaced one ball joint, front suspension bushings, overdrive solenoid (4-speed manual with electronic overdrive), glow plugs, and alternator brushes. Has a small power steering leak but he says it only leaks when it sits, which it does quite a bit now.
When I looked at the car he said it had been sitting for a couple weeks, and when I went to start it the engine fired after about a half turn of the starter. It had a little upper end clatter (maybe from unadjusted valves?), but it ran very well. I took it for a drive and it rode very nicely considering the tires were pretty awful, and the power seemed pretty darn good, A LOT better than I expected. It shifted with no problems and the overdrive worked perfectly as long as the shift knob didn't pull off the shifter, which it did very easily and often, but it was easy enough to push back on. After I finished my fairly lengthy drive (took it through town and the highway), I popped the hood again and took another look/listen. It still sounded great, but there was some blowby coming out of the breather. It didn't seem like a lot, but it was there and was noticeable.
The body was straight but was getting a bit rusty around the edges, especially around trim. The underside was a bit rough, to the point where the car might not last too many more years. It was also set up to run on veggie oil, and the system looked ok, although I don't know a whole lot about those systems.
I guess my question is, with 282,000 miles and being a bit rough on the outside (the inside was actually pretty decent for being 25 years old), is this something I should stay away from? I had a 1st gen Cummins powered Dodge at one time and want another diesel in the worst way, but I'm admittedly a little scared of this one since I don't know a whole lot about it and there is, of course, the negative info on the net about the D24T, which I'm not sure how accurate it is since Americans in general tend to be quite ignorant and hateful towards diesels.
Anyway, any opinions? It looks like I can get it for somewhere in the vicinity of $1200 and $1500, which again, I'm a little hesitant to throw at that old of a car with that many miles with a fairly rough body.
Thanks in advance!
