We now have 4, 740's... well we will next Saturday when we pick up our newest addition a 1989 740 GL with an m47. It's a local Calgary car with 225K that Paul knows (the one with the worn through harness). It drove really nice and is very clean with just a bit of surface rust on the rear drivers wheel well and the battery tray. Mechanically it drove and felt very solid, much better than the 90 wagon with 280K. A near new set of all season tires sealed the deal. Cosmetically it's Ok but not great with some less than stellar paint work in days gone by and a busted up tail light. However while we were in town to test drive we also picked up the 14" rims off of Doug who was kind enough to donate a drivers tail... Thanks Doug!!

This is the car I have been looking for to get daughter #2 in to a manual Volvo and I think it should fit the bill nicely. Now I need to get the V70 sold as well as my truck (ad to come soonish...) as seven vehicles is getting out of hand

why are you selling the v70?

need $$$

fair nuff.

Well we got the car home on the weekend and all went well, sort of... The car drives, shifts, brakes great and was a comfortable drive home. However, noticed that the starter is growling now and I just don't remember it doing that when we test drove it, although in hindsight we only started it once and took it out for a lengthy test drive.

After doing some research I am starting to see the potential big problem this could indicate re: worn flywheel teeth. Before anyone says it I'll say it first, I AM A DUMBASS for not having a PPI done before buying. In hindsight I looked the car over carefully, took a long test drive and thought that getting the PPI wasn't worth bothering with on a $800 car... WRONG.

I am going to pull it in to the garage and pull the starter hoping maybe it's just loose bolts and that it hasn't damaged the flywheel. Not sure what to look for on the flywheel inspection as I haven't done this before. Any thoughts or words of wisdom, other than you're a DUMBASS.

In all my years of being a mechanic I have only seen 2 flywheels where the ring gear is worn or damaged to a point it needed replacing, so I would not worry too much.

I think you will find the problem is either a poor ground or power to ther starter (do a quick voltage drop test before you remove it), or the most likely problem is the starter itself.

Plus I don't think any PPI would look at the condition of the flywheel- at most you'd get "starter noisy" or something like that.

Thanks guys, that makes me feel allot better. I guess the PPI would have at least given a heads up to the fact that there was an issue and that it could be more of a problem. Lesson learned is to do at least a few starts cold and hot and look for slow/noisy starter etc.

It's only a starter in an $800 car...don't worry about that - it's just regular maintenance.

last year when I had to have my transmission reals replaced they pulled the transmission of and gave me a call almost immediately because my ring gear was so badly worn that the starter could only grab it in a few places. and from what they told me it didn't seem like it was all that uncommon.

Yeah I'm Ok with it from that perspective, was just bummed about the potential ring gear replacement but Ian has put my mind at ease.



hmmm.... I'll go with Ian's prognosis.

I cannot comment on this situation but did you actually see your ring gear?
Once the trany is out this would be an easy and fast $$$ for the shop.

I stand by my comment
It is easy to check the ring gear when the starter is removed, the leading edge of the teeth may be slightly worn but this will not effect full engagement

I know alot of people on here may not be fans of Mr.Volvo but they do a great thorough job. when I went to pick up the car they had put the ring gear on plastic in the trunk so I could see what they were talking about. and ya it was bad it almost looked like there were a few teeth missing. and after that there was no more screeching or whining when I would start the car.

Mr. Volvo does a horrible job 90% of the time. Sometimes outright LYING to their customers.

Maybe they just shimmed your starter for you? and had a bad ring gear laying around.

They told my friend with a 1980 240 DL Automatic that they were going to replace the transmission, they just added transmission oil and CHARGED HIM FOR A TRANSMISSION SWAP. I looked underneath, the bolts on transmission to bellhousing to block, none were touched, and transmission showed no signs of having been touched, at all, covered in road grime in same way as everything else under car.

We went back and got them to confess, got him a partial refund, that's not all we got, we got a nice threat of bodily harm if we were to come back.

Thanks Mr. Volvo, or should I say, Mr. Asshole.


By the way, praytell what "reals" were they replacing in your M4x?

I find 89 and later starters just go out once in a while.

I've also seen ignition switches be flakey causing the starter to go out in the first place in a 700 of 87-92 vintage a fair bit. That is a tough one to diagnose and catch. Basically, the thing sticks or holds the starter too long even once the key is obviously turned backward...one did it all the time and was on a 940SE/960 car. For anyone wondering, the ignition switch or tumbler on a 91-92 960 with the special keys is a PIA to get to and goes out a fair bit with high miles. Can't really say I enjoy doing an ign switch on a regular 740 either though. Another car just had an intermittent bug where then starter would stick on...it was actually mom's 90 744 that did that. Odd somewhat uncommon ign switch failure I thought. I wonder if in the temperature change from moving regions or if someone had a heavy key chain that wore something else out on that car...it needed an ignition switch at 95K miles and had a brand new starter with the volvo tag on it I suspect possibly from the ignition switch sticking and messing up the starter. The flywheel was fine when I had it out to do a clutch, however.


I have only replaced one or two flywheel/flexplate for worn teeth in a lot of 1/2/7/9 series redblocks. On those cars, there was some other underlying cause like an ignition switch fault or horribly chewed up starter teeth on the starter first from something abusive or wrong. I think I can say with pretty good confidence that I've never replaced a ring gear on any redblock volvo because the ring gear was just worn out.


Without seeing the car, I'd echo what Craig said. More likely than not you will get to deal with a starter or wiring/switch fault on an $800 car. Probably not a big deal if it isn't badly beat down otherwise. I'd use an early starter...more durable and better on a DD or car with a questionable battery. For a car where saving the extra weight is an issue, not so much. For a daily beater, I say big starter all the way.