My beautiful 340!

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Dan91
Posts: 121
Joined: 30 May 2011 12:30 am

My beautiful 340!

Post by Dan91 » 13 Dec 2014 04:45 pm

For sale is my much loved 1988 Volvo 340 GLE. It took me over a year to find this, after stupidly selling my first one back when i was 17. And it's breaking my heart selling this, but the Boss says its not practical and unfortunately i love my job more than the Volvo :(
If i could get a garage/store it somewhere i would, but it's not happening, i've been putting this ad off for too long.. but here it goes.

Being a GLE It is top of the range, it has everything, Heated leather, central locking, power windows, 7 dial gauge, sunroof, etc etc.

Everything works, this car is brilliant bar a few minor points which i will explain further down.

It is 100% original, only thing i have changed is CD player but i have the original unmolested tape deck ready to go back in!

It has just ticked over 30k Miles from new, this is backed up by MOT's/History, I bought it on 26K and used it for the past 5/6 Months or so, before me it has had one owner from new.

It was originally bought in Bath, has original dealer plates/tax disc/rear window sticker, it spent nearly it's whole life there until i bought it, the chap passed away and his son had it sat in the garage for almost 2 years before selling it.

When i got it, it was given a damn good clean and put in for an MOT, it passed first time no problem at all, at that point i taxed it and enjoyed it :)

Reason for sale is it's not practical for my work, i currently used it a few days a week when a work vehicle wasn't available and i don't want to put the amount of mileage i do on it so I'm after a nice comfy diesel or something.

It is currently not being used due to the issue i will explain further down. Also just to say, this is not because it cant be used, it can be driven fine.



Ok so firstly, i am being completely honest with this advert, i will not mislead anyone.

It was idling badly after i'd driven it for a few thousand miles, so i took the carp off and the base was warped, which is common on these solex carbs, i gave the carb to a friend who's a engineer/fabricator, he skimmed it and made it flat again, pictures of this will be down below, he also re-tapped one of the carb bolt holes as the thread had stripped.
After it was level'd out i bought a rebuild kit, put it all back together and mounted it up, it ran nicely, really nicely, then it got to the cold mornings, and the choke is not working as it should be, It cuts out on full choke but works otherwise? I'm unsure as to why
I also beleive there is still a small air leak somewhere as the idle/mixture doesn't adjust as it should.

Worth noting that when its been sat idling and it's warm, it drives fine bar a slightly higher than normal idle/sometimes cuts out if you dip the clutch approaching a junction in a high gear.

Saying all that, it could just be me, I'm not experienced, I'm a good DIY home mechanic but by no means a genius, i put it back together and it ran great, now the colds hit it's not as nice as it was. It still drives/works fine but these small issues are there
If you have the knowledge/ability I'm confident it's an easy fix, i can 100% rule out the base having an air leak, it was sorted properly and has been tested since by spray carb cleaner around it when running, no leak there.

Only other bad points on the car is a tiny scab on the roof by the sunroof, covered in rust protector so will not get worse, maybe the size of a 2p coin.
A dent in the drivers side wing at the front - This was caused by me :( When i was working on it i leaned on it funny. However no paint is damaged and would be an easy fix for somebody in the know/one of those call out dent guys.

Other than this, the car is immaculate and perfect in every way, it's really a great car.

There are others about, in similair condition, but i haven't seen a top spec GLE in a very long time.

There are/were two on eBay recently with slightly higher mileage in almost the same condition going for between £1500-1700. They had standard cloth seats etc.

I'm asking £1500 for it, this is taking into consideration that you either spend a few hours or chuck a little bit of money at somebody to sort the small carb issues/dent. Then you'll have possibly one of the best 340's left in existence
Again i appreciate there's a fair few nice low mileage ones, but GLE's with full heater leather etc are rare!

The only p/x id be interested in is something i can waft around in eating up the miles in comfort, i was looking at Hilux Surfs/Volvo S60's that sort of thing, feel free to offer ill consider it.

I'm located in Holt, Wiltshire. Or the car can be at my work in Calne if that's easier.

Anyone is more than welcome to come and inspect it/have a chat about it.

Tax runs out this month but obviously new laws etc etc.
MOT Is i beleive around August 2015. I will check when I'm at work, the documents in the car.
Has old MOT's/Partial service history, all the fluids, spark plugs, dizzy, HT's, filters were changed before i started driving it as it had been sat, it's done roughly 4k since then, so ok for now but oil change in the next 1k miles or so would be ideal!


Lastly, i want this to go to somebody who will use it/care about it. I'm not going to sell it to somebody who plans to drift it, This is too nice to strip/destroy!

If i have missed anything let me know, i will answer asap! You can message me on here or text me on 07564046341 (I very rarely answers calls, i don't often answer from numbers i don't know)



Anyhow, pictures! Phone quality, sorry.

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Pictures of the warped base fix, in stages until it was completely level.

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Dan91
Posts: 121
Joined: 30 May 2011 12:30 am

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by Dan91 » 18 Dec 2014 12:51 am

I am of course open to offers providing they are sensible.

Dan91
Posts: 121
Joined: 30 May 2011 12:30 am

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by Dan91 » 24 Dec 2014 10:24 pm

Going to be taking a look at it sometime in the next week see if i can set it up properly/sort the niggles, still need it sold unfortunately :( I cant keep it anymore.

Dan91
Posts: 121
Joined: 30 May 2011 12:30 am

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by Dan91 » 02 Jan 2015 04:00 pm

No longer for sale, Going to stick with it despite how much it gives me a headache, going to pick up a cheap runner for work and just fix this, i love it too much to let it go despite it hating me :D

volvopandy
Posts: 29
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 02:45 am
Location: Coventry

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by volvopandy » 09 Jan 2015 02:10 am

Just wanted to say what a beautiful car Dan. Good luck with it. Volvopandy

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trabitom99
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 4398
Joined: 06 Jan 2007 02:38 pm
Location: Bonn, Germany

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by trabitom99 » 12 Jan 2015 04:06 pm

Glad you're sticking with it :-) Keep us updated with your progress, fingers crossed!

Tom
343 GL Touring B14.1E CVT (155) 98000kms 1980 (sold)
343 L Junior B14.3E MT4 (155) 229000kms 1981 (scrapped)
343 DLS B19A MT4 (155) 167900kms 1982
360 GL Injection B200F MT5 (231) 348598kms 1988 (scrapped)
360 GLT B200F MT5 (302) 230000kms 1988

Dan91
Posts: 121
Joined: 30 May 2011 12:30 am

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by Dan91 » 12 Jan 2015 08:03 pm

Thanks for the replys chaps, a thread will be going up soon :)

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srtames
Posts: 91
Joined: 21 Jan 2005 03:37 pm
Location: Reading,england

Re: My beautiful 340!

Post by srtames » 03 Aug 2015 07:12 pm

hello , your idle problem may be the idle solenoid/jet. They can stick easily but can be bypassed by cutting the plunger short by 1/8in Must be one of the lowest mileage ones in existence persevere as mine was like that when I bought it but a 340 mechanic Jim Poolman in Hampshire fixed it in 10 minutes. good luck, Steve
1989 340DL,1397
1979 CapriGL ,1593

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