Away from the Mercedes again, to the Swedish meatball...

Last week, I had an all-too-brief chance to finally get some work done on the 1983 Mercedes. I actually hadn't laid hands on it in nearly six months. It's not that I haven't been busy. After I installed the used engine in 2012, I wasn't able to stop the unexpected leaking. So, this spring I made the decision to replace the Vanagon's head gaskets. As I've never done the job before, it took quite a while to get that done. But, I've been happy with the results.

After that, I had summer to contend with, which included a business trip and a vacation far from home. When I got back, I picked up the 1979 Mercedes parts car, which I spent six weeks or so working on and taking apart. When I was done with that, I had to deal with the unexpected steering rack failure on my wife's daily driver, which led me to decide, ultimately, to replace the car, which is what brings me to where I am now.

The obvious choice would have been another Subaru, but that's not really an option anymore, as far as I'm concerned. My relationship with the Subarus started with my 1994 Legacy L. I bought that car with 204,000 miles on it and drove it (with basic maintenance and a few repairs) for four years and nearly 90,000 miles until I sold it in favor of my (far less reliable) 1990 Volkswagen Jetta diesel (big mistake). Since then, my wife and I have had many Subarus, several of which have been amazingly reliable. However, and this is only anecdotal gut instinct, I think that Subaru may have made some sort of production change in the EJ22 engine. My 1994 Subaru was insanely reliable, and never burned or leaked a drop of oil. Similar story with my wife's 1993 Legacy L and her 1993 EJ18 Impreza.

However, as the first generation cars became scarce, we moved on to the second generation Legacies. My 1995 EJ22 Legacy L burned oil and eventually all but lost compression in cylinder 2. Although I compression tested my replacment 1995 Legacy L Outback (EJ22 again) at time of purchase, cylinder 2 started showing some symptoms this summer. Lately, it's been behaving itself. So, even though the engine and transmission in my wife's 1995 Legacy are healthy, I don't want to take a chance on another unknown Subaru that will be almost guaranteed to have serious rust issues.

So, I did some research and narrowed the list of potential replacement cars to older Toyota Camries (just seeing them on the road around here suggests to me that they don't have as serious rust issues as the Subarus), which are known to be reliable, and on the recommendation of a friend and former Volvo mechanic, old Volvo 850's or S70/V70's. As we like station wagons for their utility, combined with the fact that at this age, there's little if any price penalty for a station wagon, I opted to limit my search to 850 and V70 wagons.

I even considered the Volvos way back in January when I was shopping for a replacement car for my old 1995 Legacy. But, I couldn't find a good one back then. I've been looking for a few weeks, and finally bought THIS:

(it even came with snow tires)

It needs a boatload of maintenance and a few repairs, but looks like a solid base for a daily driver that I should have on the road in a few weeks. THEN, I'll be back to working on the 240D, unless there's another unexpected interruption.

The search is on - new daily driver

My last blog post was around Christmas. To recap, the misfire problem on my 1995 Subaru Legacy (which I thought I'd fixed last Spring with a new cylinder head...) returned in late December. Rather than throw parts at the problem again, I opted to cut straight to the heart of the matter and run another compression test.  My P0302 code was caused by low compression in cylinder 2. Cylinders 1, 3, and 4 tested OK.

More accurately, the low compression was causing (over time) carbon buildup in cylinder 2 that in turn interfered with combustion. I bought some Seafoam spray and fogged the engine through the throttle body. I ended up doing this several times. In the end, I probably ran a can and a half through the engine. Just after Christmas, the wife and I took my car to visit my family (200 mile trip). The Legacy made it there without a hiccup, but the CEL came back on while we were there. Thankfully, it didn't blink - it just went on and stayed lit. I had my scanner with me, and once again - P0302.

We made the return trip a few days later. The car drove OK, but I had a few seconds of blinking. Once we got home, I put a can of Techron in with the next gas fill-up, and once again, cleared the codes. I've been driving the car for over two weeks now, and although for some reason the car isn't yet showing readiness, there are no pending trouble codes, and that's in around 1,000 miles of driving. So, in the end, the Seafoam and Techron cleared out the carbon buildup.

The car is perfectly driveable, and I've always known to keep the oil level in check. But, now that I know for a fact the engine is less than 100%, I think it's time for me to move on. The car still has some life in it - a lot of life, probably. But, I want something a bit more hassle-free for the long distance driving I do.

So, I decided to start looking for a new (to me) car. My first choice, obviously, was another EJ22 Subaru Legacy, or perhaps another EJ18 Subaru Impreza. Of course, it didn't take me long to realize that both are an endangered species at this point. There are very few left in the northeast that aren't overpriced high mileage rustbucket. So, I decided to expand the scope of my search for the first time in years to include other makes and models.

My first instinct was to stick with the Japanese cars. So, I started searching for 1990s-era Hondas (Civic and Accord) and Toyotas (Corolla and Camry). Among them, my top choice was the Camry. I quickly learned that most of the for sale by owner ads for the Japanese cars are run by shady small-time car flippers and dealers posing as private sellers. I've been in that situation before - that's how I ended up with my current Legacy.

I test drove a Camry, but it turned out to be a dealer posing as a private seller, so I walked on principle, even though the car seemed OK at first glance (I had reason to suspect hidden problems). Note to that particular dealer - if you want to describe an interior as "mint," take the duct tape off the dashboard first.

I even (against my better judgement), went to check out a 2000 VW Jetta. But, at $1200, it wouldn't even start for a test drive.

I've been keeping an eye out for Toyotas, but a co-worker actually clued me into another car to keep on my radar - 1990s Volvo 850 and V70 station wagons. I've always liked Volvos, but we haven't had a decent one in the family yet. But, I did some reasonably intense research and liked what I saw. The Volvo shot to the top of my list.

I've test driven 2 850s already. I'm still considering the first one, but the second one had too many problems. I have an appointment to test drive a 1998 V70 also, which is essentially a lightly-updated 850.

Even pushing 200,000 miles, these cars feel about 10X more solid than the Subaru Legacy, have a good reputation for reliability (overall, with some well documented problems and fixes), and most importantly, are well within my price range. For the cost of a rusty Legacy, I can get a much nicer Volvo. So, that's what sold me, and that's what I'm looking for.

Of course, if the right Legacy, Impreza, or Camry comes along at the right price, I'll probably jump on it.