Possible Problems With A Lovely S40 For Sale...

[captainscience]

Hi, and thanks in advance for your thoughts about my question. FYI, I've cross-posted this question to a couple of other Volvo forums so I hope that's not in violation of any rules.

I've never owned a volvo but I'm in the market for a car and I found a beauty on Craigslist - a 2005 s40 for only $6000. The car has 78,000 miles on it and it looks as good as it should. But it has a rather strange history and a long list of problems.

I'm an experienced mechanic but I don't have a shop to work in and I only have time to do minor repairs/troubleshooting (e.g. I don't want to pull the engine or disassemble the head or anything like that). I've done a few engine swaps but I mostly work on aircraft and I know nothing about Volvos. For this car, I'm fine with replacing accessories and troubleshooting sensors and electrical problems if that's all it needs.

So my question is, based on the list of problems below, is there anything here that indicates that this car might need a new engine, trans, or some other expensive, labor-intensive repair?

Here's the list of problems and red flags:

1. The car was involved in an accident a few years ago. Left front was damaged and the air bag went off. The body repairs were clearly done by a pro and everything lines up very nicely.
2. Air bag "caution" indicator is on with a message saying "urgent maintenance needed" or something like that.
3. Left and right back seat belts are missing (they've been carefully removed for some odd reason).
4. The engine takes longer than it should to rev when I goose the throttle.
5. The A/C blows lukewarm.
6. The ECU shows the following faults:

Fault log report generated by Torque for Android

=================================================

Vehicle VIN: YV1MS390352105962

Vehicle Manufacturer: Volvo

Vehicle Calibration ID: 0030785187 AA

0030729523

A

Current Fault Log

------------------

U0400: null

U0001: null

P2420: Evaporative Emission System Switching Valve Control Circuit High

P2401: Evaporative Emission System Leak Detect Pump Control Circuit Low

P0075: Intake Valve Control Solenoid Circuit (Bank 1)

P0458: null

P0100: Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit

P0600: Serial Communication Link

Pending Fault Log

------------------

ECU reports no pending faults

Historic Fault Log

------------------

ECU reports no historic faults

Other discovered fault codes

(possibly pending, current or manufacturer specific)

----------------------------------------------------

P0531: A/C Refrigerant Pressure Sensor Circuit Range/Performance

C27C4: null

P0575: Cruise Control Input Circuit

P0124: Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch A Circuit Intermittent

C3524: null

P0006: null

End of report.

Here's the carfax if you're interested: http://www.carfax.com/viewEmailReport.do?a=vZ7EHmdvCFVwn6IDwmns9MwyPUNChhXYHDs1yPbhHzncU3xPPmzKZw%3D%3D&language=en

Thank you very much for your time!

[sjmcarz]

Personally, I would stay away from this car. Too many unknowns going on from the accident. It appears that the current owner drove it only a few thousand miles and then decided to unload it probably due to issues that they couldn't fix. Find one with a better history with less issues, plain and simple.