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A friend of mine has a 95 850 man.tran. wagon that will go up for sale as she is doing the Volvo tourist pkg. The timing is good for me to turn in my lease vehicle when her old volvo comes available for sale in August. She is a meticulous person and has taken care of this car.
Another friend (male) says don't buy an old volvo they are too costly to repair. My husband knows I want to try volvo ownership (I have admired the cars forever), but essentially says the same thing. I love volvo's unconventional but durable reputation. What do my male friend and husband know that I don't know? Will I really have to put this car in the shop on an every other month basis? Will it bleed me dry in repairs? I have a hope to keep this car for another 8 years and teach my son to drive it in three years and for it to be his "wheels" in high school. Am I dreaming?
Please advise. :confuse:
Everyone has personal tastes and experiences that can bias their decisions. Ours have been favorable with Volvos, but I have had friends who were less fortunate. I have a 2006 XC90, and we bought a 96 850 for my son specifically because we knew they were durable, safe, and have had positive experience with an 82 and 87 240 in the past.
Regarding repairs, they all seem to cost about the same now between parts and shop rates. Again, it comes down to the overall reliability of the car you're interested in. Much of the maintenance and basic repairs can be done by the owner if you buy a Chilton's or Haynes manual and you're relatively handy.
Finally, they can't be beat as cars for teen drivers. Not very glamorous, but they do a wonderful job of protecting their cargo. My wife and son have both had accidents in Volvos -- a rear ender on the 82 and low speed head-on in the 850. Both Volvos fared (much!) better than the competition, and were still drivable afterwards, though needing repairs. We trust them, but it's still important to find one with a good history.
Hope that helps.
Any advice out there? The volvo is obviously a much safer car but how many more miles can we expect to get out of it? She is moving to Fargo, ND in August.
Good luck.
I'm all ears! On my previous '98 V70, I got a similar shudder, but it was very infrequent, and it never persisted to engine shutdown. Portland (ME) Volvo said it was probably the MAF sensor($350 + labor), so I'm leaning toward that in this case. I'd like to make sure before I dump more money into this car. I have recently replaced plugs, rotor, dist. cap, and ignition module/coil. Mayday, mayday, mayday!
I did learn that Volvo had a TSB which called for removing the PCV Flame trap (mine was missing), but it had been superceded by a newer TSB which called for re-installing the flame trap. It's good to ask questions at the dealership.
I sent the module to Victor Rocha (website below) after reading a testimonial and also checking another similar website. He tested, repaired, and returned the unit in about a week - very professional. I have been driving the 855 for about 2 weeks and all seems "good". Cost about $140 and 1 hour to remove/reinstall.
http://home.earthlink.net/~vicrocha/
That site has the most 850/70 info I've seen on the web. Sharp people.
The car has 96,000 original miles on it and has been maintained very well. The current oil is Penzoil full synthetic 10W30.
Can anybody offer suggestion as to where to begin? Is this a known problem with this engine? Any info will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
David.
This is the best auto I have ever owned, think I will be buried in it. ha
We have a 94 850 wagon and the same thing happened...... quite by accident my son discovered that if you rotate the ignition key back slightly all the electric that was disabled will work again. This leads me to believe that we need a new ignition switch but we choose to just live with the quirk. Good luck, Andy
Now being in this forum, I know I will be understood. I love this car, I searched for 10 years for a good example with no apparent problems for a low price, and this car was it. I am not about to give up on it so fast. I can't afford to pay $2,000 to fix it (which is what I paid for the car). Plus I have been told that once I fix the head gasket, I will probably have to do work on the heads, and/or the rest of the engine could go too, since it is almost impossible to get out all of the coolant once it has seeped in.
SO I need to know:
1) Are all of these things true?
2) Is there any way for me to know for sure how bad the damage is?
3) Is there any other solution other than replacing the engine?
4) Is it worth doing a compression test?
5) Has anyone here repaired this by themselves? Is it realistically possible for a home mechanic to do it?
Please help!
I have a 97 850 Turbo with about 98k and noticed the same thing. Thinking I had a bad head gasket, I had it towed to the dealer (I trust my dealer). The mechanic did all the testing and informed me there was nothing wrong with the motor. He did suggest that I replace the dip stick. I thought this was too easy, but did recall quite a bit of wet weather preceding the sludge on the stick.
I was going to replace the o-rings only, but went for the new factory dipstick.
Problem went away. 6 months later, no sludge.
I did change the oil after replacing the dipstick as a precaution.
Good luck, hope yours is as good as mine.
Sorry for the delayed response. After reading your post I allowed myself to believe that my car would be the same as yours - and it was!
The delay was cleaning out my garage so I could set up a shop for myself. I fully intended to do whatever was necessary to fix the problem. I started by doing the oil change, checking very carefully for any coolant or more sludge in the oil. There was none. I added the new oil, and - voila! No more sludge. Problem gone! Now 3 months later, still clean as a whistle. I just told my mechanic (who I also trust) about it and he was speechless. He has been in the business 40 years, has worked on thousands of Volvos, and has never heard of it.
Thanks so much for saving my wallet and my car!
I am considering buying this car with 210k. It's loaded so not sure if it's a GLT or not. Definitely not a turbo. It had its 150k service and timing belt. I know that they recommend the belts be changed every 75k. My question is: will the belt breaking during operation wreck the valves on this model? Also, I've heard that the tranny's on these could be problematic, as well as the headgaskets. It appears that these are still original but working fine. Should I worry about these two issues also?
Thanks for writing back-
Saw this piece
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15952&postdays=0&postord- er=asc&start=0
Not sure if it applies.
Sad to say my problem with the sludge has returned. Still, no signs of damage to the engine - no clicking from the engine or white smoke, no leaks, no loss of coolant or heat, but the whole dipstick tube is full of the sludge. When you said you replaced the dipstick, did you mean just the actual stick, or the dipstick tube as well?
Thanks for the help.
Sorry for the late response...
I only replaced the dipstick.
Prior to that, the mechanic did a check (compression?) and he informed me that the head gasket was OK and was not the cause of the sludge.
Best of luck.
Other than the obvious maintanence requirements, is there anything I need to keep in mind that might be unique to a Volvo?
Thanks for kind responses,
OUS