Good Morning Everyone;

I am contemplating a "New" car for my wife, and the 850 has fallen onto the "Radar".

Are there better years or models to consider? I would really like to find her a wagon What are the usual repair items? Pitfalls? Cost of maintainence? Overall owner comments, suggestions, or opinions?

I am not a Volvo "Newbie" as I have had a 765t, and am on my second 245, I just wanted to consider something different for the wife, and would be doing all the maintainence myself.

Are there any good maintainence manuals for the 850?

Thank you all in advance for the generous gift of your time.

Mark
1989 245,. 138,000 currently being "Reconditioned" (Newly aquired), and two others retired.....

One more thing: find out when the timing belt was replaced last and if they don't know, replace it immediately. The 5 clyn. engine will be destroyed if that thing snaps while the engine is running! It can be expensive to fix, if you are slightly mechanical VOlvospeed has instructions for DIY but I was not up to the job, cost me $400.

Don't assume that if the car looks great that someone took care of the inside. THe owners of my car apparently thought keeping upholstery perfect was important but taking it for regular maintenance was not.

Definitly check for oil leaks (often a sign of other neglected points), if they shampooed the engine recently you may want to put a piece of cardboard under the car and wait a few hours to check for drips. Look at the place they park it regularly if possible. Walk away if there are leaks - expensive to fix and probably a sign that other things were neglected.

Check the brakes, check for codes in the engine that indicate problems waiting to rear their head such as failure of PNP and O2 sensor - common.

I wish I knew all this when I was looking for an 850 I would have gotten a better deal!

I have a '95 855 N/A 5spd that we bought 4 years ago to accomodate our 3rd child and I love it, it has been an awesome car. The 5spd makes a big difference it is bullet proof. Mine has about 197k bought it with 96,400 on it and I am pretty sure the clutch is original and still going strong I even live down a very steep hill and the old girl gets up it just fine no matter the weather. Some repairs are a bit pricey but it's a nice car. Have previously owned over 20 VW jettas and golfs none of them made it this long with out replacing the starter, alternator, radiator, tie rods etc... Just make sure you never let anyone put your wheels on with an impact gun, must be done with a torque wrench to prevent warping the rotors which is maddening. Good luck.
Shelly
'95 855 197,000 bilstein/TME suspension

Marko1

There will be bad ones out there when buying an 850 but that is the same for any car so dont believe all that people say.

I bought a 1996 850 T5 with 93K on the clock, it had no service history and the engine oil looked like it hadnt been changed for years, i used what little knowlege i knew about them and it seem mechanically fine apart from needing a service. My friends with me said dont buy it Vince its a dog, but i knew better. I drove it straight to my mechanic who gave it the all clear!!! (knew i was right)and ive done a further 12K miles in 6 months in all weathers and the car's not missed a beat. The car is now tip top and drives and looks fantastic.

These cars although they are Volvo's first attempt as FWD are great and cheap to fix as long as you find a Volvo breakers yard to supply you with any expensive bits you might need (broken glovebox latches etc). I researched these alot on OZBRICK website before buying one and managed to avoid a bad one by using what i learned. look on this site its only about 850's

First of all id get a standard 850 T5, the reason being is they dont have a flame trap so thats one less thing to worry about, and they have a turbo, the performance and driveability of the T5 is great and will impress you no end.
I stopped off at an independant Volvo specialist whilst contemplating one and asked "Do you get many T5's in with problems?" they replied "we've had 2 in i think........in 12 years!!!! and they were ex police cars" that sold it for me and i bought one and wouldnt sell it for any other car.

THINGS TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION AND CHECK

They eat front tyres due to the suspension / steering geometry this cant be fixed, I live with it. tyres wear out on the outer edges so dont be put off thinking its something serious its a design fault from the factory

Check underneath the front of the engine for signs of oil leaks, they blow rear main oil seals which involves seperating the engine and gearbox to fit a new one, (this is probably the biggest "common" job you may have to do) but its not staggeringly expensive to fix. a bit less than a head gasket job id say. if its leaking oil underneath walk away there are plenty more in the sea.....A rule of thumb in the 850 world is to only fill oil up to half way up the dipstick, this keeps oil pressure down and avoids blow seals.

Check the brakes work .These are cheap to replace and very easy to do so if they are worn its no big deal. ABS modules though are not cheap though and are a common fault, though the abs warning light will come on if its bust.
To check the owner hasnt disconnected a bulb to hide the problem turn the ignition on, the ABS light should come on and be the last to go out. it should not stay on.

Check all the electrics work including the aircon if it has it. Air con is prone to failing and is expensive to fix. £300 approx

Check the bodywork and look for signs of accident damage. "Tip" Volvo front wings (fenders) have Volvo stamped on them near the front ends. So if they dont have these they been changed.

They do have an on board computer which tells you all sorts of things so you cant hide faults. If you find a car ask if the owner minds you getting the fault codes read. you can ask a Volvo dealer to do this and it takes them about 10 minutes. if they refuse are they hiding something ?????

The only thing i would worry about when checking them is the oil leak under the engine. if the car is straight and its been looked after then you could do alot worse.....they are also cheap on insurance too due to the safety aspects of the car and the standard Volvo security fitted to the vehicle.

I tried to break into my glovebox when the latch broke, it took me 20 minutes with a crowbar and hacksaw to open and took the skin off my fingers in the process. Who makes cars so indestructible nowadays ????? Volvo thats who


:) Vince

850 T5 1996 105K on the clock.

I currently have a 95 850 with 225k miles on it (ok so it has gone a long time but...) I would trade it in a second for my old 87 740 turbo wagon which never had a real problem - but was totalled by a drunk driver. THe 850 has beena real money pit lately and doesn't seem put together like the older models are. This one has left me stranded 3 times although I try to keep my car well maintained.

1 or 2 owner with all records is also key - my 740 had that but current car was sold 4 times and had no records - apparently because no one ever did anything with it! Now i am paying for the fact that no one cleaned the flame trap, changed the trans fluid etc.

That's fairly typical, tina - esp. for European cars. Most people will tell you the 123 Mercedes was the last 'built for 30 years' car. IOW, the car would last 30 years or about 300,000m or more.

FWD also has it's pluses. On icy roads, nothing compares. Even 4WD can be a PITA unless it's a top-notch system. Unfortunately FWD also has it's downsides, like being a maintenance nightmare, and the fact that Volvo is still using what really amounts to it's first experience in FWD in current cars.

I agree with the prior poster. I got mine with a trans problem. Tomorrow I get her back from the shop, sans $3000 of my money. Not bitter really, hell - it WENT 108K with the factory fluid, when it wasn't designed to do that. Pretty good, actually.

AN AC should last you 14 years or so, on average. With the 850's, look for one with a pollen filter as stock and then see if you can find out if it's actually been changed from time to time. This will greatly save you in the end, as it prolongs the evaporator's life.

The 855 (wagon) tends to have that interior door panel (rear) come loose. Cheap to fix yourself, but time-consuming and annoying when it's rattling. Sounds like someone typing in the car with you.

If the flame trap is kept clean the RMS (rear main seal) won't become a problem most likely. No, it's really not harder than some other cars. You have to unmate the tranny. So what? Same story on all cars, a few dozen of which are at least as tight/hard/labor-intensive as the 850 - some are worse. Admittedly some are far better and easier.

Everyone keeps harping about the transmission being weak. Again, even though I've bought one myself I don't think so. It really all depends on the owner and the dealership. If the dealership was a religious 30,000 changer of fluid, then the car's probably fine even with a hundred grand on the clock.

If you buy a Volvo 850, check the trans fluid condition and drive it. Drive it HARD when you test it. Look for inconsistancies in the transmission, then when you're done with your test drive, look at it again. Also check that the engine has good compression in all 5 cylinders. Make sure you get the timing belt done unless someone can show you documentation that it was done less than 30,000 miles ago. Of course make sure oil was changed regularly if at all possible. Dealer service a plus but not necessary provided the documentation is there.

CHECK THE BRAKES!! While the brakes on these cars are OUTSTANDING and really can save your butt, they're spendy. Usually they'll tell you at a brake shop that they can't / won't regrind the rotors. They insist on replacement. I'd actually see if I could take it to a brake shop and have them check the brakes. New pads and rotors all around are going to be spendy.

Don't shy away from an 850 because it has miles. It's all about condition. Several folks here are in the 180 and 250 thousand mile range with limited problems, if any. That's very good for any car. They are complicated, though and I suggest having a european car service, or preferably a volvo-only service center look at the car with/for you before you buy.

I'd say the same for any car, though.

I just bought an 854 T5-R for my wife. Lucky Woman. The car has 110,ooo miles and a big BIG selling point was the condition. The car has been serviced by the dealer and an established and respected Volvo shop here in Denver. The owners manual was stamped every time service was accomplished.
Multi mode auto-transmission, Economy, Sport and Winter" also has traction control.
If you are set on a station wagon get an "R" model.....
Some Station Wagons were AWD.
I Love our 850 T5-R....Very cool interior. My wife lets me drive it sometimes.

85 244DL
95 854 T5-R (Black on Black)

Overall great cars but they have some quirks, a couple of which can cost you mega$$$$$$. The 850 has no transmission filter and had no recomendation from volvo on changing the fluid so there are plenty of them around with the origional factory fluid still in ( not good). Ask for the service records and look for ATF change info plus pull a small sample and have a look. If it looks like rancid chocolate milk, reject it. The flame trap needs to have be serviced on a regular basis but is a pain to get to on the 850 so it is often passed up leading to a mega$$$$$ blown rear engine seal repair. The A/C evaporator failure is well documented. Repair $1000.+ SOme folks report a lot of small but annoying electrical gremlins. Ours has been a great car w/o major problems. Haynes prints a fair manual for them

bl