the way I roll.

I bought the Volvo 850 I was looking at. Black on Tan with the usual problems the tan interior has, 5 speed NA I5 engine, power everything and anything..

I know it needs shocks as my father's old Grand Marquis probably held the road better, it might also need brakes, and it definatly needs a stereo.

I will post up some pics after I give it a good bath

The used car dealer wanted 1495 for it with 85,000ish miles.. I got it for 1200 and the inspection is good till July 2014

Sounds like a good score....but.....

wpwp

Still searching for a RWD Volvo wagon....

if all your pixels are intact I would say that is a solid buy.

On shocks, I think the Bilstein HD upgrade was worth it for my 850, though I think they have made the car more rattle prone since they ride a lot firmer than stock.

Wow, prices really fell on these things, huh? Guess my '96 isn't worth much with 141k on the clock.

Nice score, once you get it sorted out, you'll like it. Sedan or wagon? I'm sure you know already, but make sure the timing belt is good to go.

As promised.. after a quick bath.. still needs to be completely "cleaned" and waxed.. but she came up very shiney for only hitting her with the spray at the local carwash.

I kinda feel like an old man driving it... this is my first sedan and first fourdoor.. all the rest have been hatchbacks and sportscars. I have only once "gotten on it" to pull out into traffic.. where the car felt anemic the first time I drove it.. she definatly has some grunt in the mid-range.

Timing belt kit has been ordered.. I am not going to drive her much till I get it. (ti still has a full tank of fuel too)

Nice.

Very comfy seats, eh?

I am sure they would be more comfy if the driver's one was not all ripped up. I think the previous owner had no clue how to take care of leather as all the seats are in rough shape.

I am going to hit the junk yards around here looking for a black interior

We bought the Turbo version new. Actually it was a surprise Christmas present for my wife complete with a big red bow.

We really liked the car. The reason we got rid of it was the forced dependence upon the dealer for strange things like resetting the whole car after you changed the battery. Over a $100 charge just to do that. I'm sure everyone knows a way around that now, but at the time I couldn't find a way around any number of little things like that.

If it had not been for that I'm betting my wife would still have it. It was teh first car that was truly all hers she's ever had in her whole life.

Looks nice!! Welcome to the club!!

mad_machine wrote: The way I roll

Very nice score. Welcome to the club.

We had that exact car for 5 years and almost 500000 km. I wouldn't even push it down the driveway without doing the timing belt as that was our only major expense and it was $4500 for a used engine. You can get three car seats across the back row which is really nice if you have a young family. Great car. And also the best exhaust note as well.

carguy123 wrote: The reason we got rid of it was the forced dependence upon the dealer for strange things like resetting the whole car after you changed the battery.

Typing a 4 digit security code into the radio is worth $100? Somebody was feeding you a line, my friend. If anything else was not working, its because the adaptive memory was compensating for something big. 10 miles and the fuel trims and trans adaptive should be back to where they were.

Now, if it were German, I'd believe them.

this car has forced me to rethink my automotive priorities. With it's tank like build.. I am probably going to get the saab on the road and let it go to a new home.. then keep this and work on my Ti.

and I have to admit.. even though it is no T5.. it is still the perfect highway muncher and goes down the road in a quite unnoticed fashion

Welcome to the dark side.

I'll almost guarantee the flapper valve in the air box is stuck on the hot side. There's a metal flex hose from the exhaust manifold to the bottom of the intake. There's a door/valve with thermostat in the bottom of the air cleaner box that fails and when it does it sticks to the hot side. Easy fix is wedging or screwing the valve to the cold side. I got the bottom half of a turbo air cleaner box and got rid of the issue. I went from anemic to okay power wise with just that and swapping the throttle body butterfly for one from a 960.

I've been happy with my Koni STRTs much firmer than the Monroes I had, but not jaring/harsh. I did an Eibach Pro kit when I did my shocks/struts too.

Do the timing belt if there's no proof of it having been done in the last 5 years. The rate at which the odometers fail on these I'd be skeptical of the low mileage. If it's a '95 or older finding out the real mileage is relatively easy.

Great find, and great car. I wish my paint could shine like that.

• Lee

thanks for the replies.. car is parked till I get the timing belt done.. hopefully the belt and tensioner pulley will be here by monday (depends on how fast IPd ships)

couple of questions for those in the know. How do I perminently turn off the DRLs? If I wanted my headlights on during the day.. I would turn them on. I personally can't stand the things.

And the roof strips have lost their rubber covering. Is there an easy fix?

mad_machine wrote: couple of questions for those in the know. How do I perminently turn off the DRLs? If I wanted my headlights on during the day.. I would turn them on. I personally can't stand the things. And the roof strips have lost their rubber covering. Is there an easy fix?

DRLs:
There is a very small straight head screw head on the headlight switch itself. Turning that screw the other way will turn on/off the DRL feature.
Shown here at the "m" in ".com"

Roof strips: The entire roof strips snap into place. For recovering them I would use black Plasti-dip. I recently updated some side window trim on a Taurus this way with amazing results. With some good tapping off, you could do this while the trim is still on the car.
Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLdj4mlDC_g
$5.99 a can at Lowes. You would only need one can.

mad_machine wrote: needs a stereo.

I have a factory radio here that was in my '95 850 wagon (5 speed manual)
I put in a factory unit that had had a CD and put this cassette only model in a box and on a shelf in my garage 6 years ago. Worked great. If you are interested, I will check to be sure I have the code and send it off to you for little more than shipping cost.

With a cassette, you can add an adaptor and easily runs a MP3/phone for tunes.

Be sure to buy some torx bits. Everything on the car is connected with torx bits.
I used to keep a handle and simple set like this in the trunk at all times:

I also had socket versions for the bigger jobs.

http://www.volvoclubthailand.com/man/pdf/om/volvo_850_owners_manual_1996.pdf
The link above is the entire 1996 owners manual. It covers things like the DRL's.
Other things good to read up on are...
If you have manual seats, see the part about height adjustment. Even though manual, the seats have significant adjustments but the adjustment function is not intuitive.

Also, see the part about the clock. In there it will explain why an amber warning light comes on when the outside temp is between 35 to 23 degrees. It is to warn you that ice may form on the roads. It is not to tell you there is anything wrong with your car.

The timing belt is fun. At least on the T5. I found two online how-to's and both should be deleted from the web they're so bad. The Haynes manual is somewhat marginal here as well. Two things are difficult. Getting the torx bolt that holds the tensioner on - woe be you if its slightly rusty. The crank pulley needs to come off to get the belt off/on with any guarantee of not nicking the new belt. The latter is not mentioned and they describe working the belt around the pulley. The Volvo specialist I took the car to thought that was nuts - and pros never remove anything they don't have to...

The suspension is pretty straight forward. The sway bar is kind of odd. It's somehow under tension trying to pull the suspension up. But a prybar leveraging it down while connecting the link to the strut isn't too hard. We have the set of Bilsteins that were replaced with FSD's. It rides somewhat better.

We have the cassette adapter. Sometimes it works ok, but other times the auto reverse function on the player can drive you nuts.

In reply to Ian F:

I snaked the timing belt around the pulley just fine on my Turbo. I had to get a prybar in and lift the motor a bit to do it but it wasn't that bad.

Shawn

JohnRW1621 wrote:

mad_machine wrote: needs a stereo.

I have a factory radio here that was in my '95 850 wagon (5 speed manual) I put in a factory unit that had had a CD and put this cassette only model in a box and on a shelf in my garage 6 years ago. Worked great. If you are interested, I will check to be sure I have the code and send it off to you for little more than shipping cost. With a cassette, you can add an adaptor and easily runs a MP3/phone for tunes. Be sure to buy some torx bits. Everything on the car is connected with torx bits. I used to keep a handle and simple set like this in the trunk at all times: I also had socket versions for the bigger jobs.

I have all the torx I need.. I own a saab also

As for the cassette adaptor. The problem with my stereo is that it cuts out every few seconds... so I am pretty sure it is dead. At least the 850 is quieter inside than my Ti is. I will be looking at a nice Double Din unit that can also run USB sticks as that is what all my music is on now anyway

bigdaddylee82 wrote: Welcome to the dark side. I'll almost guarantee the flapper valve in the air box is stuck on the hot side. There's a metal flex hose from the exhaust manifold to the bottom of the intake. There's a door/valve with thermostat in the bottom of the air cleaner box that fails and when it does it sticks to the hot side. Easy fix is wedging or screwing the valve to the cold side.

Definitely check this. Mine got stuck on the hot side, and the car ran like absolute dog E36 M3. I had no idea why until someone on a Volvo forum told me about it. For me, the fix was easy. Mine seemed like it was more just hung up. Once I freed it, it seemed to work fine and hasn't been a problem since. But it makes a world of difference in how it drives.

Oh, and in case you don't know.........

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/