If your caliper piston isn't perfect after cleaning (and soaking overnight in 90% alcohol to remove any invisible residue) there's a good chance it will leak. You can get a complete kit from a UK source for $38.00 shipped (in 2017). Source: http://www.biggreddemo.auto-guru.uk/ I bought one just to h...

I think it was 2013 when I used the Permatex on the pan flange, hasn't leaked. I came very close to getting an admission from a Permatex rep that the Volvo "real thing" is made by Permatex. The person did tell me that the Permatex product is rebranded by several vendors. Anyway, it's what ...

I think I used a little assembly grease to hold the rectangular o-ring in the t-stat housing while reassembling.

On my 3 850's, my rear brakes always squeaked until I changed out the pads to Bosch organics, now they're all nice and quiet. I think I'm running metallics or semi-metallics on all fronts, not sure of the brand, but they're all very responsive to the brake pedal.

Wonderful videos. Having been through this a couple of times, I found that both are helpful, the second one really nails the whole process, though I'll add a couple of comments. YouTubers sometimes gloss over sticky parts of projects. Both could have emphasized a little more how tightly the clutch s...

Eric the Car Guy made the off-hand comment that 80% of freon leaks are at Schrader valve in the filler port. It looks like a tire stem but it's a little bigger and you need a special tool to change it. NAPA has them for ~ $8.00 branded for GM but appears to be the same thing Volvo used on the P80's.

New data. I found a set of the aluminum pipes from inside a heater core i pulled from a junk yard car. The diameter of the pipe at the lower end is 5/8", so those o-rings are much smaller than the upper firewall end o-rings. NAPA has the right ones. I took my pipes into the NAPA store and the c...

Volvo 850 / p80 heater hose hack: how I did it and some other options. These are more like craftsman’s projects than a mechanical fix. After getting a messy leak there, I wanted to do away with the junction and all 8 of its o-rings and go all the way through the firewall with standard heater hoses. ...

Thanks to Matt for helping to put this post on the site! Matt asked how I decided to do the mod. I'd thought about it quite a bit while the 850 was parked last summer. One of the o-ring connections at the firewall had leaked and I considered the whole junction setup too complex and possibly prone to...

It's color is sort of burgundy, same as one of mine so I can get the paint code off mine if anyone wants it. It's picked pretty clean, but most of the body panels seem clean, though the rear doors are missing bolt on trim. Dash is clean, including the pad. I didn't pay much attention to the interior...