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What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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454cid
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Year and Model: 1996 850
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Re: What did you do to your Volvo today?

Post by 454cid »

abscate wrote: 16 Aug 2025, 04:01 Could you have possibly overcharged it? I’m getting great life out of Napa batteries, Evita is now 7 years old
It's a 1-amp trickle charger/maintainer. A Noco Genius 1, to be exact. It's not supposed to overcharge, no mater how long it's left. I suppose it could be going bad, but I've had the battery go flat twice before after sitting for a week or two, which isn't normal.

I posted about the battery going dead awhile back, and the glove box light was mentioned, but I checked that and it was fine. That was before I noticed the sides bulging a bit.

I do wonder if the Volvo charging voltage being low could be to blame. I'm used to vehicles charging at 14.x volts, and the 850 is only 13.x although that number does seem to be commonly reported here on the forum. Maybe I just got a bum battery?

I haven't made it out to get a new battery yet, been working on other things. I had to travel a bit to pickup some carpet tiles that I intend to line toolbox drawers with.
1996 850
1999 S70 GLT (sold after deer hit)

2010 Ford Focus SE
2006 Cadillac CTS
1996 Mercedes C220
1999 Chevrolet K3500
1969 Buick LeSabre Custom 400

454cid
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Year and Model: 1996 850
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Post by 454cid »

bmdubya1198 wrote: 16 Aug 2025, 09:27 H6 fits perfectly, that's what I have in mine.
Very good, thank you.
Unfortunately battery quality has fallen over the years, so the super long life batteries aren't as common. Sometimes you'll get 7-10 years, sometimes 2-3. All depends on the batch I guess!
That was another fear that crossed my mind.
1996 850
1999 S70 GLT (sold after deer hit)

2010 Ford Focus SE
2006 Cadillac CTS
1996 Mercedes C220
1999 Chevrolet K3500
1969 Buick LeSabre Custom 400

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BlackBart
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Post by BlackBart »

IMG_9203.jpeg
ex-1984 245T wagon
1994 850T5 wagon
2004 XC70 wagon BlackBetty

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Sveedy
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Year and Model: 96 850 Turbo
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Post by Sveedy »

Went to remove the valve seals on the 850's head so I can lap the valves later this week, and found this broken seal on the intake side of the cylinder that burned a valve. Not exactly sure how that could happen except during install. Now I'm beginning to have some doubts about the shop that did the rebuild, since they also used a tube of anti-seize on the head bolts. I've been cleaning that stuff out of the holes in the block as well.
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Try to learn life's bad lessons vicariously through others.


1996 850 Turbo GLH ( Goes Like Hell )
1999 V70 GLT

Chieber
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Post by Chieber »

Was looking at a v70r as a second, but nicer car.

Don’t judge, instead I’m going to save up for a c63. Feels like I need to have owned at least one v8 from that era, before prices reaching silly money even further.

Hope to be able to drive in one in two years time.
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1/2 a shitbox V70 1998 2.5 NA

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abscate
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Post by abscate »

I’ve got some spare Elring valve stem seals I can send. Intake stem seals are less important since intakes don’t get hot and burn coke into the valves. Worst case you can replace one stem seal with the head in place without too much pain, doing all of them in situ is like going around with Mike Tyson
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1999-V70-T5M56 2005-V70-M56 1999-S70 VW T4 XC90-in-Red
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Chieber
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Post by Chieber »

Meanwhile added some quality of life improvements.
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1/2 a shitbox V70 1998 2.5 NA

454cid
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Post by 454cid »

Got my new H6 battery installed and drove the 850 to work....first time it's been out of my driveway in more than a month. I had forgotten about the check engine light being on. I think I felt it missing a few times at speed on the highway.
1996 850
1999 S70 GLT (sold after deer hit)

2010 Ford Focus SE
2006 Cadillac CTS
1996 Mercedes C220
1999 Chevrolet K3500
1969 Buick LeSabre Custom 400

RedBrickCollector
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Year and Model: 1997 850 T-5 Wagon
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Post by RedBrickCollector »

Finally got new brake hoses. How much fluid does it take to do a hose replacement and a flush? Would it make any difference flushing before the new hoses because to my mind it would mean less debris
'97 950 T-5 Wagon
'89 and '95 Daihatsu Feroza

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bmdubya1198
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Post by bmdubya1198 »

RedBrickCollector wrote: 19 Aug 2025, 05:15 Finally got new brake hoses. How much fluid does it take to do a hose replacement and a flush? Would it make any difference flushing before the new hoses because to my mind it would mean less debris
Have a liter on hand just to be safe. You probably won't need all of it, but it's better to have more than not enough. As far as flushing before, you could if it makes you feel better, but I don't think it'll make much of a difference.
00 V70R Venetian Red/Charcoal M56 Swapped 214k
07 XC90 V8 AWD Sport Titanium Grey/Black 220k
92 245 White/Beige 249k
91 944 Turbo 175k
…and a bunch of other stuff
Sold-
03 S60 2.4T
00 S70 GLT
98 V70 GLT
93 944
98 S90
95 850 GLT
01 S60 2.4T
05 S60R M66
08 S40 2.4i
88 744 Turbo M46

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