New Member, 1997 850 GLT Sedan

[kcodyjr]

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The last few times I got my hands on a used Volvo, I needed wheels. The champion has been a 1996 850 black on beige wagon with leather, third row, tracs, and naught else when it was new. It has traded its clearcoat for 200K miles, and I shall not talk of it any further here. A few years ago I tried to replace the one 1996 850 with another. The new one needed some touch-up paint and a buff job, but it was a stick GLT. I had it for a month before introducing it to the raised tail of a Grand Marquis. I thought I had been taking it seriously, but apparently not enough. This time I really want to make sure the more beat-up one dies first, so it's time to stop lurking in the shadows of the forums.

The latest addition to my rolling history, and my first two driver fleet situation, is (IMHO) a stunner of a 1997 850 GLT sedan, I still can't decide if it's gray or silver, with a charcoal leather interior that inspired me, a pack a day smoker, to prohibit the vice within 3 cubic yards of the vehicle upon first sight. The pictures are lighter than the reality interior and darker than the reality exterior, probably the camera's fault. Even the backgrond brush looks off-color for the region, but it's definitely the same car. It has 139K miles and set me back $2500, with deepest gratitude for how that happened so painlessly.

I saw it on Craigslist yesterday. My mother-in-law and I looked at it this afternoon; I eyeballed it from every angle inside out and underneath, pronounced it straight and clean, and we went for a ride. When we got back, we discussed price for about 30 seconds and let it be. She wrote the check, I thanked her profusely and repeatedly for helping me get this done faster than any bank possibly could, and we took the documents and keys with us. My stepfather drove me back to slap the old plates onto it and bring her home. That was lawful as of 10:30 this morning, when the Sable was towed to its final rusting place.

The new 850 has been in one of those ubiquitous bumper-tap chain reactions that happen dozens of times per day around here. Exactly one; the impressions from the back of the license plate screws are still present. I found out from the dealer it was a one-family two-owner car; the mother gave it to the college student daughter about 8000 miles after that incident, and the daughter did not abuse it. There are still seams from the plastic injection molding machine in the ashtray and the airbag cover isn't peeling up at the edges. Even the cup holder is still intact, and they're so flimsy nobody bothers repairing them. If there's a flaw in the interior, save the one I'm sitting on anyway, I haven't found it yet. Even the factory floor mats are just this side of spotless.

I'm pretty sure it hasn't had any cosmetic work at all, but if it has, it was very professionally and only selectively done, with perfect color matching. Say, 85% sure it's a totally original finish. The front bumper has just a couple millimeters of undesigned space above it, you really have to be looking for it. That'll be from the bumper tap, stabbing the brakes just before contact with the next car. The only other body panel misalignment is the hood being just below the level of the fender on the drivers side. This is possibly explained by the aforementioned college student being lifted off her feet by her boyfriend, and deposited without visual guidance, and perhaps a degree of vertigo, on the nearest convenient waist-high surface. Neither of those incidents should compromise its highway collision performance.

It's mostly been a dealer car, and the Carfax proves it. Boston Volvo Village in Allston, MA. They weren't exactly diligent about stamping the book though, there's only a few in there. Nevertheless, at 139K miles and up to 150K listed in the service manual - yes, original dealer books in the glove - I'm going to take the trouble to notify the manufacturer of the change of ownership. Whoohoo! Actually there are minor functional flaws in the interior; the backlight isn't working in the clock, traction control button, or radio LCD display. The front left door speaker keeps cutting out and it seems to be the dash unit at fault. Whoopee. The gas pedal seems to resist the first few degrees of pressure. I'll get the wd-40 out tomorrow; that part of the accelerator range will be important...

So far, after about 80 miles, the mechanical gripe list is a minor intermittent vibration during acceleration, and a steering wheel chase that could be an internally worn tire, a misalignment, the balljoint that wasn't replaced, or simply the new one wearing in. Mostly it drives just like it should. The check engine light came on when I took it out of gear and then put it back in on the highway; probably from a cloud of carbon being shot past the oxygen sensors. I'm not sure; I was watching the road, not the rearview. If that's the case it'll probably clear itself in a week or so of spirited driving. The engine occasionally takes longer than a split second to perk up and chase the horizon, which I'll so far attribute to sitting at the dealership, since it seems to be improving. Still, the standard minor tune-up is a no-brainer.

All things considered I wasn't going to find more car for less than $4000 within 1000 miles of here, and really, anything less than a Volvo scares me on the highway. A select few others are safe enough, but nothing on four wheels can bust a Brick. This one may even have a little value above the blue book, if its original finish status can be confirmed. I'm really not good at reading paint, except recognizing that it can't possibly be perfect, and it isn't. This was the last year of the 850, and the only year and trim level to get the light pressure turbo in the US, so far as I know. This is, I think, about as clean an example as one can realistically find.

I intend to baby the hell out of it, and keep it as stock as possible, though I probably won't be able to resist the K&N filter for the factory box, and maybe a RIP kit this summer... tires, too. It feels like it really wants a wider contact patch. Whatever I can fit on the 15" 6-spoke alloys. Changing rims is out of the question, the idea is to make it -less- of a cop magnet, by silencing the chirps.

Come to think of it, I don't think I care if it did get cosmetic work, since it clearly hasn't been hit hard enough to matter. It looks pissa inside and out and I'm not planning to sell it in working order.

- Kevin

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[matthew1]

Beauty! That interior is the same as in my 850 T5... woodgrain, leather, colors, climate control, even looks like you have a SC-816 stereo.

Looks like the type of car that could be in a collection in 50 years. Jay Leno's? If he gets cryogenically frozen and re-awakened.

Thanks for the writeup.

[kcodyjr]

Thanks Matthew, and you're welcome!

With any luck that car will be in my collection, once I own a home, if I can keep it like this. If Leno wants one, he has the dough to have the dies re-installed at the factory and stamp out a new one anyway.

Only thing I'd have ordered different would be front fogs. Who needs the trip computer, it's just something else to look at besides the road...

SC-816? Not 815? I'll find out for sure when I pull it to replace the LCD bulb. I noticed the left dash speaker still works when the left door speaker cuts out; hopefully that's just a crossover somewhere...

I did find one mark on the woodgrain dash, but I have to crane my neck around the steering wheel to see it. Thus, I care about as much as the balding spot on the -back- of my head. Turns out there is a second developing flaw in the leather, the beginnings of cracking under my right thigh. Time for the leather cream, right?

By the way, there's no doubt now that I've seen it in several lighting situations. It's silver, not gray, nevermind what the title says.

- Kevin

[matthew1]

You can add fogs and a trip computer. There was a tc for sale here in the classifieds not too long ago.

I use "Eagle 1" leather conditioner every few years on my seats. I got it at a regular old auto parts store. Seems to work.

I honestly don't know the difference between 815 and 816 radios, but they both exist.

[kcodyjr]

I thought about fogs. Looks like I can source new OEM fixtures and a used switch from ebay easily enough, but finding the fog relay, fog bridge, and with-fog headlight relay, won't be so easy... I'd like to do it, though.

I suppose it wouldn't be too onerous to put a TC in since I have to replace the clock lights anyway, and if I'm not mistaken that would mean the car has every possible option, but I'm just not sure I'd ever use it. I'm more likely to spring for the door sills, a new set of Weathertech mats, and a full set of PIAA bulbs.

I'll pick up that Eagle 1 next time I'm at AutoZone. The other thing I want to do right away is buff down the peeling clearcoat on the spoiler, have a finish expert try and decide if it's been painted, and then give it a generous and careful rub-down with Meguiar's. Second thought, I should go looking for a tube of factory touch-up paint for around the grille before waxing it, since it doesn't seem to be desperate for shine.

- Kevin

[jblackburn]

Fog light relays and switches are scarce, but you can use one from an S/V/XC70, more of which had foglights than the 850 series (not mine, though). The foglight switch from a 960 will work as well, but I'm not sure about the relay. Junkyards are your friend...check out ebay as well.

The difference between the 816 and 815 radios is just the wiring output for the amp installed in the S70 models. I don't know if this was ever an option in the 97 or not.

[kcodyjr]

Thanks!

Where exactly is the "fog light bridge"? I can't even pull anything up with Google, is there a better name for it?

[jblackburn]

As far as I know, all you should need is the switch, lights, and the relay for them to work. I've never heard of the bridge part.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 2&p=112241

[kcodyjr]

Update; it's been to my Volvo man for a thorough check-over. He reports the car seems to have gotten a stage 0 very recently.

Timing belt looks good though we can't find the record of when it was done - maybe some idiot wiped it off, or someone just never wrote it down. Money being tight, maybe I'll try replacing just the belt, myself, next month or so, because we're paranoid about our t-belts.

The only thing he did to it was put in a thermostat, which fixed its driveability issues instantly. It was the older style still in it, but didn't look gone. He found a piece of plastic wedged into it that seemed deliberately placed. We couldn't think of why, at the time.

But, something crossed my mind later. Reading between the lines:

* College student daughter notices the heater core symptoms

* Boyfriend or local indy shop wedges the thermostat to reduce coolant pressure and thus preserve the interior, not to mention keeping the antifreeze from sticking to her windshield, face, and hair. They bungle the (misbegotten) job by stripping one of the bolt heads.

* Car starts to show performance issues, so the car goes to a more trusted mechanic, perhaps the dealer, on her next break.

* Shop does all the stage-0 stuff but can't figure out what the problem is. They miss the thermostat because the freshly stripped bolt dissuades them from trying to open it up.

* They report that the car must need engine work, since they've ruled out everything else, and at 140K maybe they ought to just trade it in.

* They do so, thinking 140K in 13 years is a decent run (??!!) and maybe she's graduating and it's time for something newer anyway.

* Dealer swaps out the heater core, does a safety inspection, replaces the worn control arm, vacuums and washes it, and puts out the listing.

* I test drive it, without a chance to take it on the highway, and thus don't experience the overcooling until after we've bought it. The only problem I noticed was the poor handling from mismatched tires and the slight hesitation one expects from a car that's been sitting a month.

* I bring it home and set off the CEL on the highway; I'd been trying to exercise it and thus wake it from its slumber. In retrospect I know the CEL was because I presented it with a challenging fuel mix scenario.

* Take it in to my Volvo man, who traces the code to a temp sensor, sees that it's new, squeezes the coolant hose because he's just thorough like that, and realizes the problem instantly.

* Fixes it for a song and tells me I just found the deal of the decade.

* I drive away grinning ear to ear because the Go pedal works right.


Stuff left to do, and this list is now comprehensive, except for AC:

* preemptive timing belt job
* swap tires from my old one
* get a four wheel alignment
* buy heavy rubber floor mats
* fix dash and console bulbs
* send radio out for repair
* find OEM fog and TC parts
* touch up rust spots on nose
* wash, buff, wax, and enjoy

I'll have to wait for warmer weather to even find out if the AC works. Right now, waving your hand at your face blows ice cold.


Happy Motoring,
- Kevin

[patrioty3k]

Hello kcodyjr,which 850 are u talking about? Seems you were throwing away a different car in a previous post,"I have a 1996 855 base, leather/3rdrow/tracs/nothingelse, black/beige." Just confused hey! Maybe I'm wrong?https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=26845