96 850 Turbo Wagon Mechanic's Challenge

[FlipIt]

I am a retired defense contractor who enjoys automotive tinkering as a hobby. My wife has started to complain about the cost of my hobby so I decided to try to make it self supporting by periodically flipping vehicles. I recently purchased a 1996 850 Turbo Wagon for $825. The vehicle has 167,000 miles on the odometer and the interior and exterior are in very good condition. The previous owner loaned the vehicle to a niece who drove it for about two months and then called to report it stopped running. It was towed to a shade tree mechanic (with no first hand experience with the engine and no special Volvo tools) who reportedly replaced the head gasket, timing belt and tensioner. After six months and $600 the engine was still not running and the owner paid the bill and towed it home. It has been sitting for the last year.

I have owned several Volvos in my life (60 PV544, 72 142E, 83 DL, 85 GL, 87 GL) but this is my first front wheel drive, DOHC turbo Volvo. I am looking forward to the challenge of getting the engine running. Unfortunately, the engine is partially disassembled with a box of parts (hopefully all) in the cargo space. Eventually I will need help from other 850 turbo owners to determine what goes where.

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[FlipIt]

The driver's seat has some cracks in the leather and all of the leather is very dry from lack of care.

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The tailgate lift cartridges are shot. There is no jack or tool kit and the space saving spare is shredded.

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All of the 205/55R16 tires need replacement due to lack of tread and dry rot. The specified tire size is 205/50R16 with 205/55R16 as alternate. I won't buy tires until I get the engine running but I'd like your comments on which size to buy.

Here's a photo of the engine compartment.

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There are numerous broken vacuum hoses. The dead, small capacity (350 CCA) battery is just laying loose on the battery shelf. The cruise control vacuum motor is broken and hanging loose.

[Ozark Lee]

Other than the spark plug cover the engine looks assembled to me.

I would start at the schrader valve on the fuel rail and see if you have fuel pressure with the key in position II.

This may take a few guesses but I bet we can help you get it running.

...Lee

[precopster]

Can you remove the black cover at the throttle linkage and get a shot of the grey vacuum tree?

We can help you to place the vacuums in the right place if we can see this.

Also are you familiar with lining up & checking TDC on this motor? Remove the timing cover (12mm long shouldered bolt) then remove the passenger road wheel remove the 14mm plastic nut and turn the crank (30mm nut) until two cross hairs on the cam sprockets line up to the V cutouts in the upper timing cover @ approximately 2 o clock (exhaust) and ten o clock (intake) then look down to see if this is what you see at the crank: (notice the photo taken has no timing belt)

[FlipIt]

Thanks for the comments!

Since the previous mechanic admitted to the owner that he was not experienced on this Volvo I decided to check the camshaft timing before even rotating the crankshaft. I pulled all of the spark plugs and lifted off the unbolted upper timing cover. Please note the two washers under the identified (red arrow) camshaft pulley bolt. The yellow arrows identify the pulley timing marks.

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I attempted to find TDC by watching the socket extension resting on the top of #1 piston as I rotated the crankshaft clockwise using a 15 inch crescent wrench applied to the balancer nut. When I attempted to rotate counter-clockwise the nut came loose. It had not been torqued. Does anyone know a use for the marks and notch identified by blue and light green?

I removed one of the bolts from the exhaust camshaft pulley to measure the size of the correct bolt. It is M7-1.0x30mm. The bolt with the washers is M7-1.0x35mm which just happens to be the size of the bolt missing from the upper head section identified below.

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I was unable to find a small head flanged bolt of the correct size at my usual local sources so I ordered one from the dealer. I also purchased a 30mm axle nut socket from AutoZone so I could use my ratchet torque wrench to rotate the crankshaft.

Volvo uses a special tool to hold the balancer when the balancer nut is torqued.

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I used a scrap M8-1.25x40 flange head bolt, some washers, a quick link and some chain as an alternative shown below.

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The washers are inserted between the chain and the balancer. The chain is wrapped around the rear section of the lower control arm and secured to itself with the quick link. With this improvised tool I was able to torque the balancer nut to the specified 133 ft-lbs. The "tool" can also be used to remove the nut by placing the bolt and chain on the opposite side of the balancer.

[precopster]

Good that you could torque the nut without using the special tool.

I would remove the cam sensor and distributor and use these photos as a rough guide to aligning the notches at the front, then you need to have the notches aligned exactly as in the diagram. The position of the cam sprocket bolts from this Vadis diagram are not correct. The sprockets may need to be slipped along their slots to get the adjustment spot on.

Your motor looks a couple of notches off. Don't measure cam TDC as top of piston travel as it is about two mm shy of it on the upstroke.

Pls let us know how you go.

[phils94850]

By the pictures and you have it at TDC the car is definetly out of time. As precop said, you need to realign everything to be sure and start over..

[FlipIt]

According to the shop procedure the camshaft pulleys are removed in the process of replacing the head gasket. This is because the seals at the front and rear of each camshaft must be replaced. That is another reason I wanted to confirm the timing is correct. I found the timing mark on the oil pump as shown below on a photo I found on the internet.

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However, the mark on the rear of the balancer hub is almost impossible to see with the balancer in place.

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Also precopster, my balancer mark appears different than the one you posted. I used a very long small flat blade screwdriver to check the hub for notches and raises. I believe there are two raised marks near each other - one narrow and one wide. I'll have to check again on the notch on the perimeter of the balancer. Because of my uncertainty, I decided to follow the factory procedure for timing the camshafts.

I removed tubes, hoses, electrical components, cooling fan/shroud and anything else preventing access to the starter motor. Then I removed the starter motor to gain access to the plug that accepts another Volvo special tool.

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I removed the plug with an 8mm hex bit, rotated the crankshaft slightly past what I thought was TDC, inserted a 6 inch long 3/8 inch drive extension into the hole and then rotated the crankshaft counter-clockwise until the extension prevent further rotation.

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I used a punch to mark a dimple on a bolt, scratched a line on the balancer, and then went over both with white out to use as a future reference.

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At this point I'm not sure if the mark represents TDC or a slightly different camshaft timing position.

[phils94850]

flip.. on a volvo.. when you align the cams and the harmonic balancer the car is not at "true" TDC. Those marks are for timing purposes only and everyone says TDC but its really not. The only way you can reach true TDC is by sticking something in the #1 plug hole and letting the piston come up to its highest point which isnt a very accurate way or do what your doing which is very time consuming.

As far as the mark on the harmonic balancer its very hard to see on most of the cars. Its a common complaint from us volvo owners. You need a good light source you can stick down in there and youll find it, just gotta really look. It should have a small notch cut out between the two teeth and that notch lines up with the raised area on the oil pump housing like is in the first picture. As you stated ive also done a timing belt job where there was two small notches on the actual gear teeth and you aligned the mark between the two. I guess it varied on year of the car. I would suggest removing the serp. belt and removing the serp. tensioner and that'll give you alot more room to see down there.

If you've done everything by the book as far as finding true TDC then thats where its at.. the problem is, im not sure if thats where you should set up your timing marks. It should specify in the book ive never had to do it that way. By memory... when ive done timing belt jobs on volvo 850's i believe that bolt lines up like you have in the pic, i just can say 100%.

[boosted5cyl]

As some have pointed out forget about "TDC" in the conventional sense. You are right on track with the 3/8" bar in the hole near the starter, then rotate CCW until it hits the stop. However, the next thing to check, before the notches on the cam pulleys is the positon of the actual camshafts (see precopster's post). There is no locating keyway for the cams and pulleys. You will have to take off the cam sensor on the exhaust cam and the plastic cover on the inlet cam. The lines on the cams should look like the pics above when the crank is in position, against the stop. When this is done, then and only then should you attempt to line up the camshaft timing notches. Make sense?

Also consider the possiblity that the mechanic put one or both of the cams upside down!!! Check the grove above/below to verify.