New guy with 850 GLT sedan

[horse]

Hi all,
Checked your nice forum when I was considering the purchase of a 1996 850 GLT sedan.
Your forum was very helpful in doing my homework on this machine.
I always liked Volvo's but never owned one before.

Seems to be a great running machine, pretty clean with only 106,000 on the odometer. I have all the service records from new. She was dealer serviced up to her 100,000 mile mark & came with all the paperwork to prove it. Including the dealer seal on the timing cover showing the belt & water pump was changed at 70K. Even got all the original manual, title, etc. All in all a pretty clean & unmolested car for it's age.

I've got a few glitches with error codes and the tracs light staying on. But it all looks like things I can deal with since I do my own wrenching ( always have) and own code readers and just ordered the cables to run diagnostics on my laptop ( something I've been meaning to do for a while anyway).

Looks like I'll do a little trouble shooting first, then likely be ordering a rebuilt Abs control module from the gent up by Ann Arbor or maybe fix it myself if I feel in the mood for the job. I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I'll post a couple pics of my new (old) Volvo as part of my intro. She is the 20 valve 2.4 ( non turbo) with the 4 speed auto trans. Pretty much loaded with moon roof, leather interior, tracs, sport, econo & winter driving modes, etc. If only she was AWD, but ya can't have everything.

Again, this looks like a great Volvo forum. I notice a lot of members have 850's and everyone seems very helpful & friendly. Hopefully I can contribute. I know I will benefit, as I already have. ( plus I reckon I'll be playing 101 newbie questions for a spell, lol)

Cheers

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[Ozark Lee]

Welcome aboard.

It looks like you have a winner. From the under-hood picture you do need to buy a new radiator cap for the overflow tank though. The old gray ones are made of a very unstable plastic and they are prone to cracking and thus not holding pressure.

The new, greenish-blue colored, caps will hold up forever and they are relatively cheap.

...Lee

[horse]

Welcome aboard.

It looks like you have a winner. From the under-hood picture you do need to buy a new radiator cap for the overflow tank though. The old gray ones are made of a very unstable plastic and they are prone to cracking and thus not holding pressure.

The new, greenish-blue colored, caps will hold up forever and they are relatively cheap.

...Lee

Thanks for the heads up.
I missed that one in my research of the common faults.

And BINGO! Found it & it's ordered & on the way.

A whole $7.50 with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Volvo-Radiator- ... 79&vxp=mtr

A person is always far ahead when they know the usual issues a model suffers. In the old days we had to rely on word of mouth and/or experience to learn what we can readily find out online now. (if you go to the right place and have learned to filter out all the misinformation.)

I'm looking forward to getting my VAG-COM 409.1 KKL OBD2 USB Cable in the mail I ordered so I can hook up my netbook and use Vol-Frc software I found to read my abs codes and reset my service light beginning of next week since my Innova 3130 won't accomplish this on a Volvo.

My abs light is burned out in the dash & I'm expecting to get a rear wheel sensor code to go along with my constantly on "tracs off" light. Reckon I'll need to get the abs box resolder fix then.

And I have a rear O2 sensor code to look into. I'm guessing either a dirty connection at the sensor ( been there/done that) or replace sensor. Hope they are cheap generic ones like in my old Subarus & Cherokee and not some silly priced thing.

After that I believe I'm good to go. I put about 120 miles on it today after a reset and only get the rear O2 code (PO137) coming up now.

Seems to get decent mileage too and steers nice. Very smooth & stable at speed. I think I'm gonna be a Volvo fan from the looks of it.