New Volvoist... ite? er? Volvesian?

[Caffeind]

Total noob here, bought my first Volvo earlier this week and figured I’d introduce myself! She’s a 1997 850 AWD wagon with the T58 5-speed, silver on dark grey. The previous owner did some work on including an aftermarket exhaust (I forgot to ask from where), 302mm front brakes from FCP, wheels and rubber to fit over that, and replaced the shocks. When I had it inspected they said it looked to be in really good shape other than needing a power steering flush. The only downside is that the paint is in pretty crummy condition, lots of chips and pits. I hate silver so I’m planning on having it repainted at some point anyways; the bodywork itself is in pretty good shape and it helped me talk down the price!

It’s got some of the usual 850 gremlins including a broken odometer (stopped at 238 000km in March, estimated 250ish now), and no rear washer fluid but most of those are pretty straightforward to fix from what I’ve read. Had it detailed the other day since the interior was a little groaty but now she’s good to go! I’m planning on fixing those and doing close to a full stage 0 in the next month, even if just to ensure peace of mind that everything is in top shape. There’s a little bit of broken plastic on the door handle/pocket things inside and the front seats could use some light reconditioning of the cracks but it’s mostly looking pretty good! Eventually I would like to get more power out of it as money permits, the stock motor is adequate but faster is always nicer! Except in crashes maybe… Anyhow, I’m thinking start with an intake, downpipe and ECU tune in a year or so then take it from there!

Well there it is, I expect I’ll end up being fairly active on here as I try to work on things and have questions. While I’m writing, what is the best repair manual for this car? On my BMW the Bentley manual was considered the ultimate bible for it, is there something similar for the Volvo or should I just go wit Hayne’s? If there’s anything else you think I should be aware of or pay particular attention to I greatly appreciate it!

Cheers,

Justin

Here's a few pics for you:

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[Ozark Lee]

And it already has the IPD sticker!

Seeing the exhaust on the left side of an AWD is odd so the exhaust system must be very different. As far as manuals go there isn't any one good one. The Chiltons is terrible, the Haynes is better but still very incomplete. Alldata is below par for the 850s when compared to many of their other offerings so I have a number of tools in that tool chest.

Perhaps the best resource is the one that is free and it is here.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/downlo ... vo_850.zip

It is specific to a '95 and other than the AWD it is very compatible with your car. There were very few changes that happened after '95 in the 850 models that aren't accounted for.

Haynes is a good companion but you will likely need to have it ordered in. Most of the auto parts stores don't stock it.

Another tool is VADIS or VIDA. Both are proprietary Volvo dealer computer programs but both are widely available on eBay or through the P2P sites. VIDA has some batter graphics but it also wants more computer horsepower. It wants 4 GB of RAM and the installation DVDs are dual layer. You can get around the dual layer part with virtual DVD freeware programs like Gizmo. VADIS isn't nearly as picky about hardware but it is getting long in the tooth and it doesn't want to run correctly with browsers after ie8. The best part about VADIS or VIDA is the exploded parts diagrams. You can look up your own part numbers but it also gives you a feel for how things are supposed to come apart and go back together. Some of the R & R procedures are quite good and some others not so much. That part is hit or miss.

Lastly I do have Alldata 9.5 - all 130 GB of it. It is good for printing out instructions if my son is going to help one of his buddies work on their Jeep or something but the its Volvo stuff doesn't justify the hard drive space it eats up.

The best resource of all you have found. Just about any problem you can imagine has happened to someone here at one time or another and we are all more than happy to give you pointers along the way.

...Lee

[matthew1]

Welcome, Caffeind. Sharp looking 850.

Lee covered it. The only thing I'd add is the $50 Original Technical Publications 850 DVD.

[Caffeind]

@Lee: The IPD stickers came with the boost gauge according to the previous owner, and they're roughly body colour too! It's too bad that their shipping to here is usually more than the products themselves I'll probably look at them more when it's time to do my ECU. I got a hold of a copy of VIDA and forgot that I'm running a Mac right now, ha! I'll have to dig up a new power cord for my windows laptop and turn it in to my car fixin' box. I don't use that machine for anything else, so it should run fine.

@matthew1: Thanks! I'll buy a copy of that, seems like it'll be really helpful!

[matthew1]

I got a hold of a copy of VIDA and forgot that I'm running a Mac right now, ha! I'll have to dig up a new power cord for my windows laptop and turn it in to my car fixin' box. I don't use that machine for anything else, so it should run fine.

I run it in one of the virtual Windows apps. I've tried all three: VM Ware, Parallels and Sun's (Oracle now?) free VM. They're all about the same. You need a 2006+ Mac (Intel chip). But a dedicated machine has its benefits.

[jblackburn]

Nice! The 850 AWD 5-speed are very rare.

Welcome to MVS.