850, 940 Buying Questions

Svenska 850 Wagon · Post by **Svenska 850 Wagon** » 26 Jan 2007, 19:49

I agree. That B230 Engine is tuff. I had 300KMS on mine and it did not burn a drop of Oil. I do like the all Aluminum engine in my 855 for weight but Aluminum is softer than Cast Iron

Italiano86 · Post by **Italiano86** » 26 Jan 2007, 20:25

Whats the best way to find an 850 in my area? Most of the cars I see listed look neglected and questionable, and many owners charge waay too much, especially for ones with around 160k+ miles, which sometimes go for around 5-6k. I wonder if police auctions are worth checking out.

Svenska 850 Wagon · Post by **Svenska 850 Wagon** » 26 Jan 2007, 20:31

There are 73 for Sale in your area on Craigs List

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/car? ... olvo%20850

When you find a good one spend the money and get a Volvo mechanic to inspect it. Good Luck. I found mine on the List.

Post by **akitawagon** » 26 Jan 2007, 23:30

Just keeping checking places like Craigslist, autotrader, cars.com, etc...
Police/car auctions are kind of iffy and you don't get much time to check things out.

Unfortunately, in the Bay Area, the 850 prices are lot higher than what you see outside of California and the average Volvo owner around here seems to neglect their maintenance and have it done only when things become chronic (or when they want to sell it).

When you find one that interests you, it would be nice if it has a good, detailed maintenance history and carfax report.

Check it out thoroughly to verify things (transmission, evaporator, belts, fluids, leaks, codes, dash warning lights, signs of collision damage that was repaired, etc.) and if possible, get it to a good Volvo indy shop _before_ buying it. Some owners don't mind the presale inspection, others have things to hide and don't want you to see their car on a lift. If you do find some major issues that need repairs, you might be able to negotiate on the asking price.

If you get a VIN or license plate, you can also go to the CA DMV website to see the car's smog test history (failures show up on their records).

If you're not in a rush to get a new car, just take your time and the right one will show up. It took me about three years to find my R wagon.

dripcandles · Post by **dripcandles** » 27 Jan 2007, 09:55

Thought I would throw my two cents in.. I had a Saab about 7 years ago and it broke down in front of an independant volvo dealer/repair shop. The guy there was really decent, he changed my thermostat and told me "no charge". His shop was right near my house, so I decided to buy a Volvo and get rid of the POS saab. I bought a 86 240 for $500. I quickly learned that when Volvos are neglected, as the one I bought had been, there are a host of issues that need to be addressed. I had the mechanic do most of the initial work, but as time went on I started looking up how to do my own repairs, and I have since found that pretty much anything can be done on these at home, and I am not what I would consider mechanically gifted. I still will not do the timing belt myself, partly because I have a friend now who is a Volvo only mechanic, and he does them for a great price, and partly because I dont want to go through the learning curve, I just know I would mess it up the first time. Over the past few years I have had a total of 7 different vovlos(2 as ice race cars). The original 86, then an 85 240 turbo wagon, (good time to add that the pre 86 240's are a different animal, and wiring issues seem to plague them), then I got an 88 240 wagon 5 spd, then a 1994 850, which was my first taste of 850 stress. That car was a mint cond black model with 212kmi. I bought that one on Ebay for $1500, but I was intimidated when the trans went into limp mode due to the crank sensor, so I resold it. I then bought a 1990 240 which with the regular things needing to be fixed, has been an exceptional car . Even with 268kmi. I put 16" miglia milla wheels and yokohama tires on it, took out the front orange reflector lenses and tinted the windows and the car looks very sharp. And my latest acquisition, a dark green with gold pinstripe 1998 v70XC that is near mint, 1 Owner and always dealer maintained, it does have 198kmi, but the interior, and exterior are about as clean as can be, and it runs and drives perfectly. I know this will make alot of you sick, but I got that one off Craigslist for $1,300! But here is what I learned, appearently the 98 was the last year of the better wiring system(it might be 99), and the 6cyl's in the 2001 and up's are a whole new set of headaches. The 5 cyl was still a good Volvo design. So here is where I am at with my new XC, although it has been very well maintained BY the Dealer it still needs a few things before I want to start driving it as my daily car. First the check engine light came on and it was the p0401, air pump. The part new is $300, unless you find one used or modify one yourself. These fail on most 850's and s70's about every 60kni or less, especially in the colder climates. If you replace it yourself a couple of holes drilled in the fans housing will drain the water buildup that is the cause of failure. The dealer can charge $800 for this job and the will not even think of drilling the holes for you. Next my XC has smoke coming from the dipstick tube. A problem that must be immediatley addressed to prevent blowing out all of the engine seals including the rear main. The pcv system is located under the intake, which needs to come off to do the work, and this needs to be cleaned or replaced about every 60kmi, dealer gets $700, DIY for about $150. And finally the abs/tracs light comes on and off at times, indicating a module rebuild is needed. Again the dealer gets about $600 for this job, or you can DIY for about $100 to have yours rebuilt. So I guess what I am saying is this....If you are very mechanically able, or at least have a pretty good knowledge of cars, and a Volvo mechanic who is fair to cover some of the repairs, an 850 or s70 is a good bet, just check it out for the common items, like what I and others in this thread mentioned, plus always check the timing belts last change, as you dont want to find out the hard way if it breaks on your way home. If the car is leaking a bunch of oil you can count on expensive repairs. If you are going to rely on letting a Volvo dealer rape you, you would be better off getting a new car with a warranty. It would likely cost you less. If you get a 240/740/940, you have a car that is very simple to do just about anything on, and parts are far less money, partly due to the simplicity, no $300 sensors all over the place, and access to the entire engine is comfortable. The short list of things a 240/740/940 will need are the fuel pump relay will need to be resoldered or replaced, carry a spare and learn where it is( this is one of the few things that left me stranded once), the MAF will likely fail, get a spare. The intake maifold gasket must be the green volvo OEM part or else it will fail, and I am sure there are things I am missing, I think there is a list I saw somewhere that has one owners ideas of what items are essential to carry. So all in all the 240/740/940 is a car that really will go forever(mine has 269Kmi and runs like new) and if you only have basic automotive knowledge and tools you can keep it going for little money, on the other hand the 850 and s70's most definatley will cost more to keep going, and you must be more skilled to attack the problems which will arise. Just my thoughts....

Italiano86 · Post by **Italiano86** » 27 Jan 2007, 10:21

Wow, thanks for your huge amount of input guys. I think my dad said he'll pay for any car inspection for me if I start to check out some cars, so that would be cool. How do you guys arrange this? Do you just have the seller take the car in themselves to a dealer and go along with them? I've never done anything like that before. If a part is bad in the car and can really bring the price of the car down, I will definitely do that, because I could try the repair or maybe get my parents to help pay for part of the repair.

Italiano86 · Post by **Italiano86** » 27 Jan 2007, 16:55

I found a decent looking one on Craigslist, but she says the odometer broke and it needs new brakes, but for only 3500. I have to say, it's one of the better looking ones I've seen in my area, I may check it out after she emails me back.

Link:

Code: Select all

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/car/269006463.html

Svenska 850 Wagon · Post by **Svenska 850 Wagon** » 27 Jan 2007, 18:18

Cool. I love the list. I have bought and sold about 20 things on there in the last year. Generally the people are decent who post but of course you can find scam artist evey where. Good Luck and an inspection is the way to go!

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 27 Jan 2007, 18:39

I found a decent looking one on Craigslist, but she says the odometer broke and it needs new brakes, but for only 3500. I have to say, it's one of the better looking ones I've seen in my area, I may check it out after she emails me back.

If you buy it do yourself a favor and go to the local Volvo dealer, on the way home, and pony up $80.00 for a new (redesigned) glove box latch. It is way easier to fix it before it breaks.

...Lee

Post by **luketrash** » 27 Jan 2007, 19:30

Hehe, I think the concensus is that if it was a college education, the Volvo N/A 240s are the subject matter of Volvo Wrenching 101. Volvo 700/900s are Volvo Wrenching 202. Turbo models are junior level wrenching, all the way up to the graduate level Volvo V70R as the graduate course

I didn't know how to work on cars before driving Volvos. I got my 1982 242 for 1100 dollars to replace my near death 86 Ford Escort wagon when I was in college. I didn't know anything about cars other than I had always wanted a Volvo 240 or Mercedes 200 series car from the 70s... Just the boxy look. So I took the plunge and immediately things went awry.. Instead of going to the mechanics, I got extremely lucky and found a new friend locally on the internet because he happened to have a V8 Volvo 240 webpage. I emailed him and he actually met me at work and looked at my Volvo and helped me work on it. The rest is history.. He got me started working on cars, and I haven't stopped since.

And looking back, Volvos have always been solid cars, mechanically. People sell them because they get tired of paying dealership repair prices, or they get annoyed at all of the little accessories breaking. This is true for every other type of car I've owned too though

But I think Volvos are a great way to get into figuring out how cars work because the maintenance is really general. Once you've learned to keep your Volvo running on your own, you can probably do so with most other cars, but I have always thought Volvos were a good general education in wrenching.

Even the 850 impressed me and I was really leery about buying a front wheel driven Volvo. But it has been a good transition.. It's still a 'Volvo' to me for many reasons.

Volvos have some of the best online documentation and support network of humans of any vehicles too. Sites like brickboard, this one, and volvospeed are what kept me driving them. It's funny how these cars all break down the same. When you drive a Ford or Chevy, the support just isn't there, and it seems like people don't have an uncanny ability to troubleshoot your problems.. With a Volvo, chances are the some of the people online have dealt with the same things you have already.

I only make the Volvo recommendation to people who plan on learning about the cars and knowing why/how they break down. Volvos are simply too expensive to own if you ever take them to a dealership to be worked on. There is no way I could have afforded to keep my original 242 if I would not have met my friend. I'd probably be driving a Ford or Chevy car now, at a higher cost...

So here I am today driving them, and I keep coming back to them as my cars (my wife isn't really sold on them, so she'll probably end up buying whatever she wants, making me sad...) Now that I've made the jump to the 850s, and am comfortable with them, I will probably make the logical progression to a V70 at some point when they come down in price further.