Login Register

96 850 NA misfires, hard start, stalls

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

Post Reply
User avatar
abscate
MVS Moderator
Posts: 35273
Joined: 17 February 2013
Year and Model: 99: V70s S70s,05 V70
Location: Port Jefferson Long Island NY
Has thanked: 1498 times
Been thanked: 3810 times

Re: 96 850 NA misfires, hard start, stalls

Post by abscate »

Has anyone tried cleaning up those caps with a Dremel to see if you can get some more life out of them, or hold them as emergency spares? Its not like reusing oil or something like that.
Empty Nester
A Captain in a Sea of Estrogen
1999-V70-T5M56 2005-V70-M56 1999-S70 VW T4 XC90-in-Red
Link to Maintenance record thread

User avatar
rspi
Posts: 7303
Joined: 5 November 2011
Year and Model: 850 T-5R Wagon
Location: Cincinnati OH
Has thanked: 34 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Contact:

Post by rspi »

Spark Plug Replacement, Volvo Tune Up - Auto Replacement:

Last edited by rspi on 07 Feb 2017, 08:18, edited 1 time in total.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos

User avatar
rspi
Posts: 7303
Joined: 5 November 2011
Year and Model: 850 T-5R Wagon
Location: Cincinnati OH
Has thanked: 34 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Contact:

Post by rspi »

abscate wrote:Has anyone tried cleaning up those caps with a Dremel to see if you can get some more life out of them, or hold them as emergency spares? Its not like reusing oil or something like that.
Looking at the cap on my phone, it looked like it had 2 cracks in it.

Besides that, I was just thinking that, clean off the carbon and keep rolling. Maybe something I will try in the future.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos

User avatar
erikv11
Posts: 11800
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 765 times

Post by erikv11 »

rips wrote:... The date pattern is week/year ...
Well this one puzzled me, didn't seem right, so I went and looked at my parts car, which has old wires. Yep, they are year/week (96/xx). Then last night I had the hood open on my V70 - sure enough the date code on them is week/year (25/10).

I wonder if Bougicord changed the date code system at some point? I will look around at some other wire sets, see what I see.

But I'd be interested to know what date codes other people see, especially with older wires.
Last edited by erikv11 on 07 Feb 2017, 12:10, edited 1 time in total.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

User avatar
erikv11
Posts: 11800
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 765 times

Post by erikv11 »

OK so I guess Bougicord changed the date code, and for at least 10 years it has been week-year. So OP Robert was right. But the old way was year-week, my guess they changed it in 2000? I didn't shoot any pics of the old wires, short lunch break, wish I had now ...
2006 date code
2006 date code
2010 date code
2010 date code
2012 date code
2012 date code
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

User avatar
erikv11
Posts: 11800
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 765 times

Post by erikv11 »

rspi wrote: ... The date pattern is week/year ...
Just to complete the story, here's a pic showing how the cars came from the factory, with reversed date pattern year/week:
1996 date code - pattern is reversed
1996 date code - pattern is reversed
Does anyone know when Bougicord changed the date pattern?
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

User avatar
sleddriver
Posts: 975
Joined: 8 April 2010
Year and Model: 1998 V70 T5
Location: Tx
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 12 times

Post by sleddriver »

abscate wrote:Has anyone tried cleaning up those caps with a Dremel to see if you can get some more life out of them, or hold them as emergency spares?
I have. Did it last year. It wasn't as old as the OP's though. I removed the carbon tracking, gently filed the 5 posts smooth to remove the pits and cleaned up the rotor edge. Just enough to remove the pits. No problems.
1998 V70 T5 226,808 miles. Original Owner.
M1 10W-30 HM

User avatar
rspi
Posts: 7303
Joined: 5 November 2011
Year and Model: 850 T-5R Wagon
Location: Cincinnati OH
Has thanked: 34 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Contact:

Post by rspi »

I believe I have seen wires dated 42 02. I do recall seeing the original wires with 93 xx dates.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos

ashitaka695
Posts: 46
Joined: 13 July 2016
Year and Model: 1994 850
Location: New Mexico
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by ashitaka695 »

I experienced a similar situation with my 94. It ended up being the plug wires and crankcase breather. The breather needed servicing so oil had been spewing from the oil cap and dipstick. The oil made its way into the plug holes, ultimately causing the plug boots to break down and leak spark. It seemed that certain conditions caused the spark to leak worse so the problem was intermittent and when it was misfiring very "mysterious". I started with the fuel system and then air intake system and finally the ignition system last. Needless to say that's when I finally found my problem.

User avatar
eriscentro
Posts: 119
Joined: 12 December 2011
Year and Model: 96 850, 01 S60
Location: New Jersey

Post by eriscentro »

ashitaka695 wrote:I experienced a similar situation with my 94. It ended up being the plug wires and crankcase breather. The breather needed servicing so oil had been spewing from the oil cap and dipstick. The oil made its way into the plug holes, ultimately causing the plug boots to break down and leak spark. It seemed that certain conditions caused the spark to leak worse so the problem was intermittent and when it was misfiring very "mysterious". I started with the fuel system and then air intake system and finally the ignition system last. Needless to say that's when I finally found my problem.
Interesting. Only one of my plug wires is stained, and has been for several years (I believe it's the one to the left or right of the PCV host that comes out of the top of the engine). It's completely dry since I had done the PCV a year or two ago and cleaned up all the pooled oil around the plugs at that time. If the wires are from '04, I have no idea how many miles are on them since we got the car in late 2008. I should order a set of plugs and wires and replace them, might as well.

So far so good; I've put 50-100 miles on in a couple trips since I replaced the parts, and haven't had any issues. That's not too comforting though, since it's hard to tell when a random problem is fixed :x. As a noted, the last time I had a no-start was several years ago, completely out of nowhere, and I've had no issues since recently. I remember that the problem was exactly the same as last week: no start, stall in gear, rough idle, and it 'resolved itself' and ran fine after 20 or so (very stressful) minutes. How strange!

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post