Diary of a 17 y/o with an 850

[shihabafi]

At least remove that duct tape and try some form of epoxy or see if you can replace what was broken.

I pulled out some spare hose that I got for my PCV job, fit nice and snug.

You can't just plug in a TPS to do that test, the TPS must be mounted on the throttle body first.

Unplugging an electronic sensor while the car is running is uniformly not advised on a P80 car, try to never do that.

Excuse my informality. When I said "plugged in", I meant mounted and then plugged in.

I took mostly everything apart to get to the intake, and when I put it back, it stopped. So I think I took care of it. I think. It's still running a bit rough, but now it's at least drivable.

[RickHaleParker]

I took mostly everything apart to get to the intake, and when I put it back, it stopped. So I think I took care of it. I think. It's still running a bit rough, but now it's at least drivable.

The vacuum hoses are almost 1/4 century old. A lot of small leaks would add up. You might want to get some spools of hoses and do a vacuum system rebuild.

[shihabafi]

I was talking to my friend the other day near my car, when he decided to pull out my dipstick. It was barren. So yesterday I put in 2 Quarts of oil. I can't tell if I put too much in, or I didn't put enough in, but it looks and feels to me that the dipstick is still dry. Then I started looking under the car, and found that I had oil residue all under my car. So I wiped it all up, and payed attention and I drove around, and sure enough - I've got a leak somewhere. It's dripping from the oil filter, the frame, the pan, even got some on the wheelwell somehow. Where do I start looking for my leak?

So it recently came to my attention that I have officially been driving this car for over a year, so happy 1 year anniversary to us. (You all are included in this as well - we wouldn't be here without you.)

The other day I went drifting in a parking lot, hit some mud and slowly slid towards a curb. The car is fine for the most part, planning on getting new wheels eventually anyways so it didn't bother me much. But the alignment was screwed up, so I wanted to go ahead and get it taken care of. TirePlus had a $150 Lifetime Alignment service, so I thought "hey, why not?" and went on over.

They told me my car was "unsafe to work on", "very likely to kill me", and that I needed "$1563.50 worth of repairs before (they) could consider it safe to work on." Suuuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeeee TirePlus, sure. In fact, they literally just called me to ask me why I gave them a bad customer service review. I wonder...

They said one of my lower control arms were bad, one of my tie rod ends were bad, one of my front rotors were bad, and one of my hubs were bad. I just went ahead and bought pairs of everything for less than 1/3 of the cost. You won't steal my money today TirePlus!!!

[erikv11]

I'd check the connections of the the oil trap box to the block, for one.

[abscate]

It’s possible to cross the oring on the canister style oil filter which will make a real oil mess.

On an old car like this, you have to check oil every 1000 miles or so until you get comfortable with its pattern. Always scan the driveway and parking lot for leaks and fluids.

2 liters down in the sump is 1/3 of your oil supply, much lower than that can end your Volvos life

[shihabafi]

I found the issue - I think. It looked like my dipstick tube was improperly seated. I don't know when or how this happened, but I'm sure glad I caught it before it got worse. Went ahead and ordered the updated one. Can't believe I've spent $20 on shipping alone in the past week. Thanks iPD. The suspension parts came in, so I'll need to get everything fixed as soon as possible. But before that, I've got my first car meet that I'll be taking my car to this upcoming weekend. I'll try to get some pictures for everyone.

[abscate]

Can't believe I've spent $20 on shipping alone in the past week.

We used to drive***** 100s of miles to pick up parts before people would ship stuff. Our time and 55 cpm is a lot more expensive than shipping!

There is no such thing as free shipping - its built into item cost price.


*** After which you had to water the horses and lube the carriage wheels with grease for the trip back

[shihabafi]

Hey everyone,

I know it's been a long time since I last posted, this entire forum has slipped my mind until recently. 19 now, and I have to juggle 2 full-time schools, so needless to say I haven't been loafing about. Currently the car is at at almost 270k, and it's been both good and bad. I've started focusing a little on cosmetics, as we'll see below, but there have been mechanical upgrades, as well as help that I actually need.

So here's a few of the things I've done:

Mechanical:
- Replaced Inner and Outer Tie Rods (all by myself! )
- Replaced all 4 wheels hubs
- Installed T5 wheels

Cosmetic:
- Smoke tinted tail lights
- Added a #BuiltNotBought sticker with VolvoBroad font
- Currently working on painting the mirrors black and wrapping the roof in gloss black wrap


And here are some of the issues I've still got to worry about:

Mechanical issues:

- Fuel leak (I believe it's because I only have 1 EGR valve screw installed right now (I lost the other one), so I was actually hoping someone could help me out with an extra one...)
- Loud whining noise from the rear when the car warms up. Before I thought it was the rear hubs, so I bought a pair, but it solved nothing. Now I'm back to square one, with a little bit of hearing loss I think...

Cosmetic issues:

- Faded paint
- Faded plastic
- Just generally dirty

and now for pictures:

I feel like I'm forgetting to say something, but then again I always am. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

[misha]

Nice wheels...they are from T5...but S,V70 T5.
850 had different shaped spokes.
These ones looks better.
That loud whining sound could be from...about to fail...fuel pump.

[shihabafi]

That loud whining sound could be from...about to fail...fuel pump.

Doubt it, the sound's been going on for over a year now. If it was about to fail, it would've done so already, knowing how often I put the car through its paces...