Looking to buy 1996 850 Turbo w/ 135K, need advice

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 03 Mar 2008, 14:39

You might have gotten a good deal on a decent car. It's too early to say. Change out the struts, the strut mounts and the spring seats to begin with and also look at and consider the sway bar end links. Personally, I would buy the heavy duty end links from www.ipdusa.com (cheaper than OEM Volvo links and now warrantied for 5 years I believe) and get the strut and related parts from www.shox.com Call them because they don't list the strut mounts and spring seats on their site but they have them. This way you save on some shipping. Save yourself some money and buy the Bilstein Touring (TC) struts...cheaper than OEM and less of a jarring ride. For your other Volvo necessities shop at www.fcpgroton.com or eeuroparts.com The last place offers free shipping on orders of $39 or more. For suspension parts, whatever you do, avoid ScanTech products. They are cheaper and tempting but usually last about a year at most.

chuckcintron · Post by **chuckcintron** » 03 Mar 2008, 16:11

Unless you are dealing with a safety issue, I would not put a dime into the car until I've had some more ownership time with it -- to fully comprehend everything that it might need. As JRL indicated, there are some known health issues with this breed:

1. AC evaporator. Did your mechanic do a dye-test and black light in the climate system housing?

2. ABS module. If it hasn't been repaired or replaced, it will need to be at some point.

3. Secondary air injection system. The blowback (SAS) valve eventually fails and allows the exhaust system to nuke the air pump.

4. PNP switch. One of the first signs is the backup lights not coming on when the car is in reverse.

5. PCV system. Did your mechanic check for negative pressure in the crankcase? A quick check is to see if any vapors are blowing out of the oil dipstick tube.

6. Steering rack. Is it leaking?

7. Various oil leaks...turbo return line (if it has one), rear main seal, camshaft seal, etc. Sometimes caused by clogged PCV system.

Some of these are more of an issue than others, but the point is that you are driving a big unknown right now and I would wait until I know some more before I start the money pit routine. At least then you can pick your battles.

-Chuck

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 03 Mar 2008, 17:14

Not trying to disappoint a new owner of a Volvo, but as Chuck says all of what he mentions are potential problems and weak points on your car, not that all of these are wrong with yours, but potentially, depending on how much maintenance was done, it is possible. The most important of the list
Chuck gave is probably the PCV system and PNP switch because without these working properly your car will either not start and/or run properly and positive pressure can cause damage to your engine seals. The other stuff can wait, depending on how committed you are to keeping your Volvo and fixing it up.

What I would do as soon as you take ownership of the car is to read the codes so you know what's going on with it. Also, if you haven't already done so, get a good look under the car for leaks and also check out your PCV system. There is plenty written here about how to do this in the repair database section. I guess if I were you I would get everything mechanically sound first before putting new struts in the car and immediately spending hundreds of dollars. I think that's what Chuck was really trying to do...keep you from spending and spending, because on a 14 year old Volvo that's very easy to do.

Please post back and let us know how things are going.

julesr_23 · Post by **julesr_23** » 04 Mar 2008, 17:39

I wouldn't go crazy investing money into it (800$ is by no means crazy for a 96). But be assured that car will last you a long time to come. You got a great deal.
congrats,

------------------
07 c70
93 850 glt 270km
84 240 wagon RIP

phunkdeefied · Post by **phunkdeefied** » 04 Mar 2008, 18:02

Well, I have taken all you have had to say in consideration. I bought an Equus 3100c to help diagnose potential issues. I bought it from Amazon, so I won't get it here until next week probably. But based on your comments, I thought before I take it to the shop, I should get a little information for myself.

Besides that, I'm loving the car! I'll keep you posted!

Serge850T · Post by **Serge850T** » 04 Mar 2008, 18:29

Bought 1994 Volvo 850t sedan a week ago and I already spent on change engine and transmission oil, rack-pinion assembly, air filter, probably timing belt and water pump in the future and PCV cleaning or change, etc... but I still like my Volvo. It might last longer than expected. Mileage is 128t

phunkdeefied · Post by **phunkdeefied** » 08 Mar 2008, 06:38

I got the scanner in the mail yesterday. I hooked it up to the car and the results that came back were No DTC's stored.... but the "emission status" light was yellow and there were 4 I/M Monitor status that were saying "test incomplete". So my question is how do I complete those tests?
I tried erasing, driving the car around the block and tested again. Same results.
By the way the scanner is an Equus 3100a.

I have been driving the car all week and am very pleased, aside from the struts the car seems to be fine.

Post by **JRL** » 08 Mar 2008, 07:35

Have fun!
This can be a real PIA.
These are the toughest cars to get "ready" for emmisions.
If this car had a dead battery, that alone could have thrown it off.
There is a specific drive cycle that you have to do or just try and drive it normally for 2 to 300 miles and retest.
If that doesn't work, I or someone here can post that drive cycle for ya.
I had to drive a car for 5 days two weeks ago to get it "ready" for emmisions.
All that was wrong is it had a dead battery which blanked out all the readiness

phunkdeefied · Post by **phunkdeefied** » 08 Mar 2008, 07:43

The previous owner just replaced the battery last week, for leaving the lights on. So you are spot on! I'll drive it around this weekend and periodically test it. I'll let you know what comes up....

chuckcintron · Post by **chuckcintron** » 08 Mar 2008, 13:19

Good luck...let us know what goes down.

I hate to be a pessimist, but the battery being dead and the car being not ready for emissions testing sounds too convenient to me. On an 850 with daytime driving lights on all the time, you almost have to TRY to leave the lights on by accident. And why would that require the battery to be replaced? Why didn't the mechanic you brought the car to plug a scanner and tell you this ahead of time?

-Chuck