'95 850 Turbo wagon repairs

[MarkMc]

In need of some advice regarding a plan for repairing my 1995 850 Turbo Wagon (140,000 miles). I

[vegasjetskier]

I don't see anything on there that you couldn't do yourself (probably). The hardest job would be changing out the wheel hub. Directions for that here:

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/FWDbearingHub.php

If the wheel nut is just loose, you can tighten that yourself. $383 is way too high to just tighten the nut.

You might have to buy a few tools, but you'll save a lot on the labor. Be sure you put the car on jackstands before you slide under it.

My main concern would be the blue smoke from the exhaust. This means there's oil in the exhaust - either burned in the cylinder (bad rings, worn cylinders, or leaking valve guide seals) or leaked in, maybe from the turbo. What did the shop say about it? I don't know if the infamous Volvo PCV system could cause this. Anyone else?

Did they give you a reason for the catalytic converter? Did it fail smog? I wouldn't change that out until the other issues are resolved, especially the O2 sensors.

Here's how to do the engine mount:

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/front_mount.php

For the exhaust mount, you might be able to just take it to a muffler shop and have it welded (or weld it yourself if you have the skill).

Try changing the plugs, distributor cap, and rotor to get rid of the misfire and get the power back. Cap and rotor directions here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/volvo- ... 0-s70-v70/

You can do your own transmission "flush." Here's how: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/chat/p ... php?t=8767

FYI, there are a ton of repairs for your car listed here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/repairs.php#850

[MarkMc]

I appreciate the feedback, and all the useful links. I talked to the shop in regard to your two questions.

My main concern would be the blue smoke from the exhaust. This means there's oil in the exhaust - either burned in the cylinder or leaked in, maybe from the turbo. What did the shop say about it?

They did not go into this level of diagnosis, so it could be any of the possibilities at this point. What's the best approach in finding the root cause here?

Did they give you a reason for the catalytic converter? Did it fail smog? I wouldn't change that out until the other issues are resolved, especially the O2 sensors.

Turns out that there is NO catalytic converter on the car! Apparently someone welded a muffler in its place. So, it looks like I need to buy one, and a new muffler, perhaps? Can I buy these parts and take them to a muffler shop for welding?

[MadeInJapan]

Certainly you can get a muffler shop to correct the catalytic converter delete. You might check out some after market converters as they are much cheaper and do just a good a job as the Volvo OEM converter. I'm thinking that you might try checking what is recommended for this on the Volvospeed forum if you don't find the answer here for the converter. If I recall, some were buying them off of eBay with good results and Magnaflow comes to mind (they make much more than the muffler). You do need one that has a bung for the 02 sensor at its rear.

[vegasjetskier]

They did not go into this level of diagnosis, so it could be any of the possibilities at this point. What's the best approach in finding the root cause here?

You could do a compression test on all the cylinders. If they all come up good, it's probably not the rings or cylinders. Look at the spark plugs. If they have black lumpy gunk on the ends (which could also be part of the misfire problem), it's probably oil coming into the cylinders. Then it's probably the valve guide seals. If compression is good and spark plugs look good, it's probably a leaky turbo seal (assuming the PCV isn't causing it, but I don't know enough about that system to advise if it could or how to check it).

So to summarize:

1. Compression check bad - probably bad rings and/or cylinders: engine rebuild is in order (or you could try an Auto-RX treatment to try to free up the ring packs, assuming they're just stuck: see http://www.auto-rx.com/).

2. Compression check good but black lumpy crap on spark plugs - probably bad valve guide seals: may need to pull the cylinder head to change these, but I have done them on some car models (not Volvo) by using air pressure to hold the valves up and rigging some tools to remove the valve springs with the head still on the car. Pulling the head gives you the opportunity to clean all the crud off the back (manifold side) of the valves, though (this would improve the performance of the car because the crud is a restriction to the movement of gases).

3. Compression good and spark plugs good: probably turbo leak (or PCV?).

Frankly, if it's just a little bit of smoke and only at idle and they'll let you past inspection with it, I think I'd just go with the Auto-RX treatment for now and see what happens. If it doesn't get any worse, I'd leave it. Just make sure you check your oil level frequently. Or, if you don't want to mess with the mechanical fixes and just want to get past inspection, you can use an old trick - add a can of STP to the oil right before you go to inspection. This stuff is really thick and will reduce oil flow through small passages - sometimes it's enough to reduce oil burning to an undetectable (visually) level.

[vegasjetskier]

So, it looks like I need to buy one, and a new muffler, perhaps? Can I buy these parts and take them to a muffler shop for welding?

Absolutely. Or, just take it to a muffler shop and get an estimate on how much it would be to have them sell you the parts and do the welding all right there. Might be just as cheap.

[MarkMc]

Thanks for all the great responses and advice. Since my last post, I've gotten a lot accomplished:

1. Tune up: New plugs (the old ones were worn, not crudded up in any way), Rotor, and Distributor Cap, and Oil Change/Air Filter.

2. Cleaned/Replaced entire PCV, including PTC. This eliminated the smoking dipstick and increased performance.

3. New upper engine mount

4. Transmission flush

That's about it. Here is new information regarding the problems that remain:

Have not done a compression test yet.

Still burning oil
Oil cooler lines still leak, but have confirmed that it's nothing on the extreme side. Problem might be in the turbo? My question is, should I replace the lines and see if the things get better? I'm not sure how difficult/easy a job this is, so can someone adivse?

Wheel bearing and control arm
This has yet to be done, and I'm considering treating myself by having a shop do it. I don't have the big sockets and E Torx needed for this job either (although those would be a cool investment!). I've read some how to's for this job and it seems extensive, but not impossible. Looks like around $250 in parts from FCP Groton. The shop quoted me $700-800 for the bearing/control arm job. Can anyone tell me their experiences in doing this yourself? I'm wondering if this will be a whole weekend thing diving into it my first time.

[MarkMc]

This should hopefully be my final update under this topic. I completed the wheel bearing and control arm replacement today, which wasn't a big job at all (if you can do a PCV job, than this is a piece of cake!). Car is getting alignment done as we speak.

The blue smoke appears to have subsided (Auto RX treatment, perhaps?) and I no longer get the CEL.

Found a great shop just outside DC in Maryland, called Kelly's Kustoms. They did the Cat install for $200 (includes Cat., pipe fabrication, and O2 sensor hook-up.

So, I think I have completed all the originally noted repairs, aside from the oil cooler lines, which aren't leaking excessively right now. I just wanted to pass this on to say thanks once again, for none of my DIY repairs would be possible without this forum. With that said, consider this thread CLOSED!