1995 Volvo 850 - is it worth a buy?

[mazzaw12]

Hallo, Grüße aus Berlin.

So, in the last 3 years I've being taking care of a 1994 Volvo 850 2.4 10v GLE State that is slowly dying on my hands.
It is fairly easy to work on it due to the lack of electronics. I bought a Haynes Workbook from the UK and it has been my Volvo Bible. I also watch Robert DYI on Youtube, he has a whole series on those cars.

My B5252S engine has a blown head gasket and the rear main seal need to be changed. None of those issues stopped it. It has 285000km and no oil burn, no water in oil, no engine knock, liveable. This winter it lost a voltage regulator, killed a battery, and developed a sticky front brake. It's always something new, but never boring. I find it funny and only with an old pice of s*** car can one be happy when it just works hahaha

I've being buying important parts from Skandix and not so important ones from Ebay, like the metal gas cover that a car wash just ate after a wash.

I bough mine for 1600 euros and already put more than 3k euros in parts and work on it. It's a worthy car, if you start with one in a decent condition. Now I'm saving money to buy a V70 99-2003 so it has some newer rubber seals and gaskets.

A tip for your AC, it may only be missing gas, no AC is 100% sealed and it naturally loses 5-10% gas charge a year under normal conditions. On the passenger side, there is a pressure sensor on the AC line. You can jump it with the AC and engine on and see if it starts the compressor Don't let it run for too long because it will destroy your AC compressor. If nothing happens you have bigger problems

I wish you the best of luck

[scot850]

They can take a few Euro's to bring back to being reliable. Over here they can take a lot as once they get a few years old, owners stop doing the regular maintenance and run them broken until something big finally takes them out.

They can be good solid cars, an I am of the opinion the basic non-turbos are the easiest to maintain. We got some 10V motors here in 850 versions but not a lot. 20V are the most common.

Good luck keeping the car going!

Like Abscate I help some local owners, particularly those with little money, to keep their cars running reliably. Not just P80 models but now P1, Ps and a couple of P3's have had some help but I am much less knowledgeable on those.

Neil.