850 Radio problem and Ridiculous dealer...

powersct · Post by **powersct** » 28 Feb 2005, 18:33

This seems like a thoughtful board, so here's my story- any help is appreciated...

I have a '96 850 with 98K miles. We have owned many Volvos over the years, so I am accustomed to the quirks...

One of the kids left the interior light on and the battery went low, therefore the radio went to 'code'. No problem, I enter the code (I know it's right because I've used it before) and the number just sits there in the window. So I call the dealer- Immediate response- "The radio has failed and you will need to buy a new one". I won't even bother to tell you the ridiculous quote. After seaching boards, etc. I can't find an answer to the problem.

Finally, I give up and buy one on eBay for around $300 (a bargain compared to the dealer quote). It comes, I install it punch in the code and it works great...for about two weeks when the battery gets abused by one of the kids again- SAME PROBLEM with this one too. This is nuts. Searching around the web looking at radio repair sites, they've heard the problem before and refuse to fix them- does anyone out there know what's going on here???

Thanks again

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 01 Mar 2005, 19:07

There are some guys that know how to fix the Volvo radios over in the Audio Forum at Volvospeed. If they can't help, you can get a pretty good aftermarket Head Unit installed for around $200 USD. That's what I have done in my car.