Login Register

Control Module replacement on 1997 850

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

Post Reply
tryingbe
Posts: 1893
Joined: 18 June 2009
Year and Model: None
Location: Mesa, AZ, USA
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 26 times

Re: Control Module replacement on 1997 850

Post by tryingbe »

DavidB wrote: Question is: I don't know exactly which 1997 850 the car is, it doesn't say inside the door or on the title, but from my part search on eBay all of them did say it was for a turbo (P09189155 & P 09442107), how else might I find out?
DavidB wrote:I did get the TCM and ECM on eBay and so will try those first.
STOP


I don't mean disrespect or rude but you have NO BUSINESS touching ECM and TCM. ECU and TCM are specific to the options of the car. N/A is different than 2.3L turbo and 2.3L turbo is different than 2.4L turbo, you can to serious damage on the car. Put down the boxes and walk away.
85 GLH, 367 whp
00 Insight, 72 mpg

DavidB
Posts: 16
Joined: 11 September 2016
Year and Model: 1997 850
Location: Aurora

Post by DavidB »

tryingbe wrote:
DavidB wrote: Question is: I don't know exactly which 1997 850 the car is, it doesn't say inside the door or on the title, but from my part search on eBay all of them did say it was for a turbo (P09189155 & P 09442107), how else might I find out?
DavidB wrote:I did get the TCM and ECM on eBay and so will try those first.
STOP


I don't mean disrespect or rude but you have NO BUSINESS touching ECM and TCM. ECU and TCM are specific to the options of the car. N/A is different than 2.3L turbo and 2.3L turbo is different than 2.4L turbo, you can to serious damage on the car. Put down the boxes and walk away.
I matched the part numbers exactly according to what was in the car. Are there options that are programmed into the ECM specific to the car itself or options other than the 3 you mentioned? I think you may have inferred backwards from what I said. I did not infer that the car was a turbo from the parts that I found on ebay. I inferred it was a turbo from the fact that the part numbers which matched the ECM parts in the car were labelled as turbo by the sellers.

DavidB
Posts: 16
Joined: 11 September 2016
Year and Model: 1997 850
Location: Aurora

Post by DavidB »

erikv11 wrote:There are a few ways to find out which 850 it is, here are some:

(2) use the VIN, do you have that number anywhere handy? Use this page http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/199 ... n1997.html and find out the engine code. Code 55 is non-turbo, the rest are turbo, tell us the code.
It is a 56 --> 56 = B5254T Emissions = 4 (850AWD Canada)

User avatar
BEJinFbk
Posts: 4067
Joined: 5 January 2008
Year and Model: '98 V70 R
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Has thanked: 93 times
Been thanked: 146 times

Post by BEJinFbk »

You seem to be chasing the bad advise that you first received.
The ECMs on these cars outlast the vehicle 99.99999% of the time.

There are things on these cars that wear and need attention
and things that generally don't. Bosch makes a solid ECM.
You're just spinning your wheels on the brain box if you have
codes for obvious things that are a whole lot more likely to
give you trouble.

Save yourself some time and effort and before you do anything else,
get the codes and follow the trouble shooting path they lead you down.
That's what the OBD ll system is for.
'98 V70 R - Well Equipped for Life Up North... ;)

User avatar
erikv11  
Posts: 11801
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
Has thanked: 293 times
Been thanked: 765 times

Post by erikv11 »

DavidB wrote:
erikv11 wrote:There are a few ways to find out which 850 it is, here are some:

(2) use the VIN, do you have that number anywhere handy? Use this page http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/199 ... n1997.html and find out the engine code. Code 55 is non-turbo, the rest are turbo, tell us the code.
It is a 56 --> 56 = B5254T Emissions = 4 (850AWD Canada)
So with VIN 56 the car is a 2.5L turbo, if it is indeed a 97 then your car is a 97 850 GLT with the LPT (low pressure turbo). In that case you got lucky, in that any turbo ECU will work with the car without causing damage, but if the emissions on the new ECU don't match the emissions equipment on your car, you will get a Check Engine Light error code. Your car's ECU runs what is called m4.4 but if the ECU from eBay is m4.3 then your A/C may not work with the eBay ECU.

I didn't pay close attention to what you said about ECU numbers. The easiest way for us to confirm what ECU you bought is if you post a picture of the ECU label with the numbers.

Everything these other guys are saying has been true and appropriate - there is almost no way the ECU is the problem. But you can test it if you want to see for yourself; I would first get confirmation about the ECU part numbers by posting a pic.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

DavidB
Posts: 16
Joined: 11 September 2016
Year and Model: 1997 850
Location: Aurora

Post by DavidB »

TL:DR PCM seems to have worked

Update. The PCM seems to have worked. I put them in and it ran at first. Drove it over to where my wife was parked. Then I couldn't get it to stay on once again. Then it got to where I had to grind the ignition for a bit to get it to turn over and then it would die immediately after turning over... But it looked like this was the battery (it had been sitting for a month) because the lights were acting kind of faint and the ignition was getting progressively "slower" sounding (if that makes sense). We were going to jump it but thought we would wait until day light.

This morning I went back and it started up just fine. Held the gas for a little while at 2k rpm. It was staying at idle. So I drove it around the parking lot a bit. It died once on the way back to where the wife was but that was an uphill and the genius in front of my had to go as slow as possible for no apparent reason.

So I drove it home. It died once stuck on an uphill at a red light, and the gas was kind of hesitating for a while, but seemed to start responding normally by the time I got it home (30 mins drive due to traffic jam).

QUESTIONS:
1) There was a smell of melting plastic. I opened the hood before I drove it to see if there was anything obvious going on but couldn't see anything. Wife mentioned that maybe they dropped something in there... IDK ... any thoughts on that.. I think it was kind of a stupid move on my part to drive it with that going on but I can't make any progress letting this car sit 30 mins from my apartment...

2) Any suggestions on where I should host pics? It has been ages since I have had to host a pic somewhere for a forum... (the one PCM has a burn on it, they weren't making that up, I thought I would share a pic)

I will go tomorrow to get it scanned and update with the OBD codes.
thanks again for all your help folks!

User avatar
erikv11  
Posts: 11801
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
Has thanked: 293 times
Been thanked: 765 times

Post by erikv11 »

(1) I have no good ideas on this one. Keep looking around for the source? Back near the exhaust maybe, etc.

(2) You can upload pics directly to this forum when you make a post. It's actually better than 3rd site hosting, that way they are never lost from the post.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

User avatar
misha
Posts: 5379
Joined: 7 December 2008
Year and Model: '97 850 2.5 20v
Location: Serbia
Has thanked: 152 times
Been thanked: 402 times

Post by misha »

You wouldn't be able to scan the codes untill check engine light turn on again because you removed ecu(s).
Every time you remove them from the box or disconnect battery cables,ecu reset itself and stored codes disappears.

About that car ran ok after ecu swap for a while is because ecu(s)ran on default settings for a while untill they gathered informations from various sensors and valves.As soon as they realised that something is wrong car started to behave the same as before.

So...when check engine light turns on,do what all of us adviced you to do...read the codes and post them here.
About pictures....no need for hosting...you can upload them directly to mvs via attachment option.
'97 850 2.5 20v / fully equipped / Motronic 4.4 from the factory / upgraded with S,V,C,XC70 instrument cluster / polar white wagon
History of Volvos in the family:
'71 144 S
'73 144 De Luxe
'78 244 DL
'78 244 DL
'79 244 GLE
'85 340 GLS

DavidB
Posts: 16
Joined: 11 September 2016
Year and Model: 1997 850
Location: Aurora

Post by DavidB »

20160919_104956_resized.jpg

tryingbe
Posts: 1893
Joined: 18 June 2009
Year and Model: None
Location: Mesa, AZ, USA
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 26 times

Post by tryingbe »

Bad MAF sensor or vacuum leak for P0171 and P0103.

Look for torn hoses, loose hose clamps, broken vacuum lines, etc.
85 GLH, 367 whp
00 Insight, 72 mpg

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post