Testament to 850 durability

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 28 May 2010, 11:13

This post is a testament to the durability of the 850 range as well as a testament to my own stupidity. The other day I was working on the PNP and making a write up for it. I unfortunately had a little mis-hap during that project. Before I begin I'll point a few things out. My ebrake isn't adjusted; when I replaced the rear rotors and pads I loosened the ebrake shoes and forgot to readjust them. Second, I did not have my wheels blocked. And finally my driveway is a bit of a hill. So I was standing in front of my car, car in Park, working on the PNP. I started undoing the nut holding the shift cable arm to the PNP switch itself. As anyone who has done this repair will know, when you undo that nut you are bound to shift the car out of Park and into some other gear. As luck would have it, I undid the nut and my car shifted into neutral. With no ebrake, my wheels not blocked and a sloping driveway this led to a problem...my car started rolling forward. with me in front of it. Standing in front of the car I was very surprised to find a 4k lb Volvo rolling toward me, so I did the only logical thing and smart thing possible: I tried to stop it by pushing it back.

It didn't work.

My car rolled off of my driveway, smacked the front left (driver) side off a tree, smacked the rear left (driver side) tire off that same tree, almost rolled onto its roof, continued down my front lawn, off one 8inch curb, onto the street, across the street, over another 8inch curb, and finally stopped in a large gather of bushes and other plants.

I was ready for the worst, but no. The stubborn Volvo refused to die. In fact the ONLY damage was a flat rear tire and a scratch, no dents, cracks, anything, on the bumper! Yesterday I took her in to Pep Boys to get a new tire and today I went in to NTB to have an alignment done. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that after all of this, all of the wheels were STILL within specs for the alignment! A tree and 2 tall curbs were not enough to damage anything important or scew my alignment!

This incident was my own fault but I am still amazed at how rugged this car is. Attached is a picture of my driveway for reference. In the following 2 pictures, the first ‘X’ marks where she hit the tree, and the 2nd marks where she stopped. In the second picture you can still see the tire marks in my front lawn. ::sigh::

- Marcin

: driveway.jpg (107.17 KiB) Viewed 1401 times

: driveway2.jpg (135.97 KiB) Viewed 1401 times

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 28 May 2010, 11:29

I was trying to hold it in until the part about pushing back against it!

I'm glad nothing was damaged too bad, but hey it makes for interesting stories and good entertainment for us forum dwellers! I imagine you'll be motivated to fix your e-brake?

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 28 May 2010, 11:33

ecbsykes wrote:I was trying to hold it in until the part about pushing back against it!

I'm glad nothing was damaged too bad, but hey it makes for interesting stories and good entertainment for us forum dwellers! I imagine you'll be motivated to fix your e-brake?

Haha, I'm glad it made you laugh. I was trying to present it in a humorous light. And yes I am motivated to fix the ebrakes...I'm debating whether to do it right now or not. lol

Post by **jblackburn** » 28 May 2010, 11:35

You should do that before it tries to escape again

It looks like you plotted its moves like a football announcer. "Tackled that tree, then fakes right, runs left, and TOUCHDOWN!"

Back in high school, my parents would take whichever car was in back when they had to run out at night. Since I got home late-ish, it would usually be mine. I went out to warm it up and scrape the ice off one morning, not realizing my mom had left the parking brake off (manual transmission), and when I came back I found my car wedged up under the back end of dad's brand new Jeep. Didn't hurt either, but I would have never heard the end of it

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 28 May 2010, 11:41

Haha...Writing this post I was reminded of your story of smashing into a gaurd rail after a blowout and only bending a control arm.

Post by **jblackburn** » 28 May 2010, 11:48

Oh, not a guard rail...I'm sure one of those would have won...I just slid sideways and jumped up over the median thingy with bushes in the middle. I don't recommend trying it, but I did get a nice check back from the power company that didn't secure the metal sheet on the back of their truck. I guess I got a free whole new set of tires out of it though...

Of course, I'm sure they've been ripping me off on my power bill ever since...

TIKIFULWOOD · Post by **TIKIFULWOOD** » 28 May 2010, 12:49

How about this one..!

After working for three days to get the beast ready for her mot. I woke up with ten minutes to get to the test centre, so the rush was on. Got in and the starter motor decided to play up due to a dodgey solinoid that I knew about. To be honest, it had been like that for ages and I'd had the motor off, stripped, cleaned and refitted about four times. All that work would last a few months and save me a the cost of a new motor I thought. So turned the key to go and hey, the problem surfaced.! I pulled the bonnet catch to go and hit the motor with a hammer (sometimes worked) but she kicked into life. I then drove off, forgetting to close the bonnet properly. Got up to 50mph and 'BANG', the bonnet opened and smashed against the screen and roof and i couldn't see a thing. pulled over and peeled the bonnet back into place. This all happened because the safety catch had rusted up and I stupidly hadn't realised.

Damage was top of the wings and bonnet edges where they touched, and slightly out of shape hinges and thats all. Roof, screen, bonnet fine. In fact, she now looks like one of those 'ricer's' where the rear of the bonnet is raised to help hot air escape. A guy at my local 'hand car wash' even asked me the other day if I had "Something special under the bonnet". Result.

Proper car.

Post by **matthew1** » 28 May 2010, 12:59

You can see the tracks in the grass.

Funny and educational all in one!

Post by **jtp** » 28 May 2010, 16:36

These cars are durable!! I actually purchased my s70 because I had a very similar mishap with an older Jetta, and it was totalled.

Post by **Hoov** » 28 May 2010, 21:32

Damn NICRAM! Hehe … Delighted the lawn has tire tracks & not you!!

Such a natural reaction the first time something like that happens though. I did the same thing years ago but the grade was not as steep so instead I found myself holding the vehicle but not being able to do anything else. … “HONEY!!!!”
She came out of the house (as did a bunch of neighbors) & didn’t understand what was going on so while sweating blood, I had to explain it to her. (In front of same said neighbors) When she finally stopped laughing she eventually saved me & the pickup. That particular story NEVER stopped being told! EVER!

BTW, GREAT write up on the PNP. You will do well in your chosen profession.
Fact is, if you ever wrote a complete manual folks would pay four times the price of “Haynes” & “Haynes” would never sell another Ovlov manual!
Well done Marcin & says something about you. Despite the humiliation, this story will prevent a folk or two from major injury or death. Not trying to be melo dramatic but awareness is a good thing. ... ... ... It is funny as hell though!

Hoov