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Need advice on best price/quality 850 heater core

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

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JimBee
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Year and Model: 93 and 2 96 850's
Location: Minneapolis
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Need advice on best price/quality 850 heater core

Post by JimBee »

Heater cores on ebay are around $110.00, ranging to $145.00 on FCP. Does anyone have experience with the lower price units?
Thanks for information :D

xjflexer
Posts: 109
Joined: 15 June 2010
Year and Model: '96 850 R Wagon
Location: Richmond, VA

Post by xjflexer »

When I had to do the heatercore due to seepage and coolant smell with heat on on my '96 850R, I did some research on this site and it appears that the best is the Behr unit, which is the one from FCP. There have been a lot of complaints about the "lesser quality" units suffering catastrophic failures within 15-20 miles of replacement.

NoMechanic
Posts: 10
Joined: 11 January 2010
Year and Model: 2004 S60 Turbo
Location: Indiana

Post by NoMechanic »

FCP also guarantees their parts. If you have a faulty part, they will replace. I have used them many times including having to return an O2 sensor. They were lightening fast .... highly recommend. Spend the extra $35.

Ozark Lee
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Post by Ozark Lee »

The only thing I found with the FCP core (I think it was a Behr but I'm not 100% sure) was that it was slightly narrower than the OEM and as a result the heater needs to be cranked up a much higher than it was with the OEM to get the same amount of heat due to it not sealing off to the side of the climate unit as tightly as the OEM.

This was on a system with the MCC.

...Lee
'94 850 N/A 5 speed
'96 Platinum Edition Turbo
Previous:
1999 V70XC - Nautic Blue - Totaled while parked.
1999 V70XC - RIP - Wrecked Parts Car.
1998 S70 T5
1996 850 N/A
1989 740 GLT
1986 740 GLT
1972 142 Grand Luxe

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