Login Register

About To Buy 97 850 T5 Wagon, Help

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
brewer81
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 March 2006
Year and Model:
Location:

About To Buy 97 850 T5 Wagon, Help

Post by brewer81 »

Just wanted to see if anyone could offer some advice:

I found a seemingly solid 1997 850 T5 Wagon and have decided to pick it up at the end of the week. This will be my second 850, but my first wagon and also the first used volvo that I have purchased. The car has 107,000 mi and has been serviced at the same dealership (the one selling it) since 1999. It has had all sched. maintence and seems mechanically sound. The dealership informed me that they have done only two signifigant repairs. The first being CV boots (in 01) and the second was the repair of an oil leak (02). The only issues with the car are two small cosmetic ones (CD player sometimes refuses to eject discs and lift gate area has small piece of bleached carpet).

My question is this, "What problems might I expect to run across in the future". I had a great experience with my last 850 (96 Turbo Sedan) and just want to make sure that there aren't any serious issues to deal with (un-needed). Also anyone know what replacing a timing belt on this car would run? Thanks

MadeInJapan
MVS Moderator
Posts: 13434
Joined: 31 March 2005
Year and Model: '98 S70 T5 '07S40T5
Location: Knoxville, TN American but born in Japan
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 35 times

Post by MadeInJapan »

For the next 30K miles is where the real $$ repairs or wear item replacements come in. Timing belt at 140K miles, Serp. belt at 120K, then the A/C, probably a cam position sensor. ABS module if not done yet (they all go bad), then you have shocks, struts and all of their mounts. You get past that and you have another 100K before a bunch of stuff again. Just keep the tranny flushed and drive it hard instead of putzing around town ever so often. Volvo's like being driven. Oh, and if the pcv system hoses and the oil trap haven't been replaced, I'd go ahead and do that so you don't have a rear engine seal begin leaking. Ask the dealer, he may have already done this as it's suppose to be checked every 60K miles. Good luck!
'98 S70 T5 Emrld Grn Met/Beige Tons of Upgrades Mobil-1
'04 V70 2.5T Red/Taupe Some Upgrades Mobil-1
'07 S40 T5 AWD 6 speed manual! Silver/Black Stage1 Heico & Elevate
'07 S60 2.5T Blue/Taupe- my kid's Volvo

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post