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1997 Volvo 850 Having Trouble Starting, O2 sensor?

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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Hale
Posts: 1
Joined: 29 September 2017
Year and Model: 1997 850
Location: Chicago, IL

1997 Volvo 850 Having Trouble Starting, O2 sensor?

Post by Hale »

My 1997 Volvo 850 Turbo has been having some difficulty starting these past few days.
I bought it about a month ago, replaced the alternator, getting the feeling that this car has been neglected...
Knew it felt weird starting it one day, noticed that it took an extra moment to start up... Then later wouldn't really start at all. After trying again it seemed to start fine. I just still feel this moment of hesitation.
Check engine light came on and my diagnostics told me it was the O2 sensor. Could this possible lack of oxygen reaching the engine be creating my startup problem?

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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

Usually if the O2 sensor goes bad, you get a code but the car runs fine.

On the other hand, if there is a small vacuum leak somewhere, the car will run a little rough (basically proportional to the size of the leak), and it *may* set an O2 sensor code.

I would check all of the rubber vacuum lines for cracks and crumbles and breaks. Especially the one to the fuel plus dampener on the fuel rail. Unfortunately many of these may be failing because they are 20 years old. I would start by replacing them.

As for the starting problem, I would check into the ECT sensor.
'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

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rspi
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Post by rspi »

'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
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