Temp guide for Emissions Drive Cycle [850]

[ToriWhite]

Volvo 850 96 with a Motronic 4.3 (Newer models have 4.4, with minor differences) requires that two 'TRIP's be made to test all the systems related to emissions
The 'TRIP' needs to start at a temp range between 84 - 122 F, or else it won't bother testing. (Certain systems need to go through a warm up from a certain temp. as part of their testing, I suspect)
While the dash does have a temp gauge, it's unmarked. Inside the Volvo 850 manual, it doesn't have any reference as to the 'Min' or 'Max' ranges of the gauge: in so many words it says

You don't need to know the numbers, just keep the needle out of the red zone, dummy

I attached a friends nice OBDII and recorded the temperature, and the corrosponding needle position, which is illustrated in the attached picture.

Estimated values for needle positions

Needle doesn't even move Until around 100 F, and after it passes the notch it goes out of range: so for all intents and purposes, if you're trying to complete an OBD II 'TRIP', warm the vehicle Up just enough so that the needle barely brushes the underside of the temp range indicator, Kill the engine, restart and proceed with the drive cycle

Edit: I've since been informed that the temp gauge is functionally a 'dummy guage' - which explains the complete lack of indicative notches or lines. Lucky the TRIP offers a pretty big window for starting, but the best thing you can do would be to buy/borrow a nice OBD II that can read you the temp.. I've also read around seeing the cheaper OBD readers sometimes conflict with what higher end models report when compared.. thankfully I haven't run into that, know it's in the realm of possibility when using a cheap reader!

[matthew1]

Thanks for this image, Tori. Very helpful. For those coming in on this thread, here's the 1996 850 drive cycle readiness vs. temperature backstory.