Still looking....
Latest thing I came across is a 94 850 turbo. Silver, paint is decent, no real body issues/rust/etc. Tires are 50%. Cold AC. Black leather no rips. Everything works, motor feels like it makes power.
$1500. Something seriously up with this thing or is that just what they sell for? With 121K miles on the clock it seems like there is tons of life left, and for a daily commuter car it doesn't seem terrible. Wish it was a wagon but the CL car factory is all out of them at the moment (Central FL area)
There are a few V70's nearby for a little more money....and I'm no volvo expert...but I've heard they arn't as solid as the older cars were.
Thoughts?
850s do not go for much money at all.. odd when you consider many consider them the last "true Volvo"
$1500 is probably pretty close to what it will sell for, but its less than what its worth, if you catch my drift. The early cars had a couple of odd things about them, and a couple of weaker areas, but the weak stuff has probably broken and been changed by now. If its old enough to have 4 bolt wheels, that makes brakes and ball joints and such a bit tougher to find. The permanent solution to that is as near as your local pick'n'pull.
That price is about right. I paid $1100 for ny NA 850 wagon. I even saw a running, well-maintained one for $700.
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/, volvospeed and of course GRM are the go-to sites. Turbobricks is good as well, but mainly focus on rwd models. IPDusa and FCPeuro are my two goto places for parts. They are very diy-able vehicles, have great seats, and feel capable enough considering they are heavy, fwd chassis. Make sure that the timing belt and pcv system has been done, or plan on doing them yourself soon.
There are a number of 850 and S70/V70 owners on here. Come back w/ more questions.
I have one with a blown motor that was dumped in my driveway yesterday. Around here $1500-2000 will get a nice driving example. You can get a ratty one for about $1k.
I had a ratty 850 that I got for $900. The exterior and all the oily bits were superb.. but the interior looked like somebody used to let their dog live in there. All the seats and door panels were ripped to shreds.. $200 at the pick-n-pull and I had a minty interior too
A manual 94 wagon just popped up on he local CL for $500. I'm sure it's rough (no pics) but they claim it runs.
Bought and drove home.
Items to address - Boost leak on upper hose...guy tried to duct tape a split. Car still makes boost, but giving it 50%+ throttle results in what feels like fuel cut and a blinking CEL. Pretty darn sure a hose will take care of that.
Heater hose coming from the core in the engine bay has a small leak. Replacing it with the actual part instead of the hose and clamp he used will probably solve that
AC - it works...but it's rigged. There is a push button switch rigged up. The climate control knobs do nothing, I assume they are disconnected. Either the AC is ON, or OFF....thats it. It does blow cold though.
Speakers are trashed
Interior is nice, exterior is presentable...hood/roof/trunk have little/no shine left but the rest of the body is good. No rust that I can find. Needs a RF corner light, needs a brake light bulb
Tires are new/nearly new. Drives straight and true. Stops well. Vibration/NVH is present at idle, no doubt because of the poly bushing he used for the upper/torque engine mount.
Can't really complain at all for $1400. I think I address a few of the little issues and drive the hell out of it. Room for the kids + safe + no car payment = win. Trip computer said I was getting 25-26mpg on the way home/70mph/ac. I'm sure that might get a bit better with the hose addressed and a "cough" free-er flowing exhaust.
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Turbo model with auto trans in drive shifts into 4th gear at 122mph and it keeps right on pulling. I wonder what the top speed is on them, after my 420 break 122 was enough to make me giggle!
I worked at a dealership and always liked them, 5 cyl music and a lower profile (less frontal area) it will surely MPG better than a RWD. I think they had better electronics too.
Ditto the nice seats.
Congrats on the car!! It looks nice. On the 850's w/ the manual climate control, there is a resister for the fan that is known to go bad. On mine, the fan was either off, or on high. A little soilder and a resister got me back working again. I think that the fix on the auto climate systems is similar. $30 and a trip to the JY got a full set of speakers for my wagon.
I DD mine for about a year, doing 400-500 miles/week. She only let me down twice that I can remember. One time was my fault for putting cheap tune-up parts on it, and another was when the alt went after 190k miles.
Stay on top of the maint, and you'll get many miles out of her.
Ian F
UltimaDork
9/20/14 11:19 p.m.
The ex- has a similar car ('96 850t wagon). Sounds like a good deal. Just be weary of the transmission. Arguably the weakest link in the car. As typical for transverse FWD cars, the timing belt is fun to replace. On the plus side, the front seats are awesome.
Does is have the OE stereo? If not, somebody may have screwed up the install. Or maybe somebody had the dash apart and screwed up the wiring. The OE system has speed-sensitive volume. Not sure what the affect on the stereo would be if the speed wire is disconnected.
Good luck. If it dies let me know. Might want the front seats...
I loved my 850 Turbo, but a quick email search showing all of my FCP groton orders, it wasn't exactly good to me. 2 years of ownership, $935 in receipts just to that site. I know there's others, since the PCV replacement isn't on that list. It was just a money hog.
Definitely replace the PCV asap. its not cheap, but necessary with those motors.
interesting side note, mine wouldnt boost at all when I bought it. Spent too many hours messing with it, until I took apart all of the piping. Inside the bottom 90 I found this...
they shoved a paint roller in the pipe to keep it from collapsing.
Lits of codes pulled today...most are expected (over boost, mag, knock) I believe related to the upper intercooler hose. Found a vac line that goes to the BCS from the compressor housing has just disintegrated... Going to replace all vac lines shortly.
Found a like new set of bilstein yellows with OE top hats/mounts for 350$....couldn't pass that up.
Something maybe amiss with the trans? Driving to work today it didn't want to shirt into OD. After 3-4 mins it shifted (firmly) to OD/lockup and seemed to behave normally after that. Not sure what that was all about....
After I get the codes sorted my plan is to fab a turbo back exhaust. Maybe pick up a tuned ECU.
Ordered a few needed item
On the struts, don't skimp on the bearings and spring seats, or you'll be doing the same job again 6 months down the road. OEM, Lemforder XC90 spring seats or IPD's HD spring seats, accept no other substitutions. Allegedly Volvo only uses the XC90 style now, all other part numbers have been superseded, but there's A LOT of garbage aftermarket parts out there.
Thanks for the heads up.
Maybe it had to do with me clearing the codes....but the trans behaved normal after work in the drive home. Crisp 1-2 and 2-3 shift. Shift into OD was smooth as well. Worst case it needs replacement and its time for a 5 speed swap ;)
