Greetings

I just acquired a 97 850R Wagon. It's been in my family for some time, and for the last few years, has been driven minimally. It's white, and has the nice 17 inch wheels, a suede/leather interior, with wood grain dash.

The odometer reads about 105k, but it hasn't worked in a couple years, so I'm unsure of actual mileage. I would imagine it's not much more than 110k if at all, as it has been a 'spare' vehicle for years and used very sparingly.

I've always enjoyed this particular model and I am excited to have the opportunity to enjoy this vehicle.

I do a lot of the maintenance on our existing vehicles, a 96 Explorer 4x4 and a 95 Thunderbird Supercoupe. With my job, a business, and 3 small children, time is at a premium, and sometimes, if something breaks, I just can't drop everything and fix it. Luckily, I have a trusted mechanic who charges reasonable rates and does great work.

I've been told if you can fix a supercoupe, you can fix anything - so, hopefully, I can handle most of the maintenance on this wagon.

Initially, I'm going to perform some typical maintenance - the car can use a new serpentine belt, oil change, good cleaning to get some of the smoke smell out of it, and a really good wash.

Once I get past that, I think it'll need front brakes soon, and it sounds like I might need to do a timing belt, as I don't think it has ever been done.

It also needs a front spoiler, or the one on it repaired. It's been fiberglassed and repainted before, but the center piece broke out again. It looks like this is a common problem on these cars.

My Supercoupe was my dream car growing up, and it's beginning to turn into a bit of a nightmare. Seems it is constantly leaking somewhere, something is always broken, etc. I think part of that is the curse of using a nearly 20 year old car as a daily driver - I've put enough time and money into the Supercoupe that I intend to keep it on the road for at least another year or two. It's a fun car to drive. Unfortunately, the Supercoupe has some rust starting in a few places, and it has 3 stage paint, so it has some particularly deep paint chips in a few areas as well.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to enjoying this site and learning more about this car.

 

If you haven't read these yet, you should.

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...-thread-13678/

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...s-s-v70s-9266/

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...repairs-26114/


You should add your location on your control panel so it shows up. Sometimes someone is close and can give you a hand.
Same with your signature. If you put your basic car info there it's always in your post and easier for someone to help when they know year, model, trans, turbo or NA

 

Welcome aboard! Where you at?

 

Welcome to the forum. Haven't seen many white R wagons around here but I'm in the dirty south. Hope you get that timing belt done soon.

 

Oh, pics are always nice.

 

I updated my profile with some basic stats. I'm in Columbus, Indiana, which is roughly halfway between Louisville, KY and Indianapolis, IN.

I will get some pics real soon. I probably should at least wash the exterior first

Thanks for the friendly welcomes!

 

I uploaded some initial photos here, after a 30 minute scrub down in a spray wash booth. It needs a lot more cleaning as it's been neglected, I have the missing piece from the bumper cover, so intend to try and have it fixed, otherwise, I'll be buying a replacement. IPD has a replacement turn signal lens for the missing one.

Pics are here:

http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/volvo

 

If you have a 97 with over 100k on it and the timing belt has never been changed that should be your #1 priority. I wouldn't drive it until that is done.

You can get a kit from Fcpgroten for less that $300 to do everything including water pump. At just over 100k you probably wouldn't need water pump though.

 

What JimKW said !! That belt could be pretty rough if it's 30-40K or more over it's service interval. If that belt goes, so goes a few valves or sometimes even the whole head.

I recommend doing the water pump at the same time but some guys go every other belt. I don't like taking the chance.

 

Which kit do you recommend? They have a lot kits that look like they do the same thing

Is this one OK?

http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volv...FYk7MgodlDUAhw

Is there a reason to get one of the more expensive ones? This car is going to be a daily driver once I clean it up, I drive all my cars a little hard every now and again, but I won't be racing, or anything of the like..

 

I used the one with the Hepu Filter, but that was at 210K miles. The local shop here that does nothing but Volvos says they never change the water pump before that. I've had seven Volvo's and never had a water pump fail, but I will change the one on my yellow 850 next timing belt at 210K. Has 209K on it now, so it's getting close.

The kit you are showing in the link is the the kit I will buy when I do mine. Looks like the best deal there too. You could call them and ask how much it would be for everything except the water pump. It kind of looks like you get the pump for next to nothing though with that kit. When changing the belt doing the water pump is next to no work at all.

 

John- I enjoyed the pics of your white 850R. I wonder how your car got its teeth knocked out like that? any other (mechanical) damage under there?

My 95 850 GLT wagon is also white, 205k. Yes, timing belt. definately. but after you get that taken care of, if you want an easy pretty up, here's a idea:

I used 2 cans of "Trim Black" paint (rattle can) in stock at the shelf local auto finishers place:

SEM Products :: Trim Black

cleaned cleaned cleaned, wiped down with alcohol, masked and painted my bumper trim, and hatchback piece above liscense plate (havent got to the door trim yet) with the Trim Black. I'm about a year since and it still looks great. Black. Your car would gleam with all of the black, well- black.

Dave

 

The teeth got knocked out pulling into a parking spot and hitting one of those concrete parking blocks. I know this, as the car has been in my family for years. It's actually been repaired once. I have the missing piece, and a body shop I've used for years may be able to repair it.

Mechanical fixes are the immediate first need. Ordered water pump, timing belt, tensioner, pulleys etc from a local import auto parts store that my Dad has been using for years with his Volvos and other imports. Price was $336 out the door - a little bit more than the kit from the FCP Euro site, but this guy has done right for my family over the years and that speaks volumes to me. All the parts are OEM Volvo parts.

Going to have the thermostat changed while the coolant is drained to do the water pump - the thermostat is flaky. The first time the car starts on a cold morning, the needle never moves off cold. After the 20 minute drive to daycare, when I start to head for work, the gauge comes off cold a bit, but then drops back to cold within the 20 minute drive to work.

I have some minor cosmetic changes in mind. Thinking about one of the spoilers on the liftgate, replacing the factory fender emblems with orange side turn signals, and shaving the emblems off the tailgate. Haven't decided for sure yet, as I'm not sure if the emblems are just taped on, or if there will be holes. If it's just tape, I'm pretty sure I'll remove them.

I can get the front bumper cover fixed at the same time, or get a replacement, and then have it and the spoiler painted together.

It needs a very serious deep cleaning. The initial cleaning made it look 500x better, but there's still a lot of black environmental crap in the paint. Scrubbing seems to remove it, and I can claybar it if I have to. Will also give it a good coat of wax, once it's finally clean.

The only other fix that is going to be a must is doing something with the stereo. One of the rear speakers pops a bit. I have it faded to the front speakers for the meantime. I also need some way to connect my iPod to the system - at a minimum, one of those doohickeys that plugs into a cassette deck and has a 1/8 headphone plug on the other end. This has the premium audio, and I'm not sure if I can just replace the deck or not - I believe it has some sort of amp in the system, and I'm not sure how easy or difficult it is to remove/bypass that.

And, I haven't measured, but the dash cutout where the radio is doesn't look like it's wide enough for a regular DIN radio - but I've not measured?

I am not one of these punks whose cars rattle the teeth of anyone in the neighborhood, I got over that in the 90s.. but I do like some great tunes.

 

The first time the car starts on a cold morning, the needle never moves off cold. After the 20 minute drive to daycare, when I start to head for work, the gauge comes off cold a bit, but then drops back to cold within the 20 minute drive to work.

Will the heater warm up and blow hot air and if so does it ever go cold intermittently ??

The only other fix that is going to be a must is doing something with the stereo.

The stereo is a "Double DIN". It is literally twice the size of a "normal" radio. You can get a single DIN radio and an insert that makes a useful storage area out of the other slot or you can get a double with DVD and GPS

There is a way to connect an ipod adapter to the stock radio.

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/fre...lvo-radio.html

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...pic.php?t=2510

 

Welcome!

You are now apart of the 850 brotherhood

 

Today, my 850 got some much needed maintenance

Oil change
New timing belt, water pump, tensioners
New serpentine belt
New plugs

The timing belt was stretched about 1/8 of an inch. The odometer shows 105k, but based on my best guess, the car has closer to 115k on it.

Odometer gears are one of the next repairs

 

The emblems are simply glued on.

I did the cassette deck mod and use a cassette adapter, both sound good in my car.

Like the wagon.

 

I like the wagon too. It reminds me of my black one. The white looks very nice too. good luck with it.