Hi folks,
Just picked up a 1995 850 Turbo Wagon with 81,500 miles. What sold me on this car (other than always being on my "dream" list) is the previous owners maintained the mechanics of the car meticulously (and notably, "invested" lots of money into it), addressing all the major issues: timing belt, strut tower, motor mounts, etc etc. Hopefully, their investment, much of which was spent in past three years or so, will pay dividends for me and I won't have to "repair" much.

In any event, after day one (drove 100 miles today), some minor things I notice:

Gas mileage terrible, and I've been reading up on ways to improve. I'll have to check the stack of records to see, for example, if O2 sensors have been changed. I know for a fact there's no K&N in the box. I bet you I didn't get 14mpg today.

Could use hose changes and PCV service (though no smoke).

Also, there's a slight "jolt" in the steering wheel when leaving a light. Sometimes.

Oh, a smell of antifreeze in cabin, but no visible leaks in engine bay. And temp runs fine. Should I expect to see water on the passenger floor?

Wife still driving the S60 (90k) and it's just been great.

Looking forward to good motoring in the 850. This is our fourth Volvo:
01 S40 - POS, lemon
03 S60 - totaled
06 S60 - current 90k
95 850 - "new"

 

Put a code reader on her for any fault codes stored.

Have you done a glove test on the oil cap filler with engine idling. Suction should be evident?
Check for wet carpets / underlay. Leaking heater core or O rings where hoses enter?
How old do the o2 sensors look. Overdue for renewal if originals.
You could try removing and cleaning the pre CAT one to see if there is any improvement before buying new.
My last vehicle had a K&N filter. Despite all the literature the mileage per gallon / litre was actually less however there was a notable increase in performance.

 

Hi and welcome to the older Volvo family. Not a brick but the 850 was the first Volvo that everyone loves to drive.

Here are a few video's for you to check out...




If the car hasn't been driven much lately, dump some Lucas fuel injector cleaner in it and run it down the highway for an hour or so to clean off the valves and injectors. May reduce the chance of getting a burnt valve.

 

Coincidentally I found this today on the Swedespeed forum regarding K&N filters with Volvo's.
It might be of interest to you to browse thru it.

Bye Bye K&N Air Filter.

I see that rspi has sent you several of his video series also to look thru.
They are very interesting and informative regarding maintenance on Volvos.

 

Good stuff! Thanks, gents!! I watched a lot of Robert's stuff prior to buying.

 

I read the 1st page of that thread and I don't know if there is any issue with the 850's unless you over oil.

I have been running a K&N box filter for about 55,000 miles (2 years). I went to clean it last month but quickly learned from the instructions that my filter is still not clogged enough to clean and re-oil.

The filter has better air flow when new. When well used, it is suppose to have about the same air flow as paper filters. When they get a certain % dirty, you are suppose to clean and re-oil them. At that point, if you use to much oil, you do run the risk of damaging your MAF.

The maintenance chart suggest that you replace the air filter every 30,000 miles. K&N suggest that you clean/recharge their filter every 50,000.
1993 - 1997 - 10,000 Mile Maintenance Service
The paper filter is $11 while the K&N is $50. So you'd have to change 5 paper filters to pay for a K&N. That's almost 150,000 miles worth of driving. So, if you don't put 150,000 on your K&N it would be a waste (Not considering the recharge system cost of $11, that's another 30,000).

The whole deal with the K&N is suppose to be better air flow and no more cost of paper filters. I believe I got maybe 1 more MPG with the K&N filter. That's when it was new. Not sure if it is any better now that the filter is 60% dirty and has 55,000 miles on it.

When I pulled my K&N filter to recharge it, it appeared to be 30% dirty and had a lot of debris on it. So I cleaned off the large dirt (tap and vacuum) and put it back in because by the K&N definition of dirty and in need of recharge, mine was not there yet. Maybe because I do a lot of highway driving.