Hey, please forgive the long intro, but some back-story is in order...

About three years ago, my Grandmother bought my mother a 1995 850 GLT Wagon from a Volvo dealership in Charleston, SC. Let me first say that this is not a purchase I would have made, but my Grandma believes that no dealership would dare sell someone a problematic or "lemon" vehicle, so she bought it before my mother or I had a chance to do any research on the vehicle or the dealership. Our old 240 Wagon was just about done for (290,000 miles) and we needed a newer vehicle, and couldn't really afford to look the gift horse in the mouth.

The initial condition of the vehicle (as we recieved it) was pretty good, with few obvious issues. The front brakes had just been replaced (we thought this was good, we were wrong), the interior/exterior of the wagon was in great shape (loaded, all power accessories worked except sunroof), and the engine and tranny seemed fine when we test-drove it. The only thing at the time that bothered me was that the odometer was broken at 135,000 miles, and we had no idea how long it had been broken. My Grandma bought it before we could get it looked at by a third-party mechanic, but she was (and still is) convinced that if the dealership was willing to sell it, then they must have checked it out and it had to be fine.

Three months after purchase, the brakes started shuddering so badly that I (new driver at the time) refused to drive it because I had little confidence in it's braking ability. Turns out that the dealership only replaced the pads (they had told us that it was a full pad and rotor replacement), and hadn't touched the rotors, so the pads were wearing unevenly and had damaged the rotors which we then had to replace. From this point on, it seemed like every 3-4 months something new goes wrong on the vehicle, and my mother is stuck repairing it because she can't/won't get a different vehicle. Problems so far have included various parts of the A/C system, shorts in the dash lighting, massive leaks from somewhere, mildew from the leaks, more brake issues, and most recently the heater core blew and my mother ran the car hot (trying to get it off the highway) so apparently the thermostat housing cracked.

The more I've learned and researched cars over the last few years, the more this vehicle has bothered me, so I am beginning to think one of two things. Either the shop that my mother's taken this car to since we got it has been leading her around by the nose, or the wagon has way more miles on it than we previously thought and is on the verge of dieing completely. My mother swears by the shop, but I've never liked them very much and I find it hard to ingnore the fact that 2-3 months after they have the wagon in the shop, something else goes wrong.

I know next to nothing about Volvos; Mom never let me play around under the hood of her wagon, so my knowledge and experience are limited to my current vehicle, a 97 GMC Sonoma. I will ask more specific questions in the 850 forums, but for the moment, what do yall think of the situation? Is there anything I can do/check to make sure the shop isn't taking advantage of my mother, or find out more about the problems my mother is having? If my truck gave me the kind of problems the wagon has shown, I would have long since gotten something else, but since Volvo's last longer (generally speaking) at what point do you guys say "enough is enough" and move on?

Any input/feedback at all will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Joseph

 

Well, i guess i'd take it to a different shop to have it looked over. You could pull the codes and come up with a rap sheet and start fixing things yourself or you could just take it in when you can afford to fix the things that need fixing. Sounds to me the previous owners beat the tar out of this car...i'd have long since taken it back to the dealership with a WTF attitude. Report them to the better buisness bureau.

 

Yeah, I made Mom report them to the BBB a long time ago, and we've tried to get the dealership to pay for some of the repairs (mainly brakes), but since the vehicle was sold "as is" and we didn't realize there were any problems until 3 months after purchase, they couldn't take it back and we've got no real grounds for a suit. I no longer have access to the vehicle (I'm away at college) so I can't do the work myself, and have little say in where my mother takes it unless I can find some way to prove she's been had. Like I said, she swears by that shop, and has been going there for years. I'm going to email her some of the links that I've found on this site about thermostat repair, and the thermostat housing since I think that she got seriously gouged on the labor, but beyond that I don't know what to do.

 

that sucks.....i don't read up on the 850 page often but i've always been under the impression they were decent cars. The previous owner must really beat the **** out of this car. Sorry to hear about the woes...sounds like yall have done everything you can...

 

on a side note...you can still pull the codes yourself (whenever you go home to visit or something) to find out what the car thinks is wrong. That would be a good way to see if the shop your mom goes to is really fixing the right things.

 

I think there is a way to get the actual mileage out of the computer also, but I don't know for sure. Anybodt know?

Any time you buy a 12 year old car you can expect problems. That's just the way it is.

 

replace the odometer...should scroll to the right milage

 

REALLY?!?

Can I just replace the entire cluster as a unit (IE: yank one from a junkyard)? I have done this kind of thing on my truck, how different would the Volvo be? Pulling the dash in my truck isn't that complicated, just time consuming, and once you get to the cluster it just comes out as a whole unit, and you can put another one from the same year in and it's literally plug'n'play, you're just stuck with whatever the mileage on the new cluster reads. If I can do that then it could go a long way to helping my mother keep on a regular maintenence shedule and anticipate future problems.

Also, were Volvos really OBDII compliant in 95? I thought they would have been OBD1, since the shift to OBDII was only complete in the last half of 96. If so, then I've been planning on getting a scanner cable for my laptop to use on my truck, and the ony reason I haven't yet is because I wouldn't use it enough by myself to justify the expense.

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys, any and all info is greatly appreciated.

 

Depends...is it a digital display? I'm a 240 guy and don't know that much about the 850...but my cavalier reportedly will "find" the cars age when a new digital cluster is put in.

1995 850's were split between OBDI and OBDII...some even have both. Check with your mom and see if her car has that coin holder (850 folks, is this really a true indication?)

Speaking of scanner cable....how much does one of those run? I sort of want one for my autos.

 

It's not as simple as just plugging a cable into the OBDII port, there has to be some kind of module to translate the OBDII signal into something a PC can understand, and the cheapest I've been able to find is about $115. Check these websites for more info:

http://www.aldlcable.com/

http://www.scantool.net/

www.pcmamerica.com/

Software for diagnosis is free and can be gotten from all kinds of places, and if you can get programming software (not free) then you can do the same kind of stuff that Hypertech modules do, only without the limitations. That being said, when I get to the point that I need it, I think I'll just get a professional to do a custom tune on my PCM, since they'll be able to do a better job, and it costs $50-75 versus $300 for a program like TunerCat. Good luck finding more info, it's been ridiculously difficult for me to just get this much.