Hi Everyone, How are you all doing? My name is Karen and I am in Atlanta Georgia. I come from a family of Volvo owners. Growing up the only car I knew was a Volvo. Here goes my story.. I just moved into my own home out in the woods (Gosh, Why?)and the nearest bus stop is about 25 minutes from my house by car, so I was spending almost $20.00 in taxi rides every day just to get to work and back. I took a vacation two weeks ago to see my sister in CT. We went to the casino (Mohegan and Foxwoods) just about every night. To make a long story short.. I played the slots (Jack Pot Party) and I hit for 6300 quarters, so I came back home to GA and looked up and down for a Volvo. I could not find one in my price range to save my life until I went on AutoTrader.com. Now I have this 1994 Volvo 850 Turbo that I purchased and had shipped from FL for $1,463 with 143K miles and the AC does not work (Belt missing), I need a turn signal switch, and my check engine light pops on and off like a Christmas tree light (Not all the time). Now you might laugh.. since I wont have any money to put insurance on the car until the 4th of Aug. I have not driven the car yet. I have noticed all of these problems by sitting in my driveway. I knew the AC was not working and the owner did not know why it was not working, I thought it just might need some freon but I was wrong. I did do a carfax on the car and I am the third owner and everything seems to be fine as far as no accidents, flood damage etc. Anyway, I am not sure if I will be posting much and if I do I hope that it is nothing bad. I have noticed from reading a few posts in the 850 section that this car has a few well known common problems, OH BOY! My first car but I am a Volvo owner..WOW!

 

Congratulations on the car and although I am new to the forums as well, I'd like to be the first one to welcome you. As I'm sure you'll find out, tech is an invaluable resource and seems very willing to help anyone and everyone.

 

Thank you so much for the welcome. I have been on the forum for about an hour just reading post after post and I've noticed that Tech knows what he is talking about. I take it you drive an S70? How is it? It looks a little like the 850 on the outside but on the inside it's a whole new world compared to the 850 which has a bunch of ***** and switches.

 

Hi Karen, Glad to welcome you to the forum. Tech is a great resorce but since he got a job has not been around as much. But there are a lot of Brick Heads here and I am sure they can answer most of your questions. I have a 01 S40 so I guess I can't help you much but welcome anyway.

 

Hello KaReN. I had a 94 850 Turbo and it was the best car I ever owned, and I have owned quite a few including a 1980 Porsche 911SC. I now have an 97 850 R and 98 V70. On my 94 850 I had some problems right around 150K and the engine just died at 206K. I'm not sure why, but I salvaged the car and got $800 for it as salvage. Sounds like you got a real good deal. The A/C is know to be a problem on these cars and they are expensive to fix if it's the evaporator. My first suggestion would be to find somebody there in Atlanta that knows Vovlos and have them look it over and see what's wrong. Let's hope it's something minor or you can just drive it w/o A/C until you can afford to fix it.

 

I agree to have it looked at.If the belt is missing for the the A/C then there is a major problem.
The car only uses one belt.If it is missing it isn't charging or you won't have power steering.
Unless they put on a smaller belt and routed it different.

The check engine light might be a bad spark plug.If it flashes while running it means a missfire.

If you have some minor tools and can unscrew screws you can do the turn signal switch your self in about 15 to 20 minutes.

BTW welcome to this wonderful place[sm=happybounce.gif]

Anymore quiestions feel free to ask.

 

Dear Karen,
Congratulations! You've selected a classy, sassy and altogether lovely car. I have a '95 850T and I love it! I bought mine on ebay 3 years ago and until the past year, have had not problems. This year is another story. I recommend you find a good mechanic to be on standby for 850T issues. I'm still in love with my Volvo but the honeymoon is definitely coming to an end. We're doing some hard times together but I fully expect we'll drive out of Seminary together in 2 more years. Dear Lord, I hope so!

Good luck and God Bless,

Natalie