My 850 wagon, non-turbo, is acting very unusual. This past weekend we went on a long drive, and the car was just fine the entire drive. After we got back, I went to pull out of the drive way, and the car completely powered down, reset temp gauge to Celsius, the time to army time, and put an error code on the radio, in which I can not get to work any more. If I can get my car to stay on long enough to get out of the drive way, the furthest I have made it is about 4 blocks before it powers down. If I set for a couple minutes and turn it back over, I can drive a little bit farther. If I am just idling in my driveway and start hitting buttons, such as heated seats, the car will power down. I put the car on craigslist trying to cut my losses and sell it as a fixer-upper for $1200, since it has a new head gasket, water pump, battery, tires, and everything work (no pun intended ha). A Volvo mechanic wants to buy it but is only offering me $500 since he is baffled by what the problem is. I am pretty certain it is the engine computer, but I am pretty new to these 850s and don't know much about them. Does anyone have any idea what it might be and how much it would cost to fix it? I would like to fix it and sell it for more, or be able to explain to this guy what the problem is exactly and try to get more money out of it as it sits now.

EDIT: It is a 94, not a 95 as the title states.

 

If the battery is keeping a charge, I would check you main ground wire to make sure it is not loose. Being everything is reseting, you have to be loosing either the main ground or main power cable.

 

I don’t think the engine computer has any effect on the clock so it’s gotta be something else – does everything die at the same time?

I agree with FCP; I’d look at cables. (1) Have you done any work under the hood that involved the battery or power cables? (2) There’s a grounding point just under the battery tray that may be corroded – you’ll have to pull the battery and its tray in order to inspect it.

I had a similar experience on a nasty snow day – driving in the muck and just lost the engine and power. The car was completely black. Then the dash lit up like a Christmas tree after staring at the dash for three seconds. Started it and drove 30 feet, then the same ‘death’ occurred. Turns out the battery clamp had lost the tightening nut so the clamp was rattling around on the battery post. I was able to use a small hose clamp to tighten it up and everything was fine.

But yeah, hold off on the sale until you can determine the problem. If it’s a quick fix, it’s easier to keep or sell at a much higher price than $500! I’ll guess that mechanic would find the fix and sell it, or part it out for a ton of cash.