Hello all,
I am about to purchase a 95 volvo 850 turbo. I did a vehicle check and it came back as a two owner with 86000 miles on the od with a perfect history. I have not driven the car myself (I knoooooow) because i am 4 hrs away but I have a relative that lives in the town and they took it for a test drive and said it drove superbly. I was about to leave on my journey to pick up the car and when i sent an email about passing emissions they resonded the check engine light isnt working (all others seem to be). They also said the car isnt showing any codes when hooked up. My county only requires an exhaust check but the comment raised a red flag. the outside is in good shape but the dash looks like it has seen better days. Trim is peeling/coming off and a large crack near the drivers passenger airbag (i have pics). I guess my question is it most likely a bulb ( if so how much to replace) or should I be aware of any scams?

p.s is 2750 a good price if the miles are correct and its just a bulb?

Thanks for your help

 

Sounds like just a bulb to me. I would swap the service bulb with check engine bulb. But thats just me, the bulbs are cheap at volvo or from what I just found out from honda.

Removing the cluster is fairly easy should take about 30 min to come out and go in total time. Will you be doing the work yourself?

 

Thanks for the info. It Depends on how easy it is to get to the bulb. I am not a mechanic but usually can muddle through simple projects. Any suggestions on a guide or resources to replace the bulb? I was quoted 125.00 for a Volvo specialist to do the work. sound about right? Honda?

 

Id still insist on having a code scan done at autozone or something. that way you KNOW that there arent any codes. That being said, if you have it run and it comes back with codes, leave them with that car. Some people will disconnect a check engine bulb so that it doesnt show up when someone checks the car out. they see the light isnt on so they assume the car is okay.

Id also wonder WHY the check engine bulb was burned out...it would stand to reason that if it burned out, it's because it had, at some point, been on a LOT, which would be indicative of indifferent maintenance. Just something to consider.

 

It's tough traveling that far for a car, especially one that has NO special value. It probably a fair price for the car unless service has been neglected. You can check NADAGuides.com for value and have a real car inspector check it out. You can pay a decent price for the car and have $2,500 worth of service done to it right off the bat because of neglice, like timing belt, motor mounts, suspension problems, etc., if you don't plan to do the work on it yourself.

Take if from me, I traveled to 3 states before I got my T-5R, and I only got that because of the inspector I hired. I knew what I was getting into.

Buyer's Guide: https://volvoforums.com/m_72405/tm.htm

Good luck!!!

 

Thanks for the info. I was going by the car lots scan and after doing some further checking realized codes can be easily erased. I will drive it around for a bit and take it to autozone and have them scan the car before I purchase it. Excuse the ignorance but if it does read with no codes could anything else cause the engine light to stay on? I researched maintenance and it has a good history (few later year gaps).

 

I thought you wrote that the CEL bulb is off and does NOT work???

 

You need to have someone (since you are 4 hours away) open the hood and do 2 things at the diagnostic push-button: check mileage and pull codes. It is child's play. You stick a connector to a numbered hole, push a button, wait some seconds and count light flashes. Check the stickies for correct procedure.

It is unlikely that mileage is correct: odometers on these Volvos are known to fail ($ 15 fix btw). Ask you relative to check if odometer numbers change when driving it.

Don't even bother with looking at anything else before these two things. If it has 382k miles you might want to even think about even if the car is free.

After getting the correct mileage, you can the check the tag of timing belt cover for date of last service.

 

It's true. Come to think of it, you can get the history of the car just by counting the burnt bulbs. LOL

 

HA! What have i got myself into? The odometer does turn its the first thing I had them check. I will take it to autozone after A long test drive. How long does it take for the codes to collect if they have been cleared. Can mileage be cleared? How difficult and pricey is the timing belt in an 850? Thanks again for for info.... feeling less stupid by the minute.

@rspi My initial question did concern the check engine light. It isn't working while the rest seem to be fine.

 

i hate answering questions with questions, but how easy or hard ANYTHING on ANY car is depends on your mechanical skill and whether or not you have the right tools for the job. I didnt find the timing belt to be difficult at all (and i changed my cams to N/A cams while i had it down) and didnt really run into anything other than taking one of the pulleys off that was difficult.

As for cost: you should be able to get the complete timing kit for around 200 bucks from FCPGroton. That being said, change the water pump while you are there. Even with the water pump, you are gonna be under $300 for all the parts you need to do the job.

If you have zero mechanical ability and no experience working on cars, the timing belt on an 850 turbo is impossibly difficult and beyond your grasp. If you're a master mechanic, it's a walk in the park.

Mileage cannot be cleared, but gauge clusters can be swapped. The one in my car right now states that im at just under 98k miles.....however, Im at about 154k miles. That being said, you can still pull the actual mileage out of the service port under the dash, and even if you couldnt, I wouldnt lie to someone about the mileage. I wrote down what actual mileage was when i pulled the gauge cluster (by pulling it out of the computer) and subtracted the difference, and wrote it down in my service book.

Codes: it's gonna depend on what the codes are and if they cleared them from the system. if something still isnt right, then it should pop a code pretty much right away. It certainly wont take more than 15 minutes of driving to get them all back.

 

Some codes will show up instantaneously, others after a few starts/drives. Mileage cannot be cleared. Timing belt (like most cars with rubber belts) is about $ 300 DIY and $ 600 local mechanic.

You should try to find out why so low mileage (avg 5000 miles/year) and how was the vehicle used. Where is the car anyway?

 

Ok, now for my rabbit trail... We are talking about a 16 year old car, what difference does the miles really make? It's all about the condition of the car. I purchased my 960 with 53k on the clock and now it has 106k. I have had to replace the timing belt twice already. The age/milage of a car is all about wear. Are the seats worn out? Is the motor worn out? Someone can destroy the suspension in a car in 20,000 miles if they hit every pot hole that they can not see and run into curbs while parking all the time. To be honest with you guys, I'd rather purchase a car with 200,000 miles on it than one that has been sitting somewhere under a carport for 8 years, or a car that has been driven daily for 10 miles per day because someone works down the road their house. There is more wear on a motor durning warm up than taking trips 3 states over ever 60 days.

The things that matter is service records and what the car currently needs. I just checked NADA Guides. They claim a clean trade in is $2,500 and retail is $4,212. That's because the car gets a $862 bump for low milage.

Again, since the car is 250 miles away, have it check by a car inspection professional like Lemon Protectors or something. Find out it's current mechanical condition and proceed from there. If you keep jacking around here it will be gone in a day or so and you won't have to worry about it anymore.

 

Yes, abnormally low mileage worries me too, but there are exceptions. My wife's car gets driven 3-4000 miles / year, that is -- once every 2-3 weeks, makes a highway run (70 mph) for 20-30 minutes for shopping and gets garaged the rest of time. It has never seen the city streets, but has seen the dealer 3 times in the last year for maintenance items and recalls. Oh yes, it goes to the beach in the summer too.

My conversion vans would also get used extremely low mileage -- 6 or 8 or 10-12-hours vacation travel. My buddy's 10-year old truck, has also 50k miles, but guess what -- it has never seen the highway, just potholes of NYC for its entire life. Worth asking the question, that's all.

 

to change the bulb you must pull the speedo cluster and while you have that out change those crummy gears in the speedo , don't but the ones made of bubble gum buy the ones they make in brass . google volvo speedo removal and it will show you the whole process , its really easy

 

Bubble Gum? Are you referring to the ones sold by ipd?

 

Update! Thanks again for the advise. Although the car was in worse shape than expected (ran well), I decided to purchase my first Volvo. Some may think my journey would be over but I have a strong feeling it is just beginning and my participation on the forum will increase with every issue. BTW on the way home my instrument lights went out as well (conveniently worked when I pulled off the lot) . I checked the fuse and everything looks good. Could It be something I'm missing or "another" bulb issue?

FYI: A 4 hour greyhound ride = a 10 hour adventure

Added a pic on my profile but it doesn't show up on the posts

 

Tennessee