So, I'll set this up and then get on with my questions...

1997 Volvo 850 wagon, non-turbo, Fwd with 324,000km (200k miles), daily driven.

My commute to work is 15km each way, 98% highway, however today had to take a short detour to pick up some dog food. My trip started as normal as usual, 110km/h in the slow lane, enjoying my lazy trip to work. About 4km into my trip I noticed all of the instrument cluster warning lights flash on and back off. I kept my eye on them to see if it would happen again and about 1km later they did it again. They would begin to flash more frequently until they finally stayed on. Everything else seemed just fine so I figured it may be a gremlin due to the warming weather (after a frigid stretch of winter). Next thing I know I lost the speedometer and tach - they went dead, but the fuel and temp levels remained fine. Again, driveability was fine and my exit was approaching so I thought I'd get to the pet food store and give the car a once over in the parking. Once I got to city-style driving the car began to feel very sluggish but was not stalling. By the time I got to the pet food store, the transmission was having trouble trying to figure out what gear it wanted to be in. It took approximately 10km for this all to degenerate. I parked the car, bought dog food, came back and it was dead. There was enough juice for the dash lights, central locking and a weak turn or two from the starter but it was for all intents and purposes, done. I could get a couple cranks every 15 minutes or so.

My initial thoughts are that the alternator is done and I had been driving on battery and as the battery drained the computers started shutting down in sequence. The accessory belt is still intact and looks good, and from a visual standpoint the Bosch alternator looks as though new. I didn't have any tools on me and had to get a workmate to pick me up (I was already running late) so didn't have the means to test much.

Anyhow, a few of the guys at work have said this could be as simple as a bad battery. I was under the impression that if a battery was bad that the alternator would still be able to provide the necessary juice to keep the car running fine until you shut it off? Is this not the case? Most of them have had this issue with their cars (other brands) and have said that this winter has been harsh on our batteries and something as simple a loose terminal connections could cause this. Any input? Anyone experience this?

I'm hoping it's the battery...

If it's not.... My workmate has a freshly charged battery that was in his wife's Ford Edge he said I could have. My thoughts are that I'd try that battery to see if all goes well and even if it is the alternator, hopefully the freshly charged battery will provide me enough juice to get the car the 5km to work from the lot that it's in. Once at work I have access to my tools and maintenance shop to swap out the alternator. How long does the alternator swap take? The power steering pump looks like a bit of an interference! And also.... Does anyone have any idea how far I should be able to drive on just battery? One of my electricians said what usually goes on alternators is the diodes, not the brushes etc, which means it's all or nothing, it likely wouldn't provide partial charge to the battery if it is indeed toast..

Any direction or advice is much appreciated!

 

Well, the first thing I would do is check the battery connections for tightness and corrosion. Next, if you have a multi-meter and know how to use it, check the voltage on the battery posts. if it is less than 11 volts you are most likely looking at a bad battery. Check your ground able at the battery and also the two small braided ground cables that go from the back of the valve cover to the firewall. Lastly, if you can give it a jump from another car, try that. If you get it running, check the voltage across the battery terminals while it is running. A good charging alternator will give you about 14 volts.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

I just went through almost the exact same thing, I hazard an educated guess that the voltage regulator in the alt is toast........

I posted two inexpensive replacement part numbers, I will see if I can find them, for a Bosch replacement regulator they want your first born..

Removing the alt is a PITA but not too bad, just takes time, some say the regulator can be replaced without removing the alt, if you can do that you are a better man then I..........good luck with it, there are videos posted for removing the alt that are helpful.

 

Here is a link to my issue including replacement regulator choices, there are two types so make sure you get the right one.

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...gremlin-76571/

 

When I had the same issue last year I changed my alternator and the problem occurred again. Ended up being bad battery cable connectors.

If I were you, I would take my battery to be charged at an auto parts store and service the battery cables.



Radio code, you only get 3 tries, don't waste them.

 

(UPDATE)

Today I went and picked up two fully charged batteries and a battery charger that can take a few different readings from the battery/charging system and went to the parking lot where my dead brick lie awaiting aid. First things first, swap out the dead battery(1) with a charged one(2) and drive my car to work which is just over 6km from the breakdown site.

With the exception of the gauge cluster being lit like a Christmas tree, the car ran flawlessly for the 6km trip. My DRL's are set up front and rear and the friend that was following me said he noticed no dimming in my lights at all. Once at work I shut the car off and tried to restart it and it turned over no problem, without a hint of lack of juice. The battery(2) tested 77-80% and 12.2volts with 0 coming from the alternator.

I'm not entirely sure what this all means other than you can safely get 6km on battery alone when the battery is fully charged.

I then recharged the battery that was originally in the car(1) to 100% (15.1volts) and got a 0 reading back from the alternator again.

So onto preparing for the inevitable. Called the local indie Volvo shop who quoted my $295 for the Bosch alternator and $200 in labour (2 hours).... No thanks, I'm broke - which is why I'm driving a $900 car! I did find a shop that specializes in rebuilding alternators/generators/starters for everything from cars to trucks to agricultural and commercial. They quoted me $120 to rebuild mine - same day service. Bingo!

I also noticed that while the outside of the accessory belt looked fine, under my light I could see small cracks in the spine of the belt on the inside - which made me think that if the accessory belt is looking a little tired, I'm sure the timing belt is no better, so might as well switch out both belts while I'm digging through that area of the car, no? I don't have the $$ to do whole waterpump/tensioner gig right now so figured I'd just play the safe card and do belts/alternator while I've got it all torn apart. Make sense?

So from what I understand the only specialty tool needed is something to release the belt tensioner. It appears as though a 3/4" drive ratchet would do but the space is too tight. I ended up cutting a short piece of 3/4" box tubing which was a little too snug so I took about .020" each side and it fits nice and snug now and protrudes just enough to get a wrench and breaker bar onto it. Cheap and easy.

So back to the batteries. The 15.1 reading on battery 1 worried me a bit as I didn't want to cook anything so I put battery 2 back in which was 100% at 12.9volts. Drove it home 15km without issue except the Vegas style gauge cluster lighting. Anyhow, I'm covered for travel for the next week and a bit so will start clearing **** out of my garage to make room for the 855 for the AB/TB/Alt replacement.

Lesson 1: Perhaps the alternator was the Swedish Volvo God's way of making me look at the accessory belt and thus question the timing belt, costing me a few $$ I don't really have right now but saving me big $$ in the long run....

Lesson 2: With a fully charged battery, you should be able to drive your 850 at least 15km with the interior and exterior lights on (no fan or radio) and shoot/wipe your windshield clean a few times, on only the battery. It's actually alot like hyper miling..... I kind of want to go back out and keep driving to see how long it will go on that battery!

 

The regulator in the alternator takes nothing to change compared to changing the whole thing. It's also half the price of the whole alternator, normally. As long as you have the alternator without the decoupler pulley, you're fine. That pulley has what looks like a black cap on it, instead of just having a nut in the middle of it. You can do it without pulling anything but the dipstick tube if you have the dexterity. You can get away with just removing the intake manifold at worst which is way easier than pulling the power steering as well. It'll get you by until you can afford the rest of the maintenance. I personally couldn't afford the massive cost of a new alternator so I went to the local DIY lot and pulled a good regulator out of a 96 with a near new alternator in it. Works like a champ with 5k miles and counting on it. In fact, I swapped regulators in the parking lot of the DIY lot in 30 minutes. Took all of an hour, from walking in the door to driving off their lot, with a couple of screwdrivers and the wrench for the dipstick which, oddly enough, were the only tools I had on me. Seriously, don't pay to have them pull five screws and swap one little part. Not worth the cash, if you can avoid it.

 

I haven't done this, but I bet removing the fan (2 minutes) would be a good idea too.

 

If you don't know the timing belt history you should plan to do that soon, With rollers. I usually replace leaking water pump and water pumps that are more than 10 years old. I also replace leaking tensioner.

 

Good call on the regulator change. I just watched this video to get an idea of what the job would be like and it looks like much less of a hassle than pulling the alternator.


Even if I go ahead and do the accessory belt and timing belt, this seems the path of least resistance...

 

My daughter had the same issue with the 855 and I replaced the alternator but it didn't solve my problem. Next up is the actual wire running from alternator to battery. Odds are good that it's the fix because I've pretty much replaced everything else. So much for throwing parts at a problem...

It just sucks because I live 45 miles from the car and there are very small windows of time where I can start wrenching on it.

 

Anyone have a link to reasonably priced voltage regulators? Everything I am seeing from Bosch and Huco are quite pricey - close to or more than the cost of having my alternator rebuilt. I did find a Hella unit for $36... Anybody use the Hella units?

The charge unit I used said nothing was coming from the alternator so I figured it wouldn't be the wire from alt to batt as you'd figure I would get a reading, even if low, but who knows... The unit may have terrible accuracy.

 

If you read back to the beginning of the thread I posted info on two replacement units...........

 

Thank you fogducker... Link behind the link. Sounds like the fix worked well for you...

 

Drive the car to an auto parts store and have the alternator tested.

You can usually drive 30 minutes on a good battery. I would turn off the driving lights.

 

Yup, my symptoms were exactly the same as yours, the helpful guys here pointed me to the alternator and I did a little research to confirm it, tried to pull the voltage regulator without pulling the alt, more of a PITA then it was worth in my opinion so I just pulled the power steering pump and alt, cleaned up the alt and replaced the regulator with the aftermarket one that was around $50, you should be able to find one of the two choices cheaper, I live in the sticks and had to pay freight etc..

Installed everything and up and running 100%

PS. The tell tale sign that it was the voltage regulator and not anything else was ALL the dash warning lights were on, that is caused but the small single wire connection at the alt, I believe it is called the "exciter".. that is connected to the warning lights and tells the alternator to put out the right level of voltage, too much or too little and the lights go on.....or at least that is my understanding, I am sure I will be corrected, good luck with your fix.

 

In my years and years of Volvo association, I have never heard of an 850 alternator failing. It always seems to be just the regulator/bushes that need replacing. Hopefully it is an easy fix for you.

 

Ok. I've ordered a Huco voltage regulator along with Conti timing belt, serp belt, idler, tensioner and spacer from FCP and kept it under $200 including shipping to the great white north. Now the waiting game before the wrenching begins. At least I'll have time to do a dump run and make some room in my garage to do it all.

Are there any specialty tools I should rig up at work while the parts are in transit?