This is a yellow 850 T5R wagon. It's one of 20+ that were imported to the US. Plus you have put all kind of work into this car. You have to get it fixed no matter what. I would definitely take the insurance money and get it fixed even if they call it a total.

 

Pkaraffa - Thanks so much for the info! This is the first piece of good news i've heard about my situation in a month!

So if i understand correctly, if the Insurance company is NOT successful in their Subrogation thinggy and can't get their money back from the station owner, then i go to court and file a suit to get my deductable back? Or do i try to get the full amount of the repair back?

If they are successful, then i should get paid back the deductable from my insurance company directly then i don't go after the station owner at all?


Any tips on what paperwork to submit in order to negotiate a better price for the car considering it's rarity? I've heard myself that there were 46 T5r Wagons imported to the US, but that's just from reading some forums... I kinda doubt that an insurance company would use an internet forum as 'proof' of a cars rarity...

Thanks again!

 

A dealer might have that information or Volvo Cars of North America.

 

If there were only 46 T5R wagons, wonder how many were yellow and how many were black? I definitely saw statistics one time where it said only 185 T5R's were yellow in the US. It's been quite a while since I saw that. That's pretty much why I bought this one when I saw it, and the Honda dealer had no idea what they had.

 

If your insurance company is successful with their subrogation, then your deductible will be refunded directly form the insurance company.

If they are not successful, and you take the gas station to court, you will be taking them for the damages they caused, and your deductible and anything else you paid for in relation to the damage.

I am not sure what literature there is out there about rare cars, but i'm sure you can find it.. Just make sure you have all your research done about its scarcity in the U.S., reciepts for everything you have done to it and you should be good to go.

 

Found it!

Doesn't show a breakdown of wagons vs sedans, but its a start. VS is translated to United STates

A rough translation of the rest of the text from dutch gives this:
heir shut all t5r carriages to

the yellow part of confirm the number of yellow t5r cars to and the black part the number gives black. In sum 5000 cars are produced.

 

An update on the manhole cover incident...

I ended up calling my insurance company and filing a claim...didn't wan't to do it but it wasn't going to be worth it to get a lawyer and sue the station owner, and he was being an *** and knew he could do nothing...

But one piece of good news so far!

The adjuster came out to my house today and as soon as i opened the garage, he asked 'is that a T5R, wow, they only told me it was an 850'. Then he asked if i knew how rare these were..esp the wagons... i guess his brother is a volvo guy and has a couple volvos that he's put together...talking about getting 400 hp dyno runs. So as soon as i heard that i had an ear to ear grin on my face. I was worried about it being totaled but he looked at the estimate for $5300, and didn't say a thing about it being totaled. He said he was going to fax authorization into the shop and i should call them and make an appointment to bring it in!

He also mentioned that the photos and stuff i had would be a big help in them sueing the gas station owner themselves. I want to followup on that later and see how it turned out.

So i'm just keeping my fingers crossed for no other hicups to happen and get the car into be repaired...

 

Oh yea...I forgot to post this earlier... I finally got an email back from volvo customer care. I'd emailed them trying to get some sort of 'official' answer to how many T5R's there were... They didn't give nearly all the info i asked for but i did get this email from them...

 

Glad something is Finally going your way.
Keep us posted.

Cool on getting the numbers as well!!!

 

Boy as soon as that guy said "is that a T5R?" you knew things were going to get better. Glad to hear it. Keep us posted.

 

So, it appears everythings on track...i got a nice big check from the insurance company and made an apointment to take the car in. So now all i need to decide is what should I do, if anything, to the engine/trans/subframe while it's out of the car.

The shop that i'm taking it to said they will probalby drop the entire subframe and engine, transmisison, in order to get access to the area where it's crunched up badly (subframe bracket to body mount). Anyway, i asked them if it would be ok for me to come pickup the engine and trans somehow and take it home to work on it while they do the frame, body and paint work. They'll probably be working on it for 2-3 weeks, which seems like a lot of time to do some stuff...

I'm just not quire sure what to do though i've got 110k miles, and I know there's a slight oil leak from somewhere. I was thinking maybe oil pan gasket, maybe the rear main seal...

I haven't ever really ever gotten into taking an engine apart, and money's a bit tight now, so I probably can't do anything major....but i figure it's gonna be out, and put back in the car for basically free, why not take advantage of that..

So lemme know if you guys have any ideas about what things i should consider doing. I'm thinking mostly maintenance items, but if there's some cheaper ways to get some performance improvements i'd consider those also.

Thanks!


I also gotta figure out how the hell to lift and transport the stuff...i'm assuming it's gonna take up a lot o space...not sure if the suspension and everything will be attached or not.

 

Hi Ludeless,

I'm glad that your 850 is on its way for recovery.

Please note this is my personal opinion, and I'm sure others have additional servicing advice.

I would do:

1. Timing belt & pulleys (the hydraulic tensioner is probably ok for another 70,000 miles), if not done in the last 70,000 miles or 5 years. Volvo water pump seems to last quite a while, but mine was leaking at 140,000 miles.
2. All PCV components, unless serviced in the last 3-4 years.
3. Replace oil cooler line seal rings & O-rings.
4. Replace transmission fluid (Dexron-III/Mercon).
5. Locate the oil leak and take care of it. RMS is a headache to do, as you have to separate the transmission.
6. All rubber hoses, especially for the cooling system.

If you're tight on money, I would postpone any performance upgrades.

This thread may also give you some ideas.
https://volvoforums.com/m_48928/tm.htm

Parts can be bought at FCP Groton or wherever you think is decent:
http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo.htm#850

I'll let others add items I may have missed.

I wish you the best of luck.


JPN

 

I wish tech was here, but he's on vacation right now. I'm not sure what I would do especially considering money is tight. Try and fix the oil leak for sure. I would not do RMS unless you know that is where it is leaking. The leak may be as simple as the turbo return line though.

 

I would replace all of the seals while it is out. It will be waay easier to do the preventative maintainence while the engine/trans is out of the car.
Depending on your mods, it would be a good time to upgrade your engine/trans mounts, silicone hose connectors, t-bolt clamps, trans filter. You could send your turbo and exhaust manifold out to crucial and have them ported and thermally coated.

Nick

 

hehe...i was wonderin why i hadn't heard from Tech yet...i figured he'd be all over this one

anyone know when he's due back from vaca?

I'm actually thinking i may postpone the repair for a few weeks until i have time to get everything planned out and parts ordered...etc...

 

Bump to see what Tech has to say.

 

Check/replace the timing belt.
Check/replace the vent system.
Check all seals for leakage.
Check it all over really well.