Hello all,seeking the advice of those more knowledgeable than myself.I am in the market for a 850 wagon and found one fairly close to me pop up for sale.It is a 1995 with 147K miles on it,has service records and the timing belt was recently done.I had the seller send me a video of the car running because he had mentioned a possible throw out bearing noise.The first squeaking sound I hear sounds like the bearing is on its way out.But what sounds even more concerning to me is the noise the engine is making at idle!Is this normal for volvos?Or is there more problems for me ahead,like lifters or valves?Just need some educated advice before I drive to look at this car,is it worth the time?Anything else that you can catch in the video? Thanks for your time!

Luke

 

Does act like a throw out brg. The A/C kicking in and off could be low freon or worn spacers on A/C clutch. The clattering noise is fairly normal. You haven't shown the rest of the car. But if it's in good to fair condition inside and out and the price is not more that 1250 to 1500 dollars I'd buy it. I have recently purchased a 2002 XC-70 with 104,000 miles, interior looks like new, exterior has several small dents, with a transmission rebuild for 1200. It's needing a valve body assembly. After I get through with my 04 V70R, my lady friend's 01 XC-70 front cam shaft seals and an 06 S60 T5 with the ame issues, I'll start work on the 02. Any used car of that age will need stuff done. I don't do body work or interior work too much, the mechanical stuff is all fixable, just depends on your comfort level doing your own repairs.

 

Thanks Bill! I am not scared of working on cars,I maintain four family cars two of those are daily drivers.The asking price is 2500 dollars,so I would assume he is asking to much?He said he is a little flexible on price.I priced out a sachs clutch kit for around 200 bucks that comes with the throw out bearing.I can drop the tranny and fix that,but I also don't want to get into more serious engine problems.This car will be my daily driver,so reliability it top priority.I have had my current daily for going on 10 years and close to 200k miles and its just time for a car with more room.I also noticed two red lights on the dash illuminated? I am not familiar with volvo dash lights,any idea from the video what they could be? Thanks

 

regarding the lifters - these engines don't use hydraulic lifters and you'd need to open up the engine to shim the valves but its no big deal to hear a little noise at idle with the hood open. regarding the dash lights you can find them covered in the owners manual (Go to volvotips.com for an online copy). Tough to see which lights are illuminated but if they are on the far right, its the ABS light (red) and the service interval light (amber light goes out after about 5 minutes). ABS light can get set by faulty wheel sensors or a problem in the ABS controller board or the pump itself. You can pull codes using the OBD1 port - see volvotips.com for how to's. Similarly you can use the OBD1 port to reset the service light as well. Oh and for 2500, I'd expect the car to be in cherry condition - not a car that may need a clutch job. Its nice to find a manual but you are getting the NA engine not the turbo... Things to worry about on this car: 1) timing belt is every 7 years 2) AC clutches may need to be shimmed from time to time 3) AC evaporator drains can clog rusting the evaporator - replacement is like $1500 or you live w/o AC 4) PCV systems need to be serviced which requires removal of the intake manifold (you can do a simple latex glove test to see if its working). After that its the usual odd bits that fail on a 22 year old car.

 

Thanks mt6127,sounds like I will continue my search.Price seems to high for a N/A car with the work it needs.

Luke

 

Not sure where you are located but to compare, I saw a 98 V70 T5 with a manual in good condition 175K miles on craigslist here in Connecticut for $2900. Now that'd be worth it as its a rare combination of the T5 engine with a manual transmission - a worthy sleeper to tune IMHO.

 

Yup just saw that car on craigslist.Looks like a sweet deal!I'm in Indiana,slim pickins for manual volvo wagons in my area.I offered the guy 1700 bucks with the known issues and he said no go.The search continues!!