Hi all,

As the title says, I'm looking at picking up a 95 850 T5 sedan here in Aus. I've done the checks for obvious oil leaks amd can see none. Head gasket seems good with steady temp, no milky oil cap amd calm coolant resevoir.


When I drove it, it went well, smooth gear change etc.... it's done 167k km

2 things cropped up tho....

1. On starting (1st time in a while) we had the bonnet up and there was a small amount of smoke briefly from the back of the engine near the fire wall. Possibly a little oil burning off that I couldn't see?!?

2. The young man who is selling it was planning on doing young man things to an already pretty quick car but has split up with his Mrs and Mum says he has to get rid. He has put a bit of a grumbly exhaust on it but it seems a bit boggy when you firat go to move off. Any ideas?


Known issues are

1. Needs brake caliper rebuild

2. Needs new alternator

3. spoiler needs putting back on


Positives are full service history up to about 18k ago although has been off the road for a number of years since.


any thoughts on the 2 issues before I take the plunge?


thanks

 

That is incredibly low mileage. 30 year old car.

I think you can fix whatever problems exist. The 850's are really easy to repair. Some parts may be getting more expensive. We've had a few mentions of what it costs these days to do the PCV maintenance.

 

+1. A few thoughts.

1) Brakes are easy to work on and parts are easy to find. Only special tool needed is a 7mm hex bit :-) You may find the ebrake shoes need replacing - again straight forward (if you've ever worked on drum brakes).
2) As to the alternator, not sure of which alternator you have but there's a good chance you may be able to replace the voltage regulator separate from the armature.
3) For the smoke at start up, check to make sure the turbo is not leaking - most common is the oil return line seal (two bolts and a $..10 part. but you may have weepy turbo seals. I'd also check around for any exhaust leaks near the downpipe as that will lead to check engine fault codes.
4) Maintenance items - as FBP noted, these cars are prone to get clogged PCV systems. Kits are available for $200-$300 US but to install you need to pull up the intake manifold so plan on a full day if doing this yourself or about 3-4 hours of shop time. Quite often the ports get clogged as well so at a minimum you need to rod them out or even better, drop the oil pan and clean from below (also a good time to service the oil pump o rings). First thing to do is the rubber glove test (ie surgeons glove over the oil fill port to see if it inflates). Timing belts are due every 70K miles on these cars with a new tensioner. If you are not sure when last done, its a must. Since there's no VVT system to worry about, its fairly straight forward (but not a lot of room, plus you need a special tool for the tensioner (its like a 5/8 inch square socket which some people make at home). If you are doing the timing belt, again its a good time to service the water pump.
Last thing I'd do is a full "stage 0" tune up - wires, plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter, cabin filter (if your car has one - oddly the car didn't come new with one), oil etc. Use plain copper core plugs - OEM Volvo do work best vs fancy triple iridium bla bla bla expensive plugs designed for hot coil on plug ignitions. On the optional list is to do a drain fill of the transmission - just make sure you use the proper fluid (I think its Dex 3 not 3309)

These cars can last a very long time if properly maintained so its worth doing all this stuff up front if you plan on keeping the car. My 850T lasted 250K miles and was retired atter 27 years due to body rust (salty New England roads) but still had good compression at the end.