Just a quick introduction before I start asking mechanical questions--

Got my first volvo a couple of months ago- Picked up a 1994 850 turbo wagon for $900, about 90kmiles on it... AND I LOVE IT! It's so FUN to drive! But then, I've never been one to have a slow vehicle . Not to mention I can lay the back seat down, and my dogs fit with room to spare! It sounds so crazy, but this 15 year old used car is already my favorite vehicle in the driveway!

It ran pretty rough when I picked it up, so I had the timing belt, radiator, and plugs, fuel filter, etc, changed immediately. It's still got a few issues, but I figure she will always need a little TLC to stay happy.

1. Does anyone have experience getting any OEM volvo radio/CD player systems on Ebay? I see some on there, but wouldn't want to pick one up and have it not work? (Mine reads "OFF".. have tried the whole resetting process with the code, but without success.)

2. After about 700 miles it's leaking oil pretty bad... got it jacked up and would have thought it was the oil-pan gasket.... only I'm told that those things rarely leak and it's more likely the rear main or the "turbo drain seal".... I'm doubting it's the rear main.

What do you guys know about the frequency of that turbo drain seal going kaput and what does it take to get in there and replace it?

Thanks!

 

Try taking the car to dealer and getting the radio code from them, maybe someone wrote it down wrong along the way.

It could be the turbo oil return line, jack it up and look underneath the turbo to see if it's oily underneath it. If it is that, they're relatively easy to replace, couple a bolts is all. I doubt it the rear main too, especially at only 90k miles.

 

I would bet someone just wrote it down wrong. When I changed battery's in one of my 850s the radio read off also. I thought I had the code correct but could never get it to work. I called the volvo dealer. They made me email my VIN and within 15 minutes I had the correct code.

As for the leak, Jack the car up clean all the oil. And try and see where its coming from. Shouldn't be too hard.


Hope that helps.

 

To get the radio back to CODE You need to leave the key in the 1st position(Radio on only) for about 2 to 3 hours. Most time it will not kill the battery. Then take the radio itself to your local Dealer and they will look the code up by the radio serial number.

The turbo return line O-rings go bad all the time.

 

1) try the whole dealer thing first (dont pay them anything, its usually a free service). call first before you drive all the way to the dealer.

i have a stock radio, no CD player in it though, with a code. pm me if u want it. free + shipping


2) sounds like o-ring seals on the turbo. clean it up good. drive it for a day or two and report back with your findings.

 

Take pictures of the underside would help too. Give us a chance to see what your seeing.

 

Thanks all-

The guy at my volvo shop had done all the calling and provided the code for the radio... but I will take your advice and call the dealer as a double-check. That's a pretty cheap fix if they come up with a different/correct code.

Got it up on jacks and cleaned up.. and that's when I thought oil pan.. had it running for a bit like that, and saw fresh oil coming from the bolts on the back side of the oil pan. The mess didn't seem to be above anywhere. So I tightened those up as much as I could. (Will add a little silicon to the one that seemed to be the problem.) However that did not seem to be enough oil to add up to the junk I cleaned off. It's still gotta be coming from more places.

Will run her for a few days and check again. Will report back.

As for shop manuals, which do you all recommend? The Chilton on Amazon.com had horrible reviews, the Haynes had good reviews, but I haven't liked previous Haynes manuals that I've had.... so any good ideas for which one has the best detail, instructions, graphics, and where to get it?

A little background- I'm not a mechanic, but I am mechanically inclined (for a chick anyway)... my brother is, but he's not local, and doesn't have much experience with imports. My last project vehicle was a '00 Jeep 6cyl... nice and simple & LOTS more space under the hood to work with! The turbo elements are also new for me, so that's where I will most likely get hung-up.

Thanks for the input! Will get some photos up this weekend.

 

The oil could have accumulated over time. If the underside of the turbo is dry, then I would rule that out.

 

If you need vadis, PM me and I can tell you were to get it. (Vadis is the complete Software package for your volvo) you can rebuild your car from the ground up with it.

 

1. Called dealership about radio issue-- they guy said that he has seen older ones go up to 4 hours before it will accept a code. Sure enough, a little over 3 hrs and it works just fine!

2. Oil leakage pretty profuse in just a short trip around town. Pics:










Though still clean above the oil pan area:

 

Looks like it could be the pan. Definitely not the turbo, that thing's pretty dry.

 

Is it wet on the front of the motor?

 

No, front of motor is not wet.

 

HMM I doubt the oil pan is leaking. Not unless someone removed the pan and did not get it sealed.

 

It's hard to tell. The guy I got it from had it sitting for nearly 3 years-- except to maybe move it from the garage to the driveway and such.

 

Try the turbo drain tube. Oil pan gaskets on these cars don't leak unless someone takes the pan off and re- seals it with the wrong stuff or doesn't coat the sealing surfaces correctly. The pan doesn't actually have a gasket per se, but rather, it uses precision- machined mating surfaces and a liquid anaerobic sealing material that is spread onto the mating surfaces that basically fills in microscopic gaps to prevent seepage. An oil leak THAT bad is highly unlikely to come from the pan gasket. The turbo drain pipe is the metal line that is just above the oil pan in that picture. The seal on that often deteriorates and lets oil leak out. Usually, it's not that bad, and almost always seeps a little bit, but I had a customer once whose car seriously lost a quart every 1000 miles through that seal. I could actually see the oil flow out when the engine was running above 2,000 RPM.

 

If its the turbo drain pipe then it's definitely not where it's connected to the turbo. Is the seal prone to failing where the line goes into the block? If you look at the pictures she put up, the turbo is completely dry, and I mean completely. Even if she drove through a giant puddle, the turbo would still be dry, it's that leak free right now.

 

Yes it is prone to leak where it goes into the block.

 

I am talking about where the tube goes into the block. There's a squared o- ring in there that hardens and cracks with age, and almost all of them seep a little, sometimes the leak can get really bad.

And yeah, from the pic, that may well be the driest turbo I've ever seen.

And, Desert Darln, one more suggestion. The reason Tech asked about the front of the engine is that he's thinking either the cam seals, or, more likely, the 3 bolts across the front of the engine (actually on the passenger side, below the crank pulley, since the engine is sideways) These bolts thread into open holes, and there's oil passing through on the other side, and it often seeps down past the threads and out around those bolts. There's a technical service bulletin on this issue. The official Volvo way to fix it is to go buy a set of those bolts from the dealer, which are pre- coated with thread sealer, and replace them one- by- one (don't take them all out or you risk breaking the seal on the oil pan) The way I personally fix it, and it's much less expensive, is get a tube of thread sealer from your local parts store, remove one bolt, clean it with brake/ parts cleaner, let it dry, then coat the threads with sealer and replace. Repeat for the other 2 bolts. Make sure you torque them to spec when re- installing them. The torque spec is 12.5 ft/lb. (yes, I know... just set the torque wrench to 13 ft/lb. This isn't the space shuttle)

 

Thanks all for the suggestions & instructions.

I let her run in place last night for about 45 minutes again. Would go out every once in a while and do a few minutes of 2k-3k rpm. Eventually got a little oil from 3 different places.. which would make sense, because no one particular place was adding up to what I was seeing while driving (losing nearly a quart every 600mi). Though I'm surprised it wasn't more. The resut of the idle is nothing like after driving it for that length of time.

1. A little bit from the tube/block location
2. More from one of the bolts you see in the photo in previous post (the one on the right)
3. And a little from the oil drain plug. (which is BS because its brand new)

So of course, it's never just 1 thing when we're talking about my vehicles! Process of elimination: Will use your same suggestion for the bolts in the rear of the oil pan and for the plug, and see how much that reduces the problem. Will then drive again and see what's the next to flow, and if there is still a substantial amount coming from the drain tube, get the parts. I expect that will be the bulk of it once I get on the road and put the turbo to good use.


I'll look at those tech bulletins. I actually started checking them before I bought the car.. wanted to learn what some of the common issues were. Great resource!