So, I bought this great-looking 94' 850 non-turbo automatic wagon about 6 months ago from a used car dealer... little did I know what lay in wait for me:

First off: check engine light on about 2 months in. Also, strong smell of exhaust in the passenger cabin, bad news. Took it to the mechanic:
- New thermostat and temp sensor.
- Fouled oil trap / flame trap / and intake manifold, etc. The standard problem on these cars where the oil starts to block up the intake and backflow exhaust into the engine compartment.

That was $870, and they did a great job, replaced with real Volvo parts, etc.

Ran great for a couple months, other than the air conditioning squeaking a bit when it was on. Air conditioning is very important here in the summer in Georgia.

Then, last month, it started having trouble starting, taking 4 or 5 cranks to get it going on the first start of the day. After about two weeks of that, it quit starting altogether. Thankfully, it died in the driveway, so I was able to work on it.

Replaced the fuel filter, no go. Checked the pressure on the fuel rail, perfect. Bought the Haynes book, no codes set on the ECU or injection computer, which was good...

Pulled the old plugs, which looked like crap, and replaced the distributor cap. Wouldn't start. Found an old thread on here where someone said that after sitting the car needs to crank for 3-4 minutes to get those lifters pumped up, and to just crank it hard until it starts. So I did that, for 9 minutes 30 seconds, and it roared to life! Woohoo!

Drove it for about an hour to warm the engine up, it ran great, every bit of performance I've come to expect from this car.

After getting it home again, I noticed a "barking" noise when I turned the engine off, but didn't pay much attention to it at the time — it was late at night.

This morning, went to start it, cranked it for 5 minutes before the battery quit. Put it on the charger and took my trusty rusty '78 VW Bus instead.

Got back, took off the charger, cranked it for about a minute and it started. Woot! Noticed ticking noise which sounded to me like valves (my Bus has a little hydraulic valve problem, too), so I drove and picked up some Rislone, which made the noise going away after running through the car for a few minutes.

Then, sitting in the driveway, I revved the engine up to 5-6k for 10-15 seconds to listen to it run, and let it come back down. Seemed great, ran strong, smooth through the whole range. Revved it up again, and white steam started pouring out from under the hood. Crap!

Shut it down, and noticed a conspicuous lack of "cooling fan" noise that usually happens when I shut down the car. Crap again!

Coolant sprayed all over the engine compartment, so I cleaned that up and let the car sit for a couple of hours. Went and started it just now, and noticed three very bad things:

- Sweet-smelling exhaust
- Steam escaping from under the intake manifold
- Steam spurting out when I pull the oil dipstick.

So, lay it on me: did I just screw my Volvo over and blow out the head gasket? Am I a total fool for revving it up in the driveway?

Haynes indicates that a cooling fan failure will set a code on the computer, but no such code... the fan is definitely not running though, even after letting the car warm up for 4-5 minutes. It's 60F out right now, not too cool, so I'd expect that fan to crank up after a couple of minutes.

I love my Volvo, but if I've blown the head gasket, I'm afraid we're gonna have to part ways, as I'm not keen to sink another $1500 into the car. Of the 6 months owned it, it's been out of commission or in the shop for about two of those months.

I'm kicking myself right now for not checking that fan out when I first didn't hear it, and even more for not checking the car carefully in the first place before buying it off the used car lot.

Any advice? Did I miss anything?

 

smoke out of the dip stick tube is usually pcv system, your pcv system could have been severely plugged and the smoke may be coming out down there. Check the oil to make sure there isn't any coolant in it. Do a compression test and leak down test, will tell you more if it's a head gasket or something internal.

 

Good thought. The invoice from my trip to the shop says they replaced the PCV system, though, and it was running clean until today, so I don't know why it'd be acting up.

 

Then it's probably not the PCV system. First I would do is a Compression/leak down. Compression first, then you'll have a better idea of what your dealing with.

 

Is it possible that the water pump went out?

 

I have to point out the obvious. If you have to crank a modern FI engine like the one in question more than 5 seconds, either the compression is very low(90lbs or less) or one or more injectors is leaking badly.

No matter what car, don't "crank" more than 30 seconds at a time. You can seriously over heat the starter and kill it.

 

Thanks, everyone, for the tips. Running the car in the driveway today, the steam that was escaping from the engine before had disappeared. Maybe it was just evaporation from the coolant that sprayed all over yesterday when it overheated.

Anyway, I topped the coolant off and, against my better judgement, drove the car for 20 highway miles to our new home (did I mention that we're moving across town? ). I turned up the cabin heat all the way, and kept rolling the whole time to keep the air flowing over the compartment. Made it to the destination without issue, no overheating, and with the great performance I've come to expect from this car.

Here's what I've observed:
- The temperature gauge on the dash didn't move at all off of 0, which seems to indicate something's wrong with the coolant temperature sensor (if I recall). Since both the coolant temp sensor and the thermostat were replaced when I had the car in the shop a couple months ago, I'm gonna head back and have them check their work.
- The cooling fan does NOT run at idle or after shutting off the car. It seems to be a loose wire or worn out bearings — pushing on the blades of the fan causes it to "wake up" for a second and spin around, albeit with same "barking" noise that I heard before.

The odd thing to me is that both of those things should set a code in the computer, but when I test it I still get 1-1-1, "all's well."

Since my money's tight at the moment (new baby on the way), I'm gonna park this car for a bit and save up for a diagnostic trip to the mechanic. I'll let them check that coolant sensor and fan, and do a compression and leak down test, and then decide whether or not I want to invest further in the car.

I do love this Volvo, though, and I'm hoping that I just need to replace a couple of things to keep going. Love driving it, it's speedy and feels very safe.

And for whatever neglect has been done I can hopefully undo with regular maintenance and attention to detail. Still hooked on Volvo here...

 

Sounds like things are doing okay. What you describe with the cooling fan sounds like the fan motor is going bad. Get one from a salvage yard if you need to save money. As for the gauge, there's a separate sensor for the gauge, actually called a coolant temp. sending unit. That's separate from the temp sensor, and that may need changed/ got disconnected inadvertently while you were working on it. Since its only job is to tell the gauge how hot the engine is, it won't set a code. Good luck!

 

Sounds like Carrots is on the right track. I'm kind of leaning toward the coolant temperature sensor even though there is no code. Ours went bad a few months ago and had the same symptoms (very hard starting, erratic idle, no cooling fan, and no temperature gauge movement). The code only came on after nearly a week of dealing with the issue.

 

The temp gauge not moving of 0 could be the gauge cluster. I have the same issue from time to time and when I check the codes in A7, these are the instrument gauge codes, I get a could that states that the temp signal interval is to long. So, it is either a loose wire running from the ECU to the gauge cluster or the gauge cluster it self.

 

Good to know. I'll check A-7 when I get a chance to work on the car again.

Yeah, definitely have the hard starting problem. I'll test what I can before rolling into the shop and ask here if I have any questions.

I have to say, the quality of the responses and threads on this forum are a HUGE factor in my decision to keep the car. Y'all are great, and I'm encouraged that people think that these cars are worth time and effort.

Coming from air-cooled Volkswagens, I've had a ton to learn. Through reading old threads on this site and working on my 850 my viewpoint has gone from, "what's wrong with this crazy car? What are all these black boxes? So many relays?!," to "wow, Volvo did a lot of really smart things on this car!"

 

Hey Everyone, please remember, all because there is no CEL does not mean the computer is NOT giving a fault code. I have check my ECU before and found faults in the computer with no CEL.

 

VERY good point!

 

Just an FYI. I have had some corrosion issues at the computer cable. Since these cars are getting older it would be a good idea to clean all the contacts of electrical connections if you are disconnecting something anyway. They sell a spray electrical connection cleaner and that should help out. Can't hurt right?

 

Unless you held it backwards and sprayed it in your eyes, then it would hurt.