Hello everybody,
I have been searching for a station wagon that gets decent gas mileage for awhile now. Im looking for a car that can fit alot of things in the back like my basketball wheelchair. I came across this 850 turbo wagon on craigslist for $900. 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon
It seems to need a head gasket and I hope that is all. The owner says he repalced the turbo recently as well as some other parts.
My question is, do you think this car is worth the price? Do you think it will be a headache and money pit? Also, any idea what kind of gas mileage this car will get?
Thanks for all the help!!!

 

Here is a buyer's guide:
Buyer's guide - Volvo Forums - Volvo Enthusiasts Forum

Any 16+ year old car will have more than 1 thing that needs to be fixed. If not, give it a week, something else will break.

These 850's are for DIYers. If you are not a DIYer, please stay away from these cars. They are great cars but the mechanics that repair them are expensive. There is a chance that you can find one that has really been maintained well, but sooner or later, on a 17 year old car, something will need to be fixed.

When these cars are tuned properly, they get an average of 22/29.

I personally would not pay more than $500 for a car with a bad head gasket. More like $350. On top of that, I just did a head gasket job on our S70 and it actually cost us $850 to do the job myself. If I would have to pay someone else to do it, it would cost upwards of $1,800 which is to much when you already paid $500 for the car. You can find a decent running 850 for $2,000. If they are asking more, just offer them less.

 

Oh, wow, I know that car. It's sad to see it going and it would be nice to have but as I stated, it would cost a lot to get it up to snuff. Head gasket cost, tire cost, seat cost. Tough one there.

 

I'd keep looking.

The owner says he's had the ad running for a couple months, which means the head gasket blew at least a couple months ago. He then mentions something about how he thinks it blew because of a fan issue from last November. It's possible the car blew the head gasket many months ago. He also says he hasn't cranked the car in a month.

I've had two experiences with blown head gaskets where the engine wasn't repaired immediately. When that gasket blows, you get a little bit of water in the cylinder. If the car is parked when it's hot, the pressurized cooling system continues to bleed water into the cylinder while it cools, and you end up with more than just a little bit of water.

In my case, both times, the cylinder liners rusted to the point where they couldn't just be honed. The cylinders needed to be to be overbored, and I had big plans to rebuild it. Not a problem if you own a Chevy. Everybody makes parts for a Chevy, so the parts are cheap. A set of oversize pistons for a Volvo though.....a thousand bucks, easy.

You may get lucky, but why bother? As I recall, it's about 10 hours of labor, plus a gasket set, a bolt set, and machine shop fees, and when it's all together you don't know if you'll end up with low compression on one cylinder due to the rust on the cylinder wall. There's enough cars out there that I'd avoid the potential headache / money pit.

 

Ok, well thats a bummer, but I do appreciate the information. I am looking for a car thats under $1000 that may need some work. I am very good at mechanic work but if you guys think that I hsould pass on it, then I will take your word for it.

Thanks!!!

 

rspi, how did it cost that much money to do a head gasket repair?

 

I was kinda wondering that myself. Last one I did cost me about $180 for the head gasket set and bolts, $125 for the timing belt kit, $35 for a water pump, plus head resurfacing & pressure testing.

I could do 2 of them and probably not spend $850.

 

Here is my cost.

On another note, here is a pic of a '97 850 R that I seen at a gas station about 1/2 mile from my house. It just showed up there a couple of days ago so I stopped by to see if the guy would let me buy it. He said NO WAY. My wife doesn't believe him but he claims that he purchased it for $50.

 

Besides surfacing the head what all did NAPA do to it ??

 

They claimed it was warped, they replaced the valve stem seals, cleaned it up and laped the valves I guess. I was shocked when they told me the final price. I was expecting about $275, not $423.

 

Well that explains it. I don't count a lot of that stuff, like tools. Most of it I have, but if I have to buy something I just chalk it up to the cost of doing business, not the cost of doing the individual job. I mean, I'm not buying a new crank nut socket every time I do another Volvo head gasket.

I don't wanna question how you do your jobs, but sixty five bucks worth of oil? And sixty bucks in gas to drive to the machine shop? Maybe they charged you so much because you were there bothering them every day.

Seriously though....that machine shop fee seems way, way out of line. For a resurface (which I always do no matter what) and a pressure test, my guy charges me $100. Valve grind is ten bucks a valve. That's probably the difference between using a local guy, and a big national chain like NAPA.

The seals I do myself, with a standard valve spring compressor and a large spark plug socket that I cut away on the side. I use that to press the valve down into the head, and the cutaway allows me access to the retainers.

To each his own though. Your cars, your jobs, your choice.

 

First off, I had to buy the tool to finish the job and most likely, someone that never did a head gasket job will have to do the same. So that's part of the cost.

Then, I don't have any control of what a shop charges for their fees. I went to their shop 3 times. To drop the head off. Two days later to drop the cams and cam cover off per their request. The final time to pick up the head. With peak gas prices, getting 22 mpg, and a 70 mile drive each way, it is what it is. To far to walk.

The oil, are you kidding? With what was used to clean the block etc. You don't change the oil? The cost are what they are. There are people that brag about how little it cost them to do this or that, but when you pull out the ticket, no cost for the travel, out of area meals, no cost for supplies, etc., not real cost if you ask me. I have run a few small businesses and if you don't cost all the cost, you'll likely be out of business.

Easy example of that is a guy trying to sell me his 850 for $400. By the time I would get the car right I would spend $1,500 in parts and 40 hours of my time. To make a dime off that car I'd have to get $800 from him with the car to make it worth my while.

I do my best to be honest with myself and others! I'll end this nice by writing LATER.

 

Well, i went and looked at a different Volvo 850 GLE today. I think that was probably a waste of my time, the car had no head liner, the radio wouldnt blow a fuse if you turned it on. The odometer didnt work, the speedometer didnt work then started working. The service light came on and then went off. It needed lower control arms is what the guy said, but when I got there it need an upper motor mount as well. After it warmed up, I pulled the dipstick and it poured smoke out. All in all, not a great car and Im not sure it was worth the firm $1100.

I guess I will stay on the hunt for a wagon under $1000. If anybody sees anything near NC then please let me know. Thanks!

 

Here's the deal with me... If you look at an 850 that is in good shape, you can likely get it for $2,500. Using that as a guide, if you find a car, take $2,500 and start to subtract the cost to get it to $2,500 value. Whatever that cost is, offer the person that. Yesterday guy asked me to make him an offer on his son's 850. My offer would have been... give me $800 and the car and we'll call it even. That's how much work the car needed. If I took the car for FREE, and got it up to snuff, it would cost about $1,900 in parts. There is NO WAY I could get the car and feel good about making any money from it. Sure I could get it running smooth enough to trick someone into buying it for $1,500 and I maybe make $500, but I know the car would be in desperate need of more wook when they drove away. Can't do that.

So, look at the car and back the numbers off from $2,500 and see where you land. Then offer the person that. Don't back off parts cost, back off repair cost, like what it would cost to have an indi shop do the work. That's the only reason why I wouldn't be all over that purple wagon. Head gasket job at a shop is at least $1,800. Then you have a torn seat and maybe a few other things. Just bad numbers.

 

That description of it's condition and firm at $1,100 ??? He will be sitting on that for a while as that kind of buyer isn't born every day.

Choice is, get a cheap one beat up and fix it up (me) or buy one in good condition that should be reasonably reliable but knowing that when it does need repairs Volvo's aren't the most reasonable.

Trying to get a deal is work. You need to hunt for that good buy you're looking for.

 

Can any of you guys tell me a good source for used volvo engines? I want to tget an idea of what a new or used engine would cost me if I were to find a car that needed an entire engine. Thanks.

 

I don't know that there's any real "source" other than your local wrecking yard. It's not like the Honda crowd, where everybody seems to have a supply of engines from the motherland (JDM)

 

Search Craigslist or Salvage yards. Each engine has a different history and the reliability of each engine will be different.

 

Hey man, I'm not trying to criticize somebodys method. I was just curious. Sure, you gotta add up all the costs. I've got 5 machine shops within a 10 minute drive from my house. Maybe you're not so lucky, in which case, sure...you gotta add money spent on gas. Money spent is money spent.

Some of it seemed odd though. I mean, I do a head gasket, and when it's all together I change the oil. I spend maybe $15 on 5 quarts. You said it cost you $65 for oil. I just thought that was odd.

If you've got a method that's working for you though, cool.

BTW....it seems this thread has now been jacked twice...

 

Like anything on Rspi's list you can pick it apart. It's just a guide as to what he did and what it cost him. If you're thinking of doing your own head gasket it just gives you an idea and if you don't need to do this or buy that you just delete it from your estimate.

If I had to choose I'd rather get closer to the $65 with a good quality synthetic oil rather that what might be found for $15. Mudpie, what is it you get 6 quarts of for around $15 ?? I don't think even walmart house brand dino is that cheap.
Myself, I'd pick up a synthetic oil and filter combo for around 35 when they are on sale Oreilly, Autozone .... As for brand, any and there are enough threads fighting over which oil and which brand filter are best
I'm not opening that door, thank you very much !!