I am the new owner of 96 850 (non turbo) 190000 miles.

First, the Good
1. The car was well maintained up until about 150000 miles; the owner kept the maintenance records and did the regular scheduled maintenance at a Volvo dealership.
2. The Timing belt was last replaced at 141000 miles.
3. The body has no rust or sign of fading and the interior is in excellent condition. The rear and passenger seats looks practically new, the driver’s seat shows a little wear.
4. All electrical components work including the heated seats, power windows and keyless entry.
5. I took it on a 400 mile trip and the car drives nice. The transmission was smooth, and acceleration was excellent for 12 year old car with almost 200000 miles.

Now the bad [:@]
1. The Check Engine Light came on and I was told the code is indicating the rear oxygen sensor is bad and needs to be replaced. ($389 parts and labor)
2. The exhaust manifold has a small leak and needs to be replaced. ($400 used parts and labor)
3. The rear main seal is leaking and this is possibly due to the PCV system clogged and needs to be replaced / serviced. ($1700 this includes replacing the RMS and Transaxle seal, since they have to drop the transmission anyways, and replacing the PCV)
4. Needs pads and rotors all around. ($600 installed)
5. Needs new tires. ($358 for Falken Ziex - installed)
6. The "right" outer tie rod end needs to be replaced ($161 including alignment)

It looks like I will spend close to $3500 to fix everything. While I am no mechanic I am not completely incompetent and can do my own brakes and oxygen sensor. Not sure if I can do the manifold or RMS though.

My questions are -:
1. Is it worth it to spend this money on a 12 year old almost 200000 mile car?
2. Shouldn't both oxygen sensors be replaced at the same time?
3. Also, how can you be certain it is the oxygen sensor if the exhaust manifold is leaking?
4. Would just servicing the PCV system relieve the pressure and thus slow or stop the leak? or once the leak develops the seals has to be replaced?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

-N

 

I would say no but if you can do some stuff yourself you can save a lot of money.

Depending on how much it is leaking that could in fact lead to a false range error on the sensor. Where is it leaking? They normally don't break. Could it just be the gasket?

Sadly, once the seal is blown it must be changed to stop the leak. Replacing the seal without servicing the PCV will just cause it to blow again.

Deal with the exhaust leak first.

The price of the tie rod seems steep to me, you can get a new OEM tie rod at FCP Groton for $39.00 and it is easy to change wile you are doing the brake job. Check eBay for your new Rotors, I got a set of drilled rotors, front and rear, for $145.00 shipped. Avoid auto parts store pads. Ive done OK with Mintex pads but most folks have squealing trouble with anything but Volvo pads.

...Lee

 

As stated above, you can save or absorb some of the costs yourself if you can do the work yourself. Some of the prices don't seem to bad, especially for tires... that's pretty cheap if the total cost includes cost of 4 tires, mounting, balancing, disposal of old tires & alignment.

I just spent $640 on (4) tires (F 275/40/17 & R 285/40/17)for my Cobra, $80 for mounting/balancing/disposal,$69 for alignment and an additional $200 for both ball joints to be replaced (135k original mile ball joints). I could have performed the ball joint replacement myself (and have done this in the past), but as of lately, it's cold here in NJ, I don't have the time to do the job and I did not wantmy new tires all fubarred and then needingto get another alignment later,so I just had the shop do it for me. [8D]

Before you spend the money on a new rear O2 sensor, check the most recent thread in this forum with regards to a rear O2 sensor issue that turned out NOT to be the problem. The Member on here describes the exact issue you have - tripped CEL, O2 code for rear sensor, but his problem was a hose under the hood that was causing the error, the O2 did not need to be replaced... Cheap fix for him.

The other questions you have to ask yourselfare these -

1) Do you spend the $ now and fix all of the issues, then have a vehicle that is problem free for another xx,xxxx (or xxx,xxx) miles?

2) Do you sell the vehicle and have to look for another used vehicle of which you would possibly have to put out more cash to purchase - then also worry about what issues or parts would need to be replaced on it AFTER buying it, which is then more $$$$....

3) Do you sell/trade in the vehicle on a brand new (or newer) vehicle, of which you would then most likely need to put money down, have a monthly car payment AND an increased insurance payment due to needing to carry full coverage on a financed/leased vehicle...

If the vehicle is in good overall condition, I would fix the problems and enjoy it afterwards - because you would be saving $$$ in the long run if you chose option 1, rather than 2 or 3...

Out of all of the items above, it seems the RMS would be the most costly repair IF you have a shop do it for you. The actual part cost of a RMS itself is usually under $20-$30, depending on where you buy it from - the labor to do the R&R of the trans, related other components in order to swap out the bad RMS for a new oneis where the bill gets costly.

The brake work will definitely cost you less than $600 if doing it yourself. Shop around online for new pads, rotors & fluid. After getting the parts, put some time aside and complete the job. I'm guessing that you could save at least $300 or better if you did this job and sourced the parts yourself.

 

I personally would not spend any where near that much money on a 850 NA with almost 200K on it. The first thing I would do is do the PCV system and see if the oil leak stops or at least slows down. If it has truely blown the seal it's too late, but doing the PCV system yourself with the kit from fcpgroton is just a little over $100.

You can definitely do the brakes yourself if you are at all inclined to do this kind of work. They are pretty easy to do. I would also try and fix the exhaust manifold leak myself. Not sure what you need there though.

Do these few things and see where you are at before dropping too much money into it.

If it were me, I would sell it for whatever i could get for it and then buy a Turbo model.

 

Unless you don't mind the limited performance of the NA engine, i'd just get rid of it for a turbo version.

 

Well today I decided to start with the tires and brakes. I replaced all pads and rotors, however the drivers side caliper was shot. The rubber seal was loose and the piston was rusted.

As for the exhaust leak, when I took the car to Merchants Tire for the new set of tires, I ask the mechanic to check the exhaust manifold for any leaks. He reported back that he did not find any.

While the car was parked in the garage for a good portion of the day while I worked on the brakes I only observe 2 spots (about the size of a nickel) of oil drips. I am thinking I will go ahead and service the PCV, but wait on the RMS until the leak gets worst.

I do appreciate everyone comments.

My main purpose for getting this car was so that I can use it to go back and forth to work and it will sometimes be parked on the streets downtown, I am not fond of parking my XC90 on the streets downtown.

I purposely stayed away from the 850 turbo’s because I read that there are more problems and maintenance to deal with… besides I already have the xc90 twin turbo.

Thanks!

 

I read the post but I couldn't figure out what hose they were talking about. If you have an idea can you clarify.

Thanks!

 

>"I purposely stayed away from the 850 turbo’s because I read that there are more problems and maintenance to deal with…"

Negative.

The turbo engines on 850s are as reliable & durable as the NAs. Either engine can fail due to neglect, mostly poor oil management. If there is a leak, I would check the oil level at least once/week, and depending on the rate of the leak, I may check as often as daily until the leak is corrected. If the turbocharger itself fails, then it is of course an additional problem as compared to the NAs.

Basic servicing reference:
https://volvoforums.com/m_48928/tm.htm

I would buy an inspection mirror and do a visual inspection on the exhaust manifold. If you do not see any physical damage, the manifold probably does not need replacement; not sure about the manifold gasket. Do this while the engine is stone-cold.

Anything that affects the air-fuel mixture or an entry of air in the exhaust line, before the spent gas reaches the O2 sensors, can cause irregular readings from the sensors & turn on CEL/MIL.

I agree with Moderator JimKW in every way. Now since you've started to work on the car, I would make the PCV the priority. It may slow down the leak from RMS, in which case you can defer the repair until you can afford it, though the sooner the better. A member named Mr. Robrike has done this by himself and has posted a helpful thread with some pics. See if you can find the thread via search.

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo.htm#850
http://www.eeuroparts.com/home.aspx

Best of luck & let us know how it goes, if you would.


JPN

P.S: Just found Rob's write-up on the RMS, took me about 10 minutes to find it (search function was not very effective).
https://volvoforums.com/m_60651/tm.htm

 

Sounds like a good start. Brakes are pretty friggin important. I always have my wife test drive the car after I do the brakes, cause I'm too dirty to sit in the car. If she doesn't end up in the creek across the street from the driveway, I've done a good job on the brakes. So far so good.

You might luck out and stop the leak altogehter when you cut down on the pressure by servicing the PCV system.

Good luck.

 

Brakes - I did mine, 4 rotors, and 4 sets of pads, for $150 (through ebay) - almost 2 years now and not a single squeek or problem.

PCV - doing mine this weekend. I picked up all the parts for $150 with shipping through FCP groton.

When you do the PCV system, go ahead and clean out the throttle body and well. You'll be taking it off to do the PCV.

After doing the PCV system - I recommend an oil change.

 

The car is driving nice now without any vibration... etc. I did the following so far, brakes all around, tires all around, tie rod ends. Now, to address the oil leak, this is certainly not a job I will do myself. I was quoted, $1200 from a local Volvo specialist shop and $1050 from the dealer to replace the rear main seal and the transaxle seal.
What is reasonable price I should expect to pay for this? I didn't want to spend that much. I plan on the doing the PCV myself this weekend and have ordered the kit from FCP.

Thanks to everyone for your input and comments.

 

Those prices are more or less in line. The best price I've seen was quoted for a RMS was a few days ago at $600.00 from an indy shop in, I think, Louisiana.

If you are doing the PCV make sure that you have socket extensions and swivel joints, there are a couple of nuts on the intake manifold that are challenging. My personal choice is to use 1/4" drive stuff to get the the lower bolts.

...Lee

 

my next project...makes me wish i still lived in west texas where i had all the tools, car port and garage i could ever want or need for any mechanical work...