Hello guys, i have just picked up a 1996 850 Sedan today. I have some basic questions about this car specifically. (I will attach some photos for you guys)
I am going to try and provide all of the information that I believe is correct that pertains to this car

• It has 90k miles
• Interior is Fantastic
• It is the GLT model
• It has a custom exhaust that doesn't look horrible and sounds pretty good (from the looks still has Catalytic converter).
• Paint is 8.5/10
• it has been service almost all it life at a dealership
• The car is also rust free!

Please bare with me as this is my first time owning a Volvo and I am still moderately new to working on cars. There were only a couple problems mention while purchasing. The suspension is recommended for replacement and there is a CEL for something with the intake system (only symptom I can tell is occasional pops at idle). I planned on getting coilovers pretty soon but I wanted your opinions first. Some maintenance I want to do off the bat is timing belt, clutch and flywheel
(soooo much rev hang), and maybe the serpentine belt as well. I have never worked on a transversally mounted motor so I don't think I will be DIY-ing the timing belt but i might do the other two myself.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. If there is anything that i got wrong or any thoughtful diagnostics please leave a comment.

 

 

Check videos from Robert DIY on YouTube. He is the Volvo guru.

 

What a nice car!

There is a really good "new owners read this" thread for the 850, and it addresses the strange PCV system which requires maintenance that's odd compared to other cars. There is a prescribed preventative maintenance list of things-to-do for this car and you might as well do them all. The timing belt of course. Maybe get you some cam seals while you're in there (pretty easy).

These cars do wear out brake rotors and ball joints, but at that mileage I really wouldn't expect much trouble there. I'm skeptical that "the suspension" is really all that bad (whatever "the suspension" means). If it needs lower control arms they are mercifully easy to do. One think I would believe is that the front strut supports (rubber) are shot. That rubber thing on top of the spring has a molded-in piece of pipe that accepts the end of the shock absorber piston rod. When that piece of pipe tears loose from the rubber, they'll start clunking.

Lots and lots of these cars died by heater core failure. Starts leaking, car gets low on coolant over and over, owner cant' figure out where it's going, one day they push it too far and it overheats and warps the head. The heater core is mercifully easy to get to. These cars are equipped with a lying temperature gauge. When they used a real temperature gauge, owners were always complaining about where the needle was pointing. So they programmed the cluster such that the temperature gauge just points totally horizontal until some point at which (from experience) it's too late. So it points horizontial let's say from 180 degrees F to 240 degrees F. Then at 241 degrees F it points to "hot". So that is actually fatal sometimes to these cars.

You would expect to have some vacuum leaks on a car this age and that might have something to do with your check engine light, who knows.

It's a doll.

Robert has great videos on a number of these repairs.

 

You may already know this, but parts are very easy to get here. IPDusa.com and FCPeuro.com are very easy to deal with and they'll give a grade on parts. A normal auto parts store will have some stuff from common brands that may be good. For genuine volvo parts, you could look at sources other than IPD and FCP and you may find a source that is compretitive.

One other thing - these cars have crazy low voltage ignition. I've never seen anything so low. Never never ask for any sort of spark plug with a metal in the name unless the metal is copper, and be sure they get gapped correctly. I use NGK's but I don't recall what they had from the factory.

 

Regarding the timing belt, I am kinda backed up with college and i have never done a timing belt before so might take it to a dealership for that unless you guys insist its a fairly easy job.
i do very much belive the the shocks are the problem with suspension sinc it just recently got lower control arms and ball joints. I was just gonna go with a nice set of coilovers for daily use. Any recommendations?
and regarding the heating problems these cars have i live in arizona so this is top priority. This is the text i was sent by the seller regarding this open pipe in my engine bay.
"It could be because the preheat pipe was removed, since we live in a hot climate, leaving the preheat pipe on can cause the flap to stay stuck open causing the o2 sensor to break. I bought this car off a volvo private seller, he has his own private dealership specializing in Volvo. I can give you his phone number and you can ask him any questions you have with the car" Any advice for preventative maintenance for cooling or aftermarket solutions?

It is a non turbo just for reference.

 

"Nice set of coilovers for daily use" is total nonsense to me, sorry. You might as well have said "My brother in law convinced me to install hydropneumatic elastomers". I have no clue what that is.

you picture is the place where the preheat pipe hooks up. Ignore that. You can buy preheat pipe of various diameters at an auto parts store, but it doesn't do a whole lot.

 

Congrats on your new ride, the '96 850 Sedan sounds like a gem. Your detailed description shows you've done your homework. Regarding the suspension and CEL, it's great you're already planning maintenance. As for coilovers, getting opinions is wise. Speaking from experience, when I got my first Volvo, I had similar concerns. I found http://www.a1autotransport.com/motor...st-calculator/ super handy for shipping my bike when I moved.