I am a former 850 owner. I bought a 1994 Turbo sdn new and two years later bought an 855 GLT wagon. Both cars had 100,000K+ miles on them when I sold them. I always maintained them by the book at the Volvo dealer and over the years spent quite a bit. I sold the last one in 2001 and have since been driving a Japanese brand,which I must admit is basically trouble free. I got the urge for another 850 though and just bought a 1994 GLT sdn with only 72,000 miles on it from the original owner. It has new tires and a few issues suchj as a broken driver power mirror, and the cover on the sliding moon roof cover is ripped off. The drivers leather seat shows a good amount of wear. and there is a minor dent on the right rear corner. The timing belt belt has not been changed and I will do that first. I am also thinking of changing all the fluids and the serpentine belt as well. Anyone want to chime in with other maintenence suggestions will be appreciated. After all this is a 12 year old car and I want it to be dependable transportation. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Read thru my post that I made last week on draining and refilling automatic trans fluid.

Remember power steering fluid is ATF.

Read thru my post from Thanksgiving on replacing thermostat (87C/190F) and Engine Coolant Temp Sensor.

 

Thanks, I read your posts. I have another question though. The headlights and tail lights are on with the switch in the off position when the car is running. The car was purchased new from the local dealer and is not a Canadian import. Was this an option in 94? Neither of my 94 850's operated this way.

 

This is from tech in another post. Not sure if it works on a 94 model or not. I know my 94 did not work that way though. My lights were on only when I turned them on, whereas my 97 has them on all the time.

From tech:

On the bottom of the headlight switch on the right I believe there is a little screw. Turn the screw. You might have to push slightly to get it to turn. That will turn off the day time running lights.

 

Thanks Jim, you are absolutely right. The small screw on the headlight switch turned off all the lights. Thant's one I never knew about.

 

Thank tech. Luckily I just remembered that he recently told the same thing to somebody else. Glad it worked for you. I leave mine on all the time. I think cars are much easier to see with their headlights on even during the day, and especially when it is raining or kind of dark out. People who won't turn their lights on at dusk and dawn tick me off I have to admit.

 

Thanks Tech and Jim, but I have some more questions. My power antennae works but needs some help. When I turn on the radio the antennae goes up but not quite all the way and continues to run or make noise while it tries to extend fully. If I pull it all the way up the motor then stops. When I turn off the radio the antennae stays up until I help it by pushing it down about an inch and then it retracts fully on its own. I know how expensive these are to replace, is this one repairable? Any ideas on how to remove or at least lessen old wiper marks across the winshield? Can they be polished out? Thanks in advance.

 

I had the same problem with my 94 850 where the antenna would not go all the way down. Eventually it got stuck up about 1/3 of the way up. The radio worked fine and I just left it that way. I don't think there is anything you can do except replace the antenna mast. I had already done that one time. I think it's fairly easy to put in a new one, but they are fairly expensive for just an antenna. Don't know about the marks on the windshield.

 

As a reminder...

Do NOT use WD-40 to clean and lubricate the antenna mast. Penetrating Oil distroys the plastic rail inside of antenna mast. Use Silicon Spray instead.