Hey guys, i bought an 97 850 glt sdn. in december and i love it. Its my first car, and i'm defiantly glad a picked it instead of a japanese econocar(no offense to anyone who has a japanese car or anything). Ive had several problems with it though since i bought it and i just wanted to know if i made a good buy on my volvo. since december i replaced: tires, spring seats, seat mounts, abs module(bba reman), wheel bearing, window regulator(one in the middle that controls all the windows), odometer is broken, has a minor transmission leak(slowed it down with lucas), antenna, and going to to buy the 4 piece timing belt kit from fcp shortly. not including the timing belt kit i have spent $700 on parts(labor done by me n dad). I bought the car for $2100 and it has 144,000 mi. on it. My dad keeps talking about selling it to get an accord or a camry, but i feel like these are just common problems. does this sound like a lemon 850? If i sold this i would just want another 850 (only a t-5 wagon). Or would i end up relacing the same parts sooner or later? i cant help it, im a volvo addict at 17.

 

You have to expect or spend some money on a car with 144K on the clock. All the parts you mentioned are common things to replace on the 850 other than the transmission leak. That one would bother me. You buy an Accord or Camry with that many miles on it, you can expect to be replacing parts too.

My son's first car (the one I bought for him) was an Accord. His 2nd he bought for himself was a BMW 318I and next he bought a 325IS which he still has. He also has two 98 Volvos, on V70R and a T5M. His wife drives the V70R and he drives the T5M and occasionally the BMW.

 

yeah thats what i told my dad. I mean after we put the belt, tensioner, pulley, etc... the total will still only be not even $3500 that i spent on it. After this 850, i dont want to drive anything else. Unfortunately i feel like after i get rid of this(hopefully not for another 100,000 or so) there will be no more lower mileage 850's haha. If not then a 98 s70. my friend has a 99 and the e.t.s is acting up. How much should i expect for labor for the timing belt job? i got a quote at $500 in labor at 80 an hour. is that about right?

 

your yellow t5-r is like my dream car, tech. Its a beauty.

 

o yeah, i forgot to mention my a/c doesnt work. the compressor doesnt even kick in. Someone mentioned an a/c relay could be bad. If its a compressor, im saving the $1000 dollars and leaving the windows down for the summer. Its only 3 months out of the year anyways.

 

Good chance the A/C is the evaprorator which is a major expense. $500 labor for the timing belt sounds high to me. I would trust a GOOD reputable mechanic to do the timing belt. Not a Midas or Meineike or anything like that, but a good mechanic that runs his own shop should be able to do the timing belt. My son in law is a mechanic and he and I did mine just fine. It's not really all that hard, you just need to be very careful about turning the engine over by hand a couple times before cranking it with the starter.

 

there would be no way i'd be going to a meineke or a midas. There is a mechanic that the volvo dealership recomended who was 500 for labor as well as a euro mechanic whose main specialty is saabs who i didnt get an estimate from yet.

 

Tech, thanks for the input , i appreciate it. These forums are awesome, i don't know what i would do without them!

 

so easy getting jimkw and tech confused just because of the signatures.both got a yellow and white 850...but i know youre probably used to that by now jim

 

aww man, sorry jimkw, i just looked at the sig. and you both seem the most imformative people on the site.

 

Yea, but tech knows what he is talking about. I don't know if I would even still be here if it wasn't for him. Most of what I know is from reading his answers to other people and remembering about 1% of it.

 

haha, yeah but you seem like you know alot about the 850 too. Tech is just the all knowing volvo man.

 

well,most of the members on this forum are the diy type including jimkw. not only do you save money but you learn ALOT about the your car.best advice is to attempt any job that seems DOable to you.you wont regret it

 

yeah, i defiantly saved hundreds of dollars by doing work myslelf. And now i do know alot about how parts work and what they do. I'm only 17, so i am new to repairing cars. Suspension repairs seem easy, but time consuming. Engine repairs seem more difficult. Without volvo forums i dont think i would of been able to do half the repairs i did.

 

Hell you're only 17, that means you can crawl around on the ground and get up without moaning and groaning and taking a few minutes just to get up. And on top of that you probably can see what you're doing. It's hell getting older, but I guess it beats the alternative.