Hey guys, I am new here. I don't do a lot of auto repair myself except the most of basic of basic things. I am also on a limited budget.

I have a 1995 volvo 850 with probably about 175,000. The odometer broke a couple years ago at 166,000 and I do almost exclusively short trips in the city. No traveling. I have had it for 9 years. It was pretty well maintained when I bought it in 2003 with 103,000 miles but I haven't taken the best of care of it. Cosmetically it is not great. It runs well except this hot start problem which I am working on trying to fix.

It has an oil leak and will puff out some smoke after idling. The oil comes out the cap and also out the bottom. I am sure the PVC system needs servicing which is an expensive job, I am not sure if this car already has some kind of engine valve leak or gasket leak. I am debating whether to throw in the towel on this car or fix the PVC system ($400-$600) and hope it helps with the oil leak thing.

I have replaced exhaust, struts, brakes. Have not replaced things like transmission, engine, starter, fuel or water pump, etc, etc.

I have only about $2,000-$3,000 to spend on getting a new car. So what would you do, try to fix this beast or get another low priced old car?

And how much do you think I could sell it for? $500?

 

The PCV kit is $140 on FCP? A new oil cap gasket is like $1.89.

To fix it or not, just depends on if you like the car. If you only go on short trips it seems like a waste to buy a whole other car which may or may not have another set of problems that are not immediately obvious. If you at a minimum keep oil in it and don't let it overheat, it should carry you many more miles.

How bad is the oil leak? As in, how often and how much oil do you have to add?

 

If you have done brakes, struts, etc, you can do a PCV system yourself and save money. Just follow these instructions PCV Replacement

It is a bit of a pain, but you can do it. I just did it on our 1995 Turbo with close to 230K on it, so yeah, it is worth it.

 

I am not sure if I am up to putting in the time to do the PVC myself. I am so busy right now. Maybe I can find a really cheap mechanic to give it a try, I know the parts aren't too expensive. How can I tell if the engine is too far gone to put the effort in? I think I am much less mechanically inclined then most members here. I didn't do those repairs myself, I had a mechanic do it. Yes there was some other general maintenance done like spark plugs, belt changes, just has a coolant flush, things like this, but not what it should be.

I replaced the oil cap last summer, but it began leaking out of there again soon after. The leak actually seems to be getting better, it was dripping out pretty steady, but now it doesn't leave as much oil on the ground. I add about a pint of oil about every month. It is not terrible.

 

A pint of oil (as in half a quart) a month is not too bad. How many miles do you drive in a month? I have seen cars use as much as a quart every 300-400 miles and people still drive them. I think unless you have some impending feeling the car is going to leave you stranded or the engine is making horrible sounds or leaving a huge blue cloud of smoke behind you all the time, you should go ahead and fix what you can, when you can, and drive it. Like others have said, you know what you have now.....If you get another car you could very well be facing a new set of unknown issues.

 

I have read somewhere on here that Volvo designed the engine to go 500K. So there's that.

 

My bosses daughter's Volvo has over 600k on the orgional engine. its a 1996 850 wagon.