Hi all. This is my first time posting to this forum, though I've lurked for a while and you've all helped me many times without knowing it. I purchased my 1996 850 a little over a year ago at a used car lot for $750 and quickly fell in love. It's got some cosmetic issues that need to be worked out, but it's been solid and reliable with the exception of two issues.

The first, and the reason for this post, is the rear suspension. It sits low, particularly on the passenger side, to the point of the tire rubbing against the the plastic in the wheel well when I take a left turn with anyone in the passenger or back seats. There is no visible damage or defect that I can see in the suspension, and it hasn't been in any accidents, so I assume the problem to be either the shock absorbers or the coil springs. Which would be more likely the issue?

The second issue with the car is the power steering leaks pretty bad at the rack. Stop leak slows it down for a while, but I'm going to have to either rebuild or replace the rack to get that taken care of.

Thanks for any input you guys might have, and thanks for all the help you've provided me in the past.

 

Does your car have the Nivomat suspension? Nivomat is a special strut that is part of a self leveling system so its possible you need to replace the shock. If not, I'd look at the spring seat by the trailing arm or pull back the trunk trim to make sure there's nothing unusual up top (ie rusting in the shock tower). Otherwise, you may have a worn or broken (ie at the very end) spring or spring anchor.

VOLVO 850 SUSPENSION REAR 1993-1997 at Swedish Auto Parts gives a pic of the parts and notes the Nivomat shock costs (ouch! - that's why some people convert from Nivomat to standard...)