you think you spent alot of time on your jetta ? wait till you see how much time you spend under the 850 !! and as of the code reader , volvo has it set up so have to bring it to them . you may not like nissan the cars are garbage but they make a problem free truck 348,000 miles on mine with the original tranny , i would buy a horse and wagon before i bought another volvo . you should see how cut up my hands are from fixing the wifes . remember i told ya so ,worst car ever made ! you'll be sorry ! as i said i hope your rich and have alot of money to throw out ! remember i told ya so !

 

awesome info guys i got alot to think about and look for when buying now. good heads up on the odometer failure. im sure its a pain but ive taken the dash apart on more than one vehicle so ill just have to plan for it. its one of those things that can be put off if need be though which is always nice.

if what u guys are sayin is true about how fun these things are with turbos, i should definitely stay away from the option haha. i have a diesel truck with a turbo that im modding and granted diesel and gas engines are different but the turbo adds a whole new level of fun when adding power...but like i said if one happens to come my way....

so this box is a tuner type thing? an aftermarket plug in to the OBD to change shift patterns?

nope im not rich. and what year is this 850 thats giving u so much trouble? was there a problematic year?

i cant argue on the longevity of nissan trucks but i wouldnt give up my dodge cummins for anything LOL

 

stock R springs in the front, i think because my cars an AWD when i swapped out for the R strut and spring it went lower than normal. In the back i also have stock but i swapped out the nivomats which gave me a big drop!

 

I don't see the 850 in the category of "utilitarian" or "exciting as the toaster". I only think of Corollas and Civics that way -- reliable, cheap, commuting cars. Or is it just me?

IMHO, if you get a Volvo 850, plan to have a back-up.

 

hookus: you must either have a different year that DOESNT have the on board diag system or you have bad mechanics who don't know how to do anything. I've never had problems getting coes out of ANY volvo, and I don't own a super high end scanner. If you hate the cars so much, why do you even still own one? Furthermore, why do you continue to post here? I'm not trying to slam you, i'm just curious.

Guinness: if you have a dodge turbodiesel truck, then we shouldnt HAVE to tell you how much more fun a turbo is. The nice thing is, its not hard or expensive to make them fast, either.

 

trust me u dont have to... haha. but if i get a volvo it will be my commuter which means if i mod it to make it fast and break it like i do with my truck, its a bigger problem bc then i have to take my truck to work (if its in running condition at the time) or not go to work at all. i need to keep the power adders to a minimum on my commuter

i would love a turbo as long as i can have self control with it and i guess the main thing is i dont wana have to take it off to replace any of the oil seals. i just dont kno how reliable the turbos are in the volvos but from what everyone is sayin its the way to go

 

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/2049571309.html

^^what do u guys think? its a turbo!! wink wink. i was told in another thread to stick with yrs 95-97 if i got an 850. that being a 94 what should i look out for? at 147K im gona be asking if the timing belt has been done a second time yet but what else should i look at if i decide to call this guy up or if i find a similar deal

 

I have done the turbo oil seals on my car. It took me about 45 minutes to do (with a jack and jack stands) and the seals can be had for under 10 bucks. It's no big deal.

 

cool that aint bad at all, well in that case i shouldnt be worried i guess im thinking of the turbo set up on my truck which is a little more involved to take off

 

Timing belt is a good one to ask about. Also ask about the PCV system - you can check to see if it needs to be replaced by starting the car and warming it up, then pulling the oil dipstick out a little bit. if smoke comes out of the dipstick tube, then you need to do the PCV system. It's not overly hard to do, though it's a lot more involved than it is in most cars.

Also, the '94 will have the on board diag system I told you about - it's at the passengers side front of the engine compartment, just above the box for the ECU. The ECU box is the one that has the air tube running to it from up by the radiator, and the diag unit looks like two small (about one inch by 2 inches each) black boxes.

Oh, another thing to check - make sure the odometer works. It's a common problem with the 850 that the odometer gear breaks. It takes about an hour to fix and a replacement gear is about 25 bucks or less. If the odometer doesnt work, you can check mileage through the diag unit. I know theres a writeup for it here somewhere, just do a search for it.

 

Maybe I am biased, but I would buy a North Jersey car 10 times over a New York car. They maintain cars in Jersey. I doubt however that the timing belt (due at 140,000 miles) is done, that's why I think he is selling it for that.

 

ok thanks if i call this guy up ill be sure to ask about the belt, PCV system (yet another item on my jetta needs attention) and the odometer. im kinda thinking the belt will need doing too bc if he had done it hed probly say so in the description. but im sure with a few pictures and some instructions i can get through it if i tackle it myself

i just dont kno when ill get the time to go look at it. its at least an hr away from me and the next two weekends are booked and work is going to be busy for a couple more weeks as well. might have to let this one go

 

timing belt on the 850 isnt really any harder or easier than any other car. Definitely replace the tensioners and water pump while you are in there.

 

^ill be sure to do so

well the jetta let me down again. just yesterday as i was leaving work i pushed the clutch down to shift into fisrt and i heard a pop. the pedal went to the floor and didnt come up. the clutch cable had pulled through the mount and the metal piece that holds it there was gone.

i was on a construction site so the rust colored piece was somewhere on dirt ground... i had to rig up a set of vice grips on the clutch cable to get home...im looking more and more foward to getting rid of this thing everyday and hopefully jumping into a volvo from now on



once again guys thanks for all ur input im gona be snooping around the forum while i look for an 850 in my area ill post back whenever i make the purchase but i wont really have too much time to look for one at the moment and with a new tranny going in the truck the purchase of a volvo will only hapen if i get a buyer for the jetta. maybe it wil be a christmas present to myself!!

 

Check it for oil leaks...and use anything you can to talk him down. Example, if the timing belt has not been done a second time, etc. Use it.

Does it have a third row seat? I carpool 6 kids three times a week and use it all the time. Its a nice perk.

In the picture on the drivers side with the door open there is something on the pillar...what is it?

 

Matt01,

Show them a before and after of your car.

 

I own a 1995 Volvo 850 GLT. It had over 200K miles on it when I bought it last year in July. I use it as a daily driver. Parts may cost you a little more than some other cars and sometimes not. I look for two virtues in a car: reliability and gas mileage. My Volvo is superb in reliability and only fair at gas mileage. I could give a hoot less about all the extra bells and whistles.
The Volvo will get you from point A to point B every day in any weather. That is why so many older Volvos are still on the road.

 

guinness, Did that do it for you? LOL

I made a write up about how my cars had held up over the years but it somehow didn't post.

 

If your gonna end up with a volvo try to have the seller give you the stero code, need to reset it if you ever take out the battery. I bought my first 850 T5 1997 just a few months ago, and I'm now a believer,lol. The makers have little hands so work is a bit tight in some places, but it's doable. Just the sound of the turbo while taking off at a light still makes me smile. And I dont abuse it, just normal driving, but the sound is SWEET!!, and in my opinion there fairly easy to work on, pick up a haynes and visit here often, whatever can happen to one has most likely happened to a member here and a write up has been done. Good luck, go with the T5.

 

not sure i cant see anything out of the ordanary in the pics on my end but my computer screen is pretty dirty.

if u dont mind me asking do u have a list of things smal or big that uve had to fix so far
dont ya hate it when that happens