Hi, I have heard that the 850 volvos have a lot of problems. Does anyone know if there are any known problems with the 850 Volvos made in 1998? I just heard there they brake down often, and are not the best model Volvo that where produced.



The last year the 850s where made not 1998

 

Wait, what? One, there were no 1998 850s. They were 1998 S70s. And there are common issues with them. Never heard of someone having problems when it brakes down all the time, unless they did a poor job of maintaining the car. I completely disagree with you and would say that 850s and the 1998 S70 was the best Volvo model produced.

 

Sorry must be a 1997 or the last year volvo made an 850.

 

Have to agree with gilber on this one!

If it wasn't for the 850 model I would never have owned a volvo. Best car they ever made IMO.

 

Me, three! Check MSNauto for owner comments and reliability. 850s are safe, solid, and well engineered compared to the other luxury brands.

As for maintenance, timing belt replacement takes less than 2 hours on Volvo 850/70 series, while taking much longer on Audi A4/A6 models because the whole front end need to be removed for access! I've found Volvo parts costs are the same or lower as well.

 

Yeah sorry for the confusion on the year. For some reason the spell check on my phone desided to change the year on me. Is it true that if the timing belt does go bad that it could possibly tear up the engine? Thanks for all the help and sorry for the putting in the wrong year.

 

yes, but there's really no excuse for it going bad because you should be doing routine maintenance, and the timing belt is part of that.

 

I had two 760's before buying my first 850. I liked the 760's, but here is no comparison to the 850. I have now had three 850's and a 98 V70 which is basically the same car.

As far as 850 being the best Volvo every made, you are going to get some legitimate arguements from 240 owners.

 

IMO the 850 is the flagship sedan of volvo just as the w126 platform was to mercedes.
They were ahead of the game with technology and safety. Very easy access on almost everything. Simple system, cheap to maintain if you do the work on your own. More power and performance then any other car for the money

 

The only reason any 240 driver is going to disagree is because they're RWD and 850s are FWD.

 

Well I have owed both.. I have a 850 and am trying to find a 240 and the comparison is Apples to Oranges! You simply can't compare the two. As far as the 850 having issues, if you neglect the car then it will give you issues! 850s that are maintained are bulletproof................Period!

 

Aren't the 850s front wheel drive? I always forget

 

Yes they are.

 

There nice cars, I'd agree but ALWAYS get underneath and look to the RMS rear main seal area. On the driver's side where the tranny bolts to the motor. If you see any oil coming out of the little hole where you can see a few flywheel teeth: Run away or tell them to knock off at least $1500. I just got screwed on one of these because it was too cold in Minnesota and I did want to crawl under there and look. You will see oil dribbled all along the back of the motor and especailly on the oil pan. It could be the turbo oil return line, an easy fix, but it maybe the rear main seal.

These cars have a PVC system that's expensive to service, you have to remove the intake manifold to do it, so nobody does it unless they are a real Volvo Head. These motors, especially the turbos, build up a lot of crankcase pressure therby blowing the seal. Sometimes they forget to install the vacume line that actuated the system, or it breaks and violla!!! it blows the seal too. The first guy that fixed mine forgot to hook it up and my new seal blew leaving fifty miles from home with a bone dry crankcase and $350 towing bill!!!

There is another guy on the forum, that just had this happen to him too. He doesn't have to grand or so pay a mechanic to do it so he'll be busy after work in his garage the next two weeks removing the subframe so he can drop the tranny and get the new seal in.

I love my car but don't replicate my stupidity and not check the RMS. Just bring your ramps when you look at the car and peek under there. Sneaky sellers and dishonest dealers often put these rigs up for sale after they find out there going to dump at least a grand into an old car. Sometimes they fill it with 15w 40 0r 20w 50 and two bottles of Lucas Oil honey so its not so bad. But just wait after a week or two your drive way will look like the blood trail from a wounded dear.

 

Do you think that $2500 is too much for a1997 850 with 220000 miles on it ?

 

Yeah way too much. I wouldn't touch one with that kind of miles unless its was $500. At that mileage anything can go wrong RMS, tranny, turbo, heater control unit, very common, and what do you got a $ pit. You will never recoup your repair costs. You can find one for that $ on CL with 100k to150k.

If you want it: make a low ball offer, the seller has no leverage, because only an idiot would pay that kind of money for a high mileage foriegn car unless they could do all their own work and have access to cheap parts. Conversley anyone who had such knowledge woud be too smart to pay that much in the first place.

 

All that stuff can go wrong at any mileage. yes, 2200 is way too much for that many miles, but don't be afraid of a high mileage 850 if it has a maintenance history.

 

Agreed! I love my 850 Wagon
It is the best car I have owned
I have owned it for about a year and I have not had one problem

 

There is a low mileage 850 in the classified section
I think it is a blue wagon with 120,000ish miles

Good Luck on the search

Chet

 

About 8 years ago I ran across a guy that had over 500k on his 850. He kept it serviced and kept driving. I don't think I would pay that much for a 850 unless it had service records, receipts, and I had the thing inspected. But I will agree with Gilber, all of that stuff can go wrong at any milage. And please don't forget that some people still do roll back odometers (or should I say replace odometers with ones with less miles).

I picked up my R with under 80k on it and it had all those concerns except a RMS. I have replaced the PCV, battery, tires, repaired seat recliners, lubed the fan in the dash, now I an looking to replace the evaperator & heater core. To be honest with you, I'd do it all again for the fun I'm having with the 850.

However, I would have to say that I think the 240 is a lower maintenance car, as was my 740 GLE. I put over 400k on my 740 and probably spent less than 2,000 in repairs. It wasn't fun to drive but it was very economical.

Now the S70 is the 850 with something like 600 manufacturer improvements. I think they are both really good cars and Volvo sold more of them than any other. That is the only reason you see so many post in the forum on them. BTW, what other car has so many of them still on the road after 15 years? I'm looking to get 5 to 10 out of mine.