I have a 94, 850 Turbo with 109K. I bought it with 103k. It was advertised as a Florida Car owned by an old lady. The body and interior were in great shape. Since I bought the car, I have had to replace the PNP Switch, Heater Blower, Power Seat Motor, Rear Turbo Seal, Thermostat, T-Belt and Water Pump ( maintenance) both 02 sensors and the catalytic converter, Rear Main Seal, ($1000.00) now it appears that the transmission is failing. Intermitently it makes rough shifts and seems to slip. It always did shift kind of rough from 2 to3 but now it's getting worse.

There are no trouble codes and the flashing arrow is not on. I am hoping and praying the tranny is not going out that it's only the solinoid(s) . The fliud is fresh and does not smell burnt.

I don't want to put any more $ into this lemon. It sure would have great if the tranny went out when the RMS went out in Feb but this car is jinxed.

When the solinoids go out do they trigger a code? What are the symptoms?

I thought Volvos were good cars but now I am really beginning to have my doubts. I have many cars over the years BMWs, Fords, Chevies, Accuras, Hondas and Toyotas. The only car I had that was this bad was an Audi 5000 and a TR7.

 

I have to take exception to your lemon comment. Most of the repairs you describe are regular maintenance work related to a 16 year old car. My ‘97 850 crossed 200,000 miles a few months back, and I’ve been unable to properly maintain it over the last few years, but it still “takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’”.

My bias suggests that you’d be hard-pressed to find an American car lasting this long without greater mechanical problems. Since you’ve had the car for a short time, did the previous owner give you full disclosure of the service history? Maybe the old lady had to choose between maintaining the car and maintaining the mortgage. You never know.

Yes, the 850s are known to have problems with the RMS, the blower motor, the heater core and a few other things (I just had to swap my air pump – that’s another one!) but you’re bound to find issues with any car at this age. If you’re handy under the hood, you’ll be able to work on most of the problems that pop-up. This forum and many others like it are chock-full of helpful people that have had the same experiences and share their knowledge.

 

It's just that I have owned so many cars over the years that don't have these continous issues like this Volvo namely BMW 328, 525, 318, Honda Accord, Ford Truck and Chevy Camaro Z28, Mitsubishi Galant, Accura Integra etc,

My friend drives rental cars for an agency that provides loaners for a local Volvo Dealer and he begged me not to buy a Volvo because of all the complaints that those customers have with late model almost new Volvos.

I like my car and enjoy driving it it's just that the quality isn't there anymore. Volvos are going the way of Saab.

"Believing BS is the first step on the road to insanity"

 

I am still a BMW, Chevy and Ford Guy. Volvo had a strong tradition of building high quality, long lasting cars on a bullet proof rear wheel drive platform when the came out with the 850 they copied Japanese cars and Volkswagons (fwd transverse mounted inline engines) Anytime a car company deviates away from their signature paltform there will always be trouble until they work the bugs out e.g. Toyota Tundra (major engine problems) BMW 4.0 v/8s (nikaseal, rear main seals, leaking valley pans, BMW Tiptronic vs old GM Trans (see noreverse.org) All of General Motors early economy cars Vegas, Monza, etc. General Motors mid eighties diesels etc.

I have had two BMW sixes 525 and 328 bullet proof motors and stick with the rear wheel drive platform. I am glad BMW didn't try to make a car like the 850. Instead they chose to keep on improving their already good platform instead of trying to copy everbody elses ideas.

 

Hey just wanted to add my two cents worth. To answer your question "YES" the shift solenoids will give you a codes. Yes they will cause rough shifting from gear to gear and seem to lose power, also the up arrow flashing light on the dash may come on. At any rate it may be worth cleaning the shift solenoids and the line solenoids befor going to the expense of changing the tranny out.

 

Have you tried changing out the fluid yet and adding a conditioner like Lucas?

 

if your tranny is shifting hard and you already changed the fluid then you probably will need a trans. the sad part is alot of volvo trans come from gm. so you can expect bad things. i believe that the tranny in your car is a gm trans. those trans in particular require fluid service at least once a year to insure a long life. i might even suggest a shorter interval than that. but as long as its not slipping i might try to ride it out. also at a dealership they can reset the tranny adaptation, which might help a little.

 

I hate to open a can of worms but what's wrong with GM transmissions ??

The 850s were fitted with AW50-42LE transaxles manufactured by Asian Warner and they did supply some to GM to be used in GM vehicles but they are not made by GM. They also supply SAAB, Fiat and a few others. They were a very popular transmission and from reading the posts here it isn't that common to have any problem with them if you drive normal and service it on a regular basis.
Yearly seems a bit overkill on servicing. There isn't a recommendation in the service manual but I'd guess around 60K would be nice, sooner if you have a heavy foot or notice your fluid getting dark or smelling burnt.

 

First of all, assuming the car was advertised truthfully, I'll never understand why "one owner" or "female owned" or "little old lady" are good things. Just because a car was owned by one person, or a woman, has nothing to do with how it was maintained. It could be Mother Theresa's car, but if she never changed the oil then you're doomed.

Second, who is doing the work? I've bought two cars in the past, sitting at shops where the owner was told the car needed thousands of dollars in repairs. In one case, the car was blowing smoke, and the owner was told it needed a turbo. In the second case, every seal was leaking, and the mechanic wanted to change them all. In both cases it was a clogged PCV system....$70, and I had both on the road.

It sounds like most of what you've done is normal maintenance, but stuff like a leaking RMS could be caused by a PCV system that needs service. A Volvo specialist would know these things. The local guy on the corner, who also works on your Chevy, might not know about these cars quirks.

You may have had bad luck with this car, but I'm fairly certain most people here would believe that to be the exception rather than the rule. I've owned probably 20 Volvos, and all but a couple had over 200k. I had a 245t that had electrical problems. Fairly common. Aside from that, none have had any issues that couldn't be solved (or prevented) by regular maintenance.

To compare to Saab is absurd. I've owned 2 Saabs. The transmission failed on the first one at 156k, and on the second one at 181k. Saab is notorious for transmission problems, as any time on a Saab forum will tell you. Volvo had some issues in the early 2000's for a few years. The difference is, Saab just kept cranking out cars with crap transmissions. Volvo recognized there was a problem and fixed it. Volvo sales are climbing, and Saab is pretty much dead and gone.

This is just my personal opinion, but coming on a car forum and saying 'this thing's a POS, and I've put a ton of money into it because the quality is crap, and I was warned not to buy it, and my BMW's are way better, and by the way can you tell me what's wrong?" is probably not the best way to ask for help.

And really, to say Volvo is copying Toyota is like saying BMW is copying Henry Ford, because Ford produced rear wheel drive cars in 1908, and BMW didn't start production until 54 years later. Clearly that makes BMW crap, right?

 

I'm with you, not the best way to ask for help and it really doesn't sound like they've dropped that much money.
Main thing is you can't really base a informed judgement on a brand or even model until you've had a little more experience that one used car where you really don't have a clue on how it was or wasn't maintained before you took possession of it. You need to separate maintenance from repairs.