850 and S70 parts compatibility?
 

Hi everyone,

The body has disintegrated off my 1997 Volvo 850, so I'm looking around for a used Volvo to use as a daily driver (Vermont is hard on cars). My 850 still runs strong, and I've sunk a lot of money into it in parts in the last year. Can anyone tell me what exactly is compatible between the 850s and the S70s? I'm interested in a few S70s, but would really like to use my 850 as a parts car. Should I stick to other 850s?

Thanks!

Mostly anything thats under the hood is compatible from 850 to s70.

You'd need to get a 1998 S70 for underhood parts to be compatible. Basically, the '98 S70 is a '97 850 wearing a different coat. The suspension is identical, the engine and transmission are identical, everything except the outer sheet metal, interior, and trim are the same (the seats are interchangeable, too. If you got a '99 or '00 S70, then you have totally different engine electronics- more problematic ones, too- and a different transmission. Same suspension still. So, if you want an S70, get a '98. This is generally just good advice, even in the absence of an 850 parts car, as the 99 and 00 S70s, again, have some problematic engine management/ electronics issues- the worst of which is the ETM trouble, which WILL eventually happen, and is quite expensive to fix- minimum of $550 IF you do the work yourself and go the "get yours rebuilt by XMODEX" route. If you go to Volvo, you're looking at a minimum of $900 to $1,000- for them to install the exact same problematic throttle body. And yes, there's the warranty extension on that, but at the end of this year, no S70s will still be covered by it.

hmmm....
 

Hi Spaded and Carrots,

Thanks for your responses. Perhaps unfortunately, I found a very reasonably priced 99 V70 in between these two posts, bought it, and came home to read about the ETS failures and lack of compatibility (thanks for letting me know, Carrots). I thought I'd made a wise choice for once -- the Volvo looks to be in good shape, body is great, well-maintained, though I bought it knowing it needs a strut mount and has a rack leak. The price definitely reflected these problems.
BUT.... I test drove it and then drove it home, no problems at all, and made an appointment with my mechanic for those repairs. Today I drove about a mile down the the road and back -- lightly snow-covered dirt roads -- and when I accelerated up a slight incline at a very low speed (like 10 or 15 mph) I heard an ominous grinding/whirring and seemingly no power turning the axle (I'm not much of a car expert, as this post will indicate.) If I continued to press in the accelerator, the grinding stopped and the car moved forward. In my driveway -- again, a very small incline -- I stopped the car and then tried to accelerate forward very slowly and had the same result. I'd thought perhaps the car was just getting terrible traction and sliding, but I watched the front tire and it wasn't spinning with light acceleration -- just that whirring sound and the tires still. There's no sign of the engine stalling out.
Help...!? Is this ETS related? There are NO dashboard lights on (one of the reasons I bought the car!) and it was checked out by a mechanic ten days ago (by the previous owner's mechanic) who made a list of repairs... rack leak, loose strut mount...120K on the engine, probably just about the time the ETS goes. Does the warranty continue through 2010?

Thanks for all you help.
Kelly

Did you check the other wheel, see if it was spinning? You said you were doing this on snow covered roads? Probably tracs. It's sending power to the dominant wheel that has traction, that's what the grinding noise is. My Dad's 99 S70GLT does the exact same thing, sounds horrible, but it's doing its job.

ETM symptoms?
 

Hi all,

I myself just bought a 99 S70 T5 today and a Volvo mechanic told me if the ETM has a white barcode sticker on it it means that it hasn't been changed yet, yellow one means the new one has been installed which would be a positive thing. In my case it's the white one. :(

What are the symptoms of a bad ETM ?