My New Volvo 850 T5

[_Tom]

It’s normally a saxo next isn’t it? ?

 

[leeds_182]

It’s normally a saxo next isn’t it? ?

It’s french!

 

[v15ben]

Is the guy who bought it on PH? Sure I was reading a thread about it this morning.

 

[charltjr]

Is the guy who bought it on PH? Sure I was reading a thread about it this morning.

99.9% sure it’s the same thread, yep.

How come it lasted such a short time? Looked like a decent example.

 

[leeds_182]

99.9% sure it’s the same thread, yep.

How come it lasted such a short time? Looked like a decent example.

I thought I could cope with the mpg.

I was wrong.

 

[charltjr]

They do like a little sip of petrol every now and again, can’t be denied ?

 

[charltjr]

Mine.

All mine.

It's an absolute cracker. Few issues I need to sort - bit of a vibration under braking sometimes, a battery drain which I strongly suspect is down to the crappy old immobiliser and the windscreen has picked up a stonechip.

Such a pleasure to be back in an 850 again, sure other cars are technically better but it's just a lovely old thing to smoke around in. Seriously comfortable, and what a lovely engine.

Funny how things work out!

 

[BaileyWolves]

I remember back in 1993 I was sat at the lights in my R5 raider and got blown away by one of these didn’t knew what they were I went home and literally cried !

 

[leeds_182]

View attachment 1451593

Mine.

View attachment 1451594

All mine.

It's an absolute cracker. Few issues I need to sort - bit of a vibration under braking sometimes, a battery drain which I strongly suspect is down to the crappy old immobiliser and the windscreen has picked up a stonechip.

Such a pleasure to be back in an 850 again, sure other cars are technically better but it's just a lovely old thing to smoke around in. Seriously comfortable, and what a lovely engine.

Funny how things work out!

I loved it - just found the MPG a little annoying and I always felt it needed an exhaust to release the 5 cylinder goodness.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

I still miss mine to this day. Would love another.

 

[charltjr]

I loved it - just found the MPG a little annoying and I always felt it needed an exhaust to release the 5 cylinder goodness.

The MPG is pretty poor. I knew it would struggle to crack 30mpg even on a run. Currently averaging about 25, which is par for the course really given the way it's being used.

Doesn't really matter that much as it's not a daily, or at least it will stop being a daily when I get the MoT done on the Van Of Shame.

I'm still debating what to do with it, either exhaust for windows down noise or engine top mount polybush for 5 pot growl inside the car only is on the cards.

 

[cat171]

I remember back in 1993 I was sat at the lights in my R5 raider and got blown away by one of these didn’t knew what they were I went home and literally cried !

As much as I like the Volvo, I think nowadays I'd prefer the Raider. No one has one of those!

 

[Panda.]

The MPG is pretty poor. I knew it would struggle to crack 30mpg even on a run. Currently averaging about 25, which is par for the course really given the way it's being used.

Doesn't really matter that much as it's not a daily, or at least it will stop being a daily when I get the MoT done on the Van Of Shame.

I'm still debating what to do with it, either exhaust for windows down noise or engine top mount polybush for 5 pot growl inside the car only is on the cards.

Averaging 26.4 using it as a daily currently 🥳

And do both - engine mount and exhaust 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[charltjr]

Yeah..... we're moving house fairly soon and my mileage will be back up to 20k+ a year. Sod that at mid 20's mpg

As to the exhaust and the bush..... it's definitely a thought. I will probably do the polybush first - that's only about £20!

 

[charltjr]

I love this car, really, really love it. The engine is so smooth and apart from being just a nice thing to smoke around in it‘s so practical!

I know, I know, Volvo estate in “practical” shocker

I‘ve had to do a couple of Southampton to Bristol runs recently and it just eats the miles. Really glad to be back in one.

 

[leeds_182]

The blue leather is extremely luxurious!

 

[charltjr]

The handbrake has gone all w**k, so it’s going in on Monday to get that sorted. Hopefully something simple, the adjusters are notorious on these. Need to get it cleaned too. In fact, I might go up to the hand job.... errr.... wash place now.

 

[bashracing]

it will have spit the lining off the handbrake shoe

 

[charltjr]

Yeah, definitely possible. When my last one did that it got jammed up and punched a hole in the hub, which was entertaining.

 

[Crazylegs]

Fabulous cars, always reminds me of of proper Touring car racing.

Good clip of a Saloon ex Rydell car here.

 

[R3k1355]

Everyone remembers the estate touring cars.

IIRC they were not very successful on track? Sold like hotcakes in the showroom tho.

 

[charltjr]

Yeah they ran the estate for a year but it wasn't competitive, they claim it was a development year so they ran the estate for the publicity. The saloon worked much better.

Twenty years since Volvo made its debut in the BTCC with the 850 Estate

It is now 20 years since Volvo marked its return to the racetrack – with an estate! The venture would lead to many successful years in the BTCC – including an overall victory in 1998. "When I signed up for Volvo and TWR around Christmas 1993, I didn't know about the estate plans," says Rickard...

www.media.volvocars.com

Now nearly 26 years ago, not 20!

 

[charltjr]

Just got a call from the garage, handbrake cables are buggered. One has seized completely and the other one is not far behind. Could have been worse, at least that's all sorted.

 

[KitsonRis]

Yeah they ran the estate for a year but it wasn't competitive, they claim it was a development year so they ran the estate for the publicity. The saloon worked much better.

Sure I read somewhere that the estates created more downforce than the saloons. But then in the 1996 season they allowed boot spoilers but they weren’t allowed above the roof line so they couldn’t fit it to the estates so moved to the saloons. Can’t remember where I read that. But it also mentioned that it was a PR stunt too as they knew they weren’t going to be competitive in the first year.

 

[charltjr]

Picked the car up, had a nice chat with the guys at the garage, they were going on about how nice it was to see one again and how clean it was underneath etc etc.

Plus the handbrake is working, which is also good.

 

[charltjr]

Decision made - This car is also going to be moving on. I’ve got my name down on the waiting list for a car from evezy so once that arrives I’ll sell the 850. No regrets, I love it, it’s been a brilliant trip down memory lane but I’ve done what I wanted to do with it now, I’ve only got space for one car at the new house and doing 20k+ miles a year in the 850 is going to drink me out of house and home 😂

 

[leeds_182]

Decision made - This car is also going to be moving on. I’ve got my name down on the waiting list for a car from evezy so once that arrives I’ll sell the 850. No regrets, I love it, it’s been a brilliant trip down memory lane but I’ve done what I wanted to do with it now, I’ve only got space for one car at the new house and doing 20k+ miles a year in the 850 is going to drink me out of house and home 😂

It’s turning into a proper slut now.

I was the same, they’re just far too juicy for what they are in my opinion.

 

[charltjr]

I can quite happily live with the mpgeees at about 8k miles a year which is what I’m doing at the moment. It stops being viable at high mileages though.

I think I’m going to have to get a window sticker for it that reads “I’m turning into a proper slut”. Love it.

 

[charltjr]

Today I took eight internal house doors to the tip along with assorted other bags of waste. Yay for Volvo estates!

Then I decided to chase down the battery drain, got my meter attached to the battery and pulled each fuse one by one. No change. This is actually a good thing, because that tells me it's likely to be something aftermarket which has been wired directly in and my suspicion was always that it was the aftermarket immobiliser which wasn't actually doing anything other than flashing it's LED all the time.

So out came some trim panels and half an hour of really intense swearing later - victory!

And the car still starts!

And the battery drain is still there!

Arrrrgh.

So I'm running out of ideas. I know the car did have a mobile phone kit installed at some point, so I'm chasing that down too. More panels removed, glovebox out, wiring traced. It looks like I'm going to have to take the dash off to get at what might be the control unit for that. I'm wasn't really that bothered about the battery drain, as long as the car doesn't sit for more than a few days it's fine, but now it's a matter of honour

I will sort it out, oh yes. Or I'll get bored and say "f**k it". One or the other.

 

[charltjr]

I may have got carried away hunting for rogue battery draining components. I found a wire which was clearly part of an old mobile phone install and decided to chase it back to the source. Yeah......

Anyway, it was the (unpowered) lead to the antenna. Balls. Still, it all went back together fine and it was nice to find no nasties. It’s a seriously clean car.

That leaves me with the next potential culprit being the diode pack on the alternator. Apparently they can go bad and while still charging perfectly fine they present a load to the battery when the engine isn’t running. That would certainly explain why pulling fuses makes no difference. No big deal, if it’s used regularly you’d never know there’s an issue and if it’s not going to be used for a few days I just hook up the trickle charger and it’s fine.

I also need to look into why I’m getting the emissions light on, the code (checked via the delightfully retro “count the LED flashes” method 😂) is that it’s too rich at idle. It certainly smells rich at startup. It’s a fairly common one on these and is usually just a vacuum hose has come off or split, so I’ll chase that down.

It‘s still insanely practical and comfortable. Loving it.

 

[charltjr]

The lambda light has gone off! I love a self-fixing car. Maybe it just wasn't being used enough and got a bit pissy (technical term).

Of course, I now have a wheel bearing going bad, because I've been using it.

Cars, eh?

 

[Panda.]

The lambda light has gone off! I love a self-fixing car. Maybe it just wasn't being used enough and got a bit pissy (technical term).

Of course, I now have a wheel bearing going bad, because I've been using it.

Cars, eh?

My EML comes and goes (usually if I’ve sat in traffic for a bit). It can generally be reset using the little ports under the bonnet behind the drivers light ...

That’s also how I found the true mileage of mine so I could fix the odometer and have it read accurately!

 

[charltjr]

Thought I'd pop a quick update on, although obviously with lockdown the Volvo has mostly been sat on the driveway.

We did move house recently and again the practicality of the thing was just awesome, as was it's ability to make long journeys a breeze. I can spend hours behind the wheel and get out feeling fine, it's so comfortable.

My usual mechanic is going to take a look at it in a couple of weeks to sort out the niggle list - battery drain, rich running at startup and the "wheel bearing noise". I'm pretty annoyed about the noise as I noticed isn't a wheel bearing at all, it was actually the recently replaced handbrake cables are rubbing on the rear tyres so the garage has obviously snarfed up the fitting. I should take it back there, but honestly sod it, cut my losses and take it somewhere I know and trust instead. Cable ties as a short term bodge seem to be working and the tyres are just slightly marked and not cut/rubbed through or anything.

 

[Nick_Leeds]

Is the handbrake on these the same crappy design as on my P2 v70?

 

[charltjr]

I'm honestly not sure, but it's shoes inside a drum and are known for having problems as they age. I know when the problem hit I thought it was probably something more expensive like the shoe had come off the backing plate and bolloxed the internals of the drum (not speaking from experience.... much ) , but it was just cables in the end.

 

[charltjr]

Update:
Handbrake cables weren’t correctly routed, now they are.
Battery drain is just that the battery is weak and my multimeter is cheap shite which lied to me
Rich running and EML traced to a leak in the pipework to the idle control valve. Being fixed once the part turns up from Sweden.
Probably needs front discs and pads to fix a vibration under braking, TBC but if it needs them it will get them.

Of course, now I have just bought another car, so time for this one to go once it’s back from my mechanic. Have loved having one again.

 

[charltjr]

It's back! New discs and pads on and no more issues with the handbrake cables. Nice to be back in it again, those seats...... ☁

 

[bashracing]

This era Volvo are starting to slowly go up in value now, so will offset the fuel costs a little,
Volvo have always made the best seats

 

[leeds_182]

I half want this back. Lovely car.

 

[charltjr]

To be fair, you could probably flip it for a profit, open to offers