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Hi. With the help of my mechanic, I decided that my 850 is a money pit that I can’t afford to hold onto, and I’m just going to stick with my 240s. I figured I can try to sell it to someone who did their own work – I was just wondering what a fair price might be. It’s a 1995 GLT with 175k on it, and the good points are – body in good shape, runs well (except for the week I couldn’t start it, but now I can’t duplicate the problem), nice rims, 2 almost brand new Yokohama tires, timing and all other belts changed not too long ago. I think that’s all the good points.
Now the problems that I know about:
Needs entire new exhaust, incl. cat and manifold
Radiator sprung leak
Needs front end suspension work
1 broken motor mount
Front rotors rusty, probably need replacement
Odometer not working (I checked mileage through diagnostics)
Driver’s seatback doesn’t adjust
No start situation – can’t duplicate now
Lots of corrosion on engine components (alt, compressor and Freon lines, etc.)
Parking brake freezes if left on
Thanks!
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If I were the buyer, that'd be a tough sell, regardless of the price. That's a lot of work and not so cheap parts.
Can the car be driven with the radiator leak and all? I have a hard time offering a lot more than salvage prices for cars whose operation I cannot validate. Too many unknowns, however honest the seller may seem.
Around here a '95 in decent shape is worth $1500-2K. It sounds like yours needs half that in parts. Perhaps that's the kind of offers you might expect. If Volvos are scarce where you are it may command more.
As far as an asking price, I expect any car priced $2K and under to need lots of work. There are some people out there who expect a pristine car for not a penny more than a grand, but that's their problem. Throw a number out there and see what you get.
Hope my rambling are of some help...
-Will
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I did drive this car about 50 miles before I knew there was a leak. And it drives great, except for all the noise from the manifold leak.
I'd only expect someone who does his own work, or maybe someone who has a relative with a service station, to buy a car that needs this much work.
Thanks!
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Correct, this is a money pit. The items you listed would cost $1-2,000 to get right, not including labor. Selling this thing will be tough if you live in a testing state, not so bad in the midwest.
I would look at your local Craigslist and compare the asking prices to KBB.com at trade-in value for your zip code.
Had the car been maintained, you would be looking at $2500 in the Twin Cities, more on the east coast. As is, about $1,000.
Klaus
--
Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.
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I agree with Klaus. I had a '95 850 Turbo with same mileage as yours, and the interior was excellent. The car was mechanically in great shape, and just had a few minor body issues.
I think I let her go for $2800 a year ago, but it was an Ebay sale. So figure $3500 on a great day.
With that list of issues, the 1-2K estimate for repairs sounds right. So $1000 is in the right neighborhood for N/A. Of course, it is worth whatever someone will give you :D
Good luck. Someone is getting a really great car to work on, and a great deal of work.
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Thanks for the tips.
Funny thing is, my father brought this car to the dealer for maintenance all the time since new, and each time the bill was $1500 - $2500 (timing belt change plus new idlers was $1500). I'm not surprised about the exhaust, and a radiator can go anytime, but all the corrosion in the engine compartment had me wondering.
BTW, I only had this car for a year.
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A 'dealer maintained' car is one that has not been proactively maintained, but the customer and his money has been cleaned out. Dealers seldom do preventative maintenance to cars on their own initiative, and if I were a dealer I would do the same thing. Why replace the oil separator when I can expect to do a rear main seal when the crankcase presure gets too high? Or when the rear cam seal starts leaking? Or flush the tranny fluid when a rebuilt tranny can fetch $4000 in profit? Or replace an engine mount when he could get a lot more money replacing the exhaust manifold, again.
Rusted rotors... are normal when parked in the elements and not used for a few days. The rust will scrape away at the first stop and be nice looking again.
The parking brake problem is probably rusted cables. With a little work, oil can be poured into the cable sheaths to keep the cables from sticking. Replacement of the cables isn't toooo difficult and a good time to use brake grease on the brake shoe linkages inside the rear rotor.
Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.
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That's the same reason I got rid of my old Accord - it ran and drove GREAT for a 20-year old car, I still think it drove better than my Volvo does, but...everything broke. Alternator, water pump, starter, power steering pump, CV joints, brake system MULTIPLE times, fuel pump, transmission, and the list goes on. Not to mention it had the most finicky carberrator ever invented by man. Never let me down on a long trip though =).
Once it got over 200K miles, apparently that was the breaking point, and after being hit over the course of several months with the repair bills, it was time to say goodbye. Luckily, it went to a mechanic who loved the old 3rd Gen Accords, and hopefully has given it new life...hopefully the same will happen to your Volvo.
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Yeah, this car runs great too. It feels tight - you'd never know it needs all kinds of front end work. And I was wondering about the CV joints too. I don't know of any problems, but if they go, I understand that's quite a blow to the pocketbook.
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Like Klaus said, most of that stuff can be fixed yourself. Maybe not the exhaust system, but you can do most of the repairs yourself a little bit at a time, the most important stuff first if you choose to keep it.
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I think the 850 is a little over my head. I'd better stick with the 240s.
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posted by
someone claiming to be gwen
on
Fri Dec 11 10:16 CST 2009 [ RELATED]
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The 95's practically tell you what's wrong with them with the nifty computer thing under the hood.......Personally, I would fix the radiator (not too bad) and the seat cable (the seat back might fail all the way back) and put a new cam position sensor on the car (no start problem) and just drive it. New car payments are 450.00 a month for 5 years. If you fix this stuff for 1500.00 or so you would have a good driver for many more years.........
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+1
I like your style gwen. Why would you spend 15k+++ for another/a new car when you could fix the one you have for less than 2k?
Unless what you really want is a new car, I'd look pretty seriously into fixing it.
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+
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posted by
someone claiming to be gwen
on
Sat Dec 12 02:32 CST 2009 [ RELATED]
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Thx.........i had the engine replaced in my 94 with over 500K on it last January. Car runs really nice now. The engine was 600 bucks on ebay (72K on motor) with shipping and I paid 1,200.00 for intstall including a new timing belt and misc. parts. Investment was paid back in 5 months if you look at new car payments......
Nearly everything was newish on the car when the ring cracked on the piston...
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posted by
someone claiming to be Juan P.
on
Sun Dec 13 13:53 CST 2009 [ RELATED]
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Hey Gwen,
You really have over 500k on your '94 850? I have to say, that's a really impressive feat, considering the higher complexity of these cars versus the RWD red-block Volvos.
As most people here know, I have a '96 850 sedan. It's got a puny 87k original miles and is my summer car - it comes out at the beginning of May and goes back into storage at the end of September. I only get to drive it about 1500 miles a year so I have a long way to go before I hit 100k. My daily driver is my dad's old '99 S70 (104k). I like the 850 better.
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posted by
someone claiming to be gwen
on
Mon Dec 14 05:27 CST 2009 [ RELATED]
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Yes, 515,000 miles.
Suspension is pretty much new....
Transmission is original...shifts fine
All bearing hubs original except for passenger front
CV's original, but boots replaced a couple times
All new engine mounts
Drivers seat is a little tore up...
I drove the hell out of it for the first 5 years......all highway in Texas.....now I drive it very little in Michigan.
Exhaust is original, but I really doubt converter works anymore......I did have to replace the exhaust manifold a few years ago though.....
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WOW! Congrats Gwen!
I guess we all have to defer to your opinion from now on eh? :)
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+
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posted by
someone claiming to be gwen
on
Tue Dec 15 02:49 CST 2009 [ RELATED]
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The big stuff has been done by the dealer or local garage that has many volvo customers........
These cars are really reliable if you have a spare cam position sensor and voltage regulator in the trunk and change the fluids and PCV stuff and timing belts when your supposed too.......
I do the brakes and small stuff myself.
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