I've had this `97 850 T5 for about 9 months now. The heat vents inside take a loonngg time to warm up. I'm wondering if this is normal, or if something is wrong. I've never had an 850 before (experience with a 780 and 240, both warmed up pretty quick).

This car has the duel zone climate control, and if I set both dials to one notch below max heat it takes around 12-15 minutes in 40 degree (F) weather for the hot air to start coming out. I have the fan control set on Auto, Recycle off, A/C Auto.

Any ideas/info?

Thanks,

Dave

`97 850 T5 70k

`89 780 T 150k

Dave,

do you wait till it gets warm at idle or start driving right away? The latter is the way to go. My S70 GLT starts getting warm (visually, by gauge needle movement) about 3-4 minutes after a cold start. It takes the engine another 2-3 minutes to reach its operating temperature, though.

I never push it hard when cold (withing 3500 rpm), but begin driving after 30-40 seconds after starting it up.

Cheers,

Vadim.

My 1995 850T has the same issue. It has other issues too. One of those being, it sounds like a marble is in the front tire well and in my opinion the idle of the engine is noisier than I would expect from a Volvo. Any thoughts? If not, hopefully there is some solace in knowing that I sit and shiver for 10 minutes or so before the heater really gets going.

The marbles are probably in the body chanel under 1 or both seats. There is a cavity under the seats with a duct for rear seat ventilation. Small objects can enter and roll around. Get in the back with a flashlight and have someone drive turning left/right while watching the cavitys, you'll probably find anything from pens to marbles to toy balls to chicken mcnuggets. As for the heat, the temp guage should be at normal operating temp within 5-10 minutes of start up and drive away, depending on ambient temp. If not, the thermostat is likely stuck open. At 40 deg f, you should get heat within 5 min.

Yep, get your thermostat checked out. I too had to replace mine on my '95 850 turbo this winter. A sure fire way to diagnose this is just check and see if it takes eons (or maybe never) for the temperature gauge on your dash to rise up to about 3'o clock and stay there. If it doesn't, or takes a long long time to, then the thermostat is shot.

Does the car reach operating temperature quickly? I and many other posters have replaced thermostats this season.

I'll join the thermostat voters. I bought my 850 last summer and was driving early in the morning from a place in Catskills (NY), it was 45F ouside and I could not get any reasonable heat even after long driving. I was amazed how low heat a Swedish car could produce. The only cancellation was my heated seat (at least got my ass warm).

Finally I changed the T-stat last fall, and I get really hot air from the vents even at "half-dial" setting with 25F ouside. T-stat was the best $12 spent on the car.

Yuri