Volvo AWD Forum

INDEX FOR 10/2025(CURRENT) INDEX FOR 2/2003

[<<]  [>>]


THREADED THREADED EXPANDED FLAT PRINT ALL
MESSAGES IN THIS THREAD




  REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE Replies to this message will be emailed.    PRINT   SAVE 

Dilemma - 95 854T - $600

My wife knows I am certifiable and doesn't know what to do about me. For those that don't know me well, I live in cold country and have a 3 car attached garage with 4 cars in it - one bay is double length (great for a boat trailer).

So here is my PROBLEM:

From Craigslist - "Just bought the car and my wife doesnt like it and it needed alternator and power steering pump so I installed them and the lifters are making noise. IT NEEDS A HEAD. Found one for $150.... Body is rust free. Good tires and recent brake job. 140,000 miles I paid $800 And put $150 in parts into it but come give me $600 for it and get it out of my garage. The car ran pretty good and started just fine in the cold."

Well, I called. The valve noise is just lifters, indicating a large amount of sludge - easily fixed. Car has a new radiator also. It idles fine but will not run over 2000 rpm (suspect the intercooler hose leaks). It is blue, but the roof is showing sun damage, might need a repaint. No major dents or bruises.
Owner changed the Tbelt, but I don't know if he changed the rollers or not. I have not verified the mileage, but if it is 140K, that's nice.
Owner is firm on the price! Not bad considering the parts value. It is too cold today (15F and windy) to give the car a walk around.

Should I buy it? I have to park it in the driveway and play musical cars when my daughter decides to use her car. If it leaks any oil on my pavers, I might as well shoot myself before my wife does :>) It is still toooo cold in the garage to work on the car.

I am assuming that I can get the car to run and make it up the hills to my place, just by tightening up the intercooler connections. AutoRx will clean out the engine. I still have some left over silicone vacuum lines...

Help me!!!!!
--
There is no present time, just the past and future








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Dilemma - 95 854T - $600

    Dunno Klaus,
    Sounds pretty rough... To me, the bad re-paint might be a deal-breaker but it might look okay. if you found a brace and a gauge pod... I could only guess what the previous owner was doing with it.

    The missing intercooler is way weird - bespeaks of exuberant ignorance about Turbos...

    My advice here would be this: You know the mechanicals of the P80/870 platform very well. There should be very little about this car that could really surprise you. So the questions really comes down to why are you considering buying it?

    If it were me, I'd buy it because it's a good price, 850s are all over the local PnPs, and I *do* need to put a third Volvo into the rotation.

    It sounds like a a bit of a PITA to restore for a fairly common car, but it's hard to pass up a good price like that. IMHO, if you can drive it home w/o a breakdown it is a good deal.








    •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE Replies to this message will be emailed.    PRINT   SAVE 

      Dilemma - 95 854T - $600

      This $600 car would drive to your house or any where else in the country. It even had a tower brace! I suspect that the gas mileage would be dismal because of the vacuum leaks, but it would easily get to the east coast.

      But a cheap PNP switch is the least of its problems. It was severly abused. I imagined weekly autocross excursions, or a 16 year old with no brains.

      I am going to tell the seller where Strandberg Salvage is, he can drive it there and get a few hundred. The engine and tranny are good.

      Klaus
      --
      There is no present time, just the past and future








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Dilemma - 95 854T - $600

    If it was in baltimore, I'd pick it up.
    --
    If you're not driving it "like its stolen," are you really driving?








    •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE Replies to this message will be emailed.    PRINT   SAVE 

      95 854T - $600

      I went to see the car today. Nothing wrong with the engine or tranny. But I didn't buy it:

      Bottom of windshield cracked all the way across. Someone remove the inter-cooler???? The piping goes from the turbo to the throttle body. There is a tower brace, hmmmmm, go fast?
      It needs a PNP switch. No big deal.

      The odo shows 130K, the interior shows 240K. The wire was broken for the probe to check codes, so I could not verify miles. The front seats were a little worn, like almost no leather on the driver's seat and foam showing on the passenger seat.
      Driver door panel needed to be replaced. ECC had blinking lights, of course.

      The roof paint was turning white, it had been repainted. The grill was replaced with a hand painted(black) grill w/o Volvo logo. The hood latch with plastic catch that is supposed to go through grill was gone.

      New shocks, struts are needed real soon. They no longer work.

      It did have a boost guage on the A pillar. Heat worked great. Vacuum leak somewhere. Air cleaner box had 1 inch holes bored into it, about 12 of them.
      All of the tires were different.

      But what do you want for $600?? I figure it would have cost me about $500 in pick&pull parts just to feel comfortable. Who would remove the intercooler??

      Just too much for me.

      Klaus

      If someone wants it, let me know! I can buy it for $500 this week.

      --
      There is no present time, just the past and future








      •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

        95 854T - $600

        Sounds like it was a teenager's car.
        You're better off without it - but you already know that.

        I've picked up a few "freebies" over the years. Those first few turned out to be hardly free!
        By the time I had the first few on the road, it ended up costing more than the cars were worth. Still kept them till they were no longer roadworthy and would then strip them to the carcass.
        In time it was worth the efforts as the parts bins filled up. I could then get a freebie and get it roadworthy for next to nothing.
        Granted, this was / is 140 series cars.

        I guess what I'm saying is that I'd only pick up a fixer-upper if I had a healthy parts stash for the model.








        •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE Replies to this message will be emailed.    PRINT   SAVE 

          95 854T - $600

          If only I had a garage where I could work on a car with space for parts, I would have bought it. As it is, my parts bin is a wooden shoebox.

          I just happen to like the 850s. A great, fun car for the money. This one was FUBAR'd.

          Klaus
          --
          There is no present time, just the past and future








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Dilemma - 95 854T - $600

    No rear main leak? The pan may need to be pulled and new mating washers placed. Could be fum, but I am a sucker for old Volvo's.

    dick







<< < > >>



©Jarrod Stenberg 1997-2022. All material except where indicated.


All participants agree to these terms.

Brickboard.com is not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc. or Ford Motor Company. Brickboard.com is a Volvo owner/enthusiast site, similar to a club, and does not intend to pose as an official Volvo site. The official Volvo site can be found here.