Las Friday my daughter tells me that the car is misfing and black smoke coming from the tailpipe.
I found 2 damaged (old, cracked) vaccum hoses next to the turbo. Fixed the leaks and problem continued.
She told me that the problem started after she drove on a driveway and the bottom hit. Looked underneath and the lower tank of the intercooler is detached. I can see that the whole thing is about 4 inches below where it should be.
Removed everything to find out that the two plastic "ears" that hold the radiator broke off and the radiator dropped as low as it could go. Of course, the intercooler is bolted to the radiator (The brakets were broken as well), and the A/C condenser is bolted to the radiator and so is the fan and shroud.
What a stupid, no brain, plastic, design.

Spent 2 days fixing the mess, I did not give my money to a Volvo dealer though. I spent more money at Home Depot thatn I did at the dealer.

I purchased a piece of 1 1/2" X 48" aluminum bar to fabricate a bracket that runs on the sides and under the radiator to support all the weight that was bolted, I riveted this and all the other broken parts, I re-assembled the intercooler lower tank and assembled everthing back where it belongs.

Have you had this problem?

Did she get the car airborne and land in somebody's driveway? But seriously, look at the IPD skidplate, it will protect most everything under the front of the 850. Lucky she didn't bust the aluminum oilpan too. Did you show her the little ground clearance she has with the front of the 850? Its probably not the car for her. The intercooler has to be air-tight, so if there are any cracks or leaks in it you need to repair/replace the intercooler, or maybe install a ECU computer from a normally aspirated 850. Because with leaks in the intercooler thats what you have.

Good luck,

Mike

There was no stunt driving, just the whole assembly dropped about 5-6 inches, close to dragging on the ground. Now that everything is in place it is protected by the sub-frame.
The driveway is one she drives everyday to school.
Intercooler is all sealed (except for the oil drain hole at the bottom).

I looked under the front end of my '98 right after I bought the car and I discovered that unlike my previous SAABs it didn't have a skidplate, so now I have I have the Volvo skidplate, which I still don't think completely protects the intercooler and other plasticky stuff. As for all the plastic, well, everything's like this now. Thank the "Corporate Average Fuel Economy" (CAFE) standards.

I've gotten the new car bug and I'd been thinking of handing my Volvo down to my own daughter but right now I'm cringing at the thought.

Better she sticks with the '88 Mercury wagon, trade in value $135. She's brought it home with all the red lights on the dash aglow trailing clouds of smoke and driven 2 miles on a flat tire. ("Yeah, I saw it didn't turn around the corner too well.")

-Punxsutawney Phil

'98 V70T5M, 115k mi, IPD stabilizer bar, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, Valentine-1, Mobil-1 always

This problem has been reported a number of times on this board.
Some techs have mentioned they sometimes see cars come in with
broken lower radiator mounts and the owners don't even know it.

We have a 95 and 98 and both have had a run-in (or two) with
those parking lot space curbs. So far, no damage but I do check
the radaitor mounts when I change the oil.