Hello all. I've been lurking on here a bit, as I've been contemplating a '90s Volvo wagon (245-855) for a bit. I wasn't planning to actually buy one until at least the spring, but when the right car turns up in your area, you need to make a decision - I decided to buy. The car is a one-owner, garaged, dealer maintained base model with complete service history. 151,000 miles (service history backs that up as true / no ODO failure), although I drove an 850 with less than half that in worse shape, so I believe that care matters much more than actual mileage, at least within reason. Original paint in good condition, likewise with interior, effectively no rust, and was registered and driven until a week ago (I'm waiting for my DMV appointment before I can drive it). So yeah, I'm pretty confident I got a good one. On the downside, the car only traveled 17,000 miles in the past 7 years, so there's a bunch of time based stuff I'm going to do right off the bat: fluids, hoses, belts, and whatever you good folks might suggest. The timing belt was done 19 months (and 3000 miles) ago, but I read there is an adjustment at 10k. I'm thinking I'll leave it alone for now. One thing also needing attention is the distributor seal. I pulled the cap and rotor to check condition, and saw it has the infamous oil leak in there. I've seen the how-tos on this site, and have previously done this on another 1995 Swedish car (Saab 900 which also has a horizontal distributor) seal kit is on the way, and I'm not particularly worried about it.

So not too much in the way of questions just yet. I'm introducing myself now because once I start putting some miles on this thing, I'm certain I'll have plenty. There is one little thing I'll post here, though: My CR-915 radio is not accepting the anti theft code. And what I mean by that is this: The radio displays CODE upon switching on. However, it does not register any keypress to the preset buttons (or any other button, aside from the power knob). All I've found is instructions on how to enter the code when it reads OFF. Nothing about this. I pulled the radio, and removed the faceplate, and top
bottom plates for a look-see. I'm no electronics tech, but I figured if something was burnt, corroded, or disconnected, I might be able to identify the issue. All looked (and smelled) right to me. Interestingly, the dealer service records show that the radio was replaced in 1999 with a reman CR-915 for a complaint of "radio not taking code" (and at a cost of $262.05 P&L). So maybe this is a common issue for these? Anyway, I'm writing the radio off for now, but if anyone has knowledge on this fault, I'd love to hear it. I'm not huge on having to have tunes, but it's the only thing on the car which does not work, and that bothers me :-). Actually, I forgot to test the cruise control on my very long test drive...

Regards - Wilson