A bunch of comments with really great insight came in following my first post on whether or not to do all the work required for my Volvo 850R. Your comments were a good push to do it myself. After going through them all, and talking to some buddies, I’ve decided to tackle this over Spring Break. Almost everything is finally coming together to get this daily driven rad wagon ready for the foreseeable future. Since my first check-in, that list of what’s needed to keep it putting along smoothly has grown. While the much needed tax return saved the day, I was still hesitating to order all the replacement parts, until I noticed a strange noise at startup.
Oh no! Not another sound
After a bit of research, I was able to find the same strange noise in a YouTube video from user Kenny Ram. He identifies the issue to be the bearing for the water pump going out. What more reason could I need to immediately order the parts? Also, without knowing the prior owners repair work, I began wondering what else should be changed when I’m under the hood. After seeing this post from the eEuroparts Instagram feed of a totally clogged PCV system oil separator off of another 850, I needed to make sure it had been serviced. What else could the car possibly need?
I reached out to the old owner who happens to be a close acquaintance, and car enthusiast extraordinaire. This man has owned over 50 cars and needs his own feature story. While I was able to get all of the service information that he had from the car when I bought it, he didn’t know much about what have been done prior to his ownership, aside from a timing belt at around 70,000 miles. With no new knowledge, I tossed a PCV kit into my virtual shopping cart. Figuring it’s probably good to do a full tune-up, I also added an iPD kit to the mix. So my list of if parts went up again, but I still held back from placing the order. Then the odometer went out.
Again.
That was the final straw for me. I put the odometer gear kit and a dash illumination kit on the list and placed the order through iPD. The odometer has since started working once again, but I would like the displayed mileage to be as-close-to-true to reflect the actual mileage of the car itself.
Here’s the damage:
An electronic service manual and replacement alternator didn’t make the shipment due to being backordered. Still, the hit was heavy. It’s not everything, of course. A CV axle is going to be needed eventually. It’s not currently making any noise, which means I can wait a bit. Eventually, I will need to have the windshield replaced too, but I plan on waiting as long as possible for that one. Before that, I’m eyeing a custom matching black Alcantara headliner to replace the droopy tan cloth one that came from the factory. It may be possible to get the headliner in and out of the tailgate, being a station wagon, but on most cars they are put in through the front.
Regardless of what didn’t get here this morning, it’s going to be a busy Spring Break indeed.
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