240 to an 850

Been a loyal 240/740 owner for 10 years.

Time to move on, does the 850 wagon hold the same reputation for
reliability and modest repair costs?

I am looking at a 94 with 130K.

Thank you

 

The 850's, other than the '93 year have been holding up pretty well. They're
not as much of an indestructible tank as a 240 but they're more refined and
more comfortable, get better fuel economy, definitly more difficult and
expensive to work on but not too bad compared to other cars of similar age.

 

We replaced our 1989 240 wagon with a 1996 850 wagon. The 850 is sturdy and
has lots of cool features the 240 didn't. It's more comfortable and much
better on snow. On the downside, the 850 is very complicated, prone to
random (and expensive) failures, and nearly impossible to diagnose.

From reading this group, it seems natural to expect to replace your 850
automatic transmission every 50K miles and fix leaks in the air conditioning
every spring.

I'd rather have a new 240 than a new 850.

 

The best years for the 850 are supposed to be '96 & '97. The main
problematic areas are:
a) A/C condensor
b) ABS controller

Another thing that the original poster will have to contend with in
switching to an 850 is that the car is not RWD, so handling is quite
different, turning circles are wider etc. The 850 also has an
interference engine - so routine maintenance must be followed more
carefully.

Beverly

 

50K Miles on a tranny??? You must be joking right? Sounds more like the
fluid change interval - or has your 850 been eating through its
transmissions?

I've heard the 93/94s had some tranny issues, but nothing this bad.

On the note of A/C systems - our dealer tech commented (be glad you don't
have an 850 <we have a 960 wagon> or else you'd see me more often, this is
the 2nd or 3rd 960 i've seen in here for an A/C leakage problem.... why they
didn't do the A/C systems in a similar way for both cars... who knows - but
I remember one summer when at least 30 850's came in with broken A/C's, some
under warranty).

 

Yeah some of the 850's were known to eat transmissions, but I'd be shocked
if any significant number failed within 50k, even if you beat the crap out
of them.

 

Including me, there have been about a dozen posts to this board over the
past year with 850 A/T problems, usually with less than 75K miles. The
story is always the same: "flashing up-arrow on dashboard - dealer says I
need a new $3500 tranny."

It seems common enough that it always invokes the same response from the
experts on the board "Next time change the fluid every 20Kmiles." This even
though Volvo recommends something like 100K miles service interval and some
folks recommend never changing it.

In my case, the code claimed a failed solenoid valve. I did some snooping
around and found that it's designed to be replaced without removing the
tranny from the car (there's an access plate), but I couldn't find a
mechanic you would attempt it and our local dealer only replaces entire
transmissions.

As it turns out, I haven't replaced it yet (I don't have $3500 lying about),
and I found that it would work for a bit after clearing the codes (so it's
probably not flat-out broken). I had the dealer flush the transmission and
the problem went away for six months. Now, it re-appears every couple of
weeks or so, usually on the highway. I pull off the road, clear the codes,
and it's good for another stretch.

 

Not me. The 240 was great, but the 850s have been much better and more
reliable. Yes, our 93 had the AT go at 145,000 miles, but other than
that may '93 and '95 850 were rock solid. I had a 240 with an AT that
went at 100,000 miles. I had another 240 with a soft cam which had to
be replaced. I have a garage full of old 240 fuel pumps. They were a
problem. I always carried a spare in the car. Also, you weren't in a
240 unless you had a heater fan start to scream. The dealer never
replaced it because the new ones did it also. Those were the good old
days.

 

Not sure how you went through so many fuel pumps, I've never even heard of
one failing at less than 150k miles. I've replaced a heater blower once, it
didn't die until the car was 17 years old.

 

Well, I too have about a half a dozen old fuel pumps from 240s. On top
of that, I had to replace two internal pumps over the years. I also
had to replace a blower motor at about 100k.

So far (70k miles) my 850 is performing very well. At least as good as
a 240 and more comfortable.

Chuck Fiedler
Nothing but Volvos since 1973

 

The Volvos with the bad electric fuel pumps were from the 60's and 70's.
Never left home without a spare. They would start singing before they
would fail. I never left them in once they started singing. My '81 240
had the internal fuel pump go at 120,000 miles, the day I sold the car
and while I was delivering it to the buyer. I had to find a Volvo
garage open on a Saturday afternoon to complete the sale. I found a
mechanic working late that did it. That was a close one.

I never had a heater blower die, just sing. They loved to sing. I
think they were hoping to get into the Met. The dealer would always
say, I will replace it if you want, but the new ones will do the same
thing. I found out he was telling the truth.

I guess you could say the early 240s were a musical lot with their
singing fuel pumps and heater blowers.

Love my 850s.

 

Well to tell you the truth the blower in mine didn't "die" but it was
squeeling as you say, which to me was as good as dead since it was too loud
to use it. As I said though, it was old, it didn't make any squeeling at all
until it was nearly 15 with over 200k on the car, went another couple years
before it got unuseable.

 

Sounds more like a sensor problem to me.

Our 960 had the "upshift arrow" come on, flashing.... It was the gearshift
selector switch... Couple hundred bucks for that one... I think it only went
off because it was cold outside, but oh well... it's replaced now, good for
another 160K Kms ;-).

 

I had a 240 (8 years) then a 740 (15 years) and now have an 850 (12
months). The 850 is a whole different vehicle. Different acceleration,
handling, more fun! Don't think you'll be disappointed. Running costs and
reliability seem about the same but there's a heck of a lot more electric
stuff to go wrong with an 850 but they seem to have a reputation for
reliability. Time will tell. - Roy

 

I think the fact that it's 2005 and people are still trying to decide if a
car made around a decade or so back is still reliable ought to say
something.

A "time will tell" attitude about a vehicle that's 10 years old isn't
something you'd see for a lot of cars.

 

Good point, I guess a lot of us are just spoiled, having seen so many 20+
year old 240's still holding together. The 850's do seem to continue the
trait, they're more complex but still very well made cars.