my volvo 850se journal
 

hi all i recently bought this very old volvo 850se estate non turbo and a manual gearbox she has 150k on the clock and no service history and when purchased had 6 months or so on mot has only ever done around 3000 miles between mots and appears to have had little more than an annual service and whatever was needed for mot.
so i have been slowly going through from the basics ie engine service and timing belt/serpentine belt and tensioner replacement,
complete new exhaust system and mountings.
complete set of rearlights courtesy of our local breakers sadly there the v70 ones with clear indicator lense but was cheap and good condition unlike most i found on ebay that come prechipped to save you the bother!
the front headlamps had the usual bloom on the plastic lense soon sorted with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar and look good enough now with some good old elbow grease.
i have also found she has the common leaky heater matrix and steams up like a sauna so today i stripped out the old one and ordered new along with the later ali pipes from a v70 i believe im told fit and dont rot.
after reading some of the threads here on what rot to expect (though after 40yrs restoring cars i have a good idea!) i have found as i suspected the start of systemic rust under the plastic sill covers and on one rear wheelarch which needs cutting out and welding along with the other normal old age related/rusty baggy bumper brackets etc all getting restored or replaced slowl but surely.
to add to the complexity the car has to carry my wifes electric wheelchair and the ramps have to go on top on roof crossbars so i have tailor made the fittings myself and the only purchase will be a set of rear bumper brackets which will then be sent for powder coating the way they should have at the start.
also in keeping with my deep hatred of rust and fastenings that decline then refuse to come undone when needed so every single fitting is replaced with stainless steel,all done once and proper.
heres a few pics of how it looked at the start and i shall add pics of progress and maybe pick some brains if/when i bugger it up!
also if anyone should happen to have a spare wheeltrim or 2 for the volvo she would be very pleased she says she dont like the cheapo ebay crap i bought her,ungrateful i call it!,peace

One of only 9 'SE' 850s on the road I found out today, mine is an se too 😊

looks a nice tidy one that does,i prefer your wheels but i suppose atleast mine are the original albeit old and rusty but 9 wow thats def getting rare its a good job theres a good amount of spares in common with later models,cheers:regular_smile:

timing belt kits
 

hi all if anyone can advise is this any good make of timing belt kit?theres multitudes on ebay and so many different prices,the only maker familiar to me is the gates and skf this is one i found any good though?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Timing-Be...5/303529017549
its been a long time since i bought volvo parts!:shocked:

Stick with gates if I were you. You should be able to pick the same kit up for around £120

At that price you might be better calling FRF and quoting the forum code 'C3' for a discount. That way at least you'll know you have the correct belt

I've just ordered a genuine Volvo timing belt kit from Caffyns - cost me roughly £100 :) No need to buy aftermarket when OEM is that cheap. I'd imagine yours is the same kit, but you'd need to check to be sure. This kit does not include the water pump - that is an extra £80.

The only other brands I'd consider would be Gates or Continental.

BTW Aisin made the original water pump, so if you don't buy Volvo, I'd get an Aisin one ;) I'm sure another big name like Valeo, Febi Bilstein, or Continental would be fine, but the waterpump is an awkward bugger to change so I'd play it safe and fit OEM (which is why I've just bought a Volvo one lol)

If you're going to change the hydraulic tensioner, then the OEM brand was also Aisin. Volvo ones are £100, so I've bought an Aisin one for £60 from Autodoc (online but in Germany)

HTH

cheers i will ring them for quote,thanks

hi was just going belt and braces tbh as theres no history and only a label from 2005 at 86oook belt replaced she done 152k now so i thought best to replace all belts and tensioners till i saw the price of the tensioner,i figure its likely fine condition and shall check it myself when disassembled as i believe i will likely need to fit a waterpump within a few 1000k so may as well bite the bullet and save time later and maybe a breakdown.
i think kit without the tensioner is reasonable cost from skandix but i begrudge the post cost.
i been looking for uk part supplier mostly avoiding main dealer is a force of habit as for years in the trade we called them the main stealers esp volvo they took the right **** and even trade price was a measly 5%! and in them days my garage profited far more from the parts than the labour charge.
anyhow in the way of progress i now have fitted and run up too temp the new heater matrix a fairly easy one and took me about 2 hours all in fitted and working and car all back together not to bad for a one handed wonky necked wonky kneed,slightly wonky in the head mechanic!
the new matric came from here
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEATER-MA...72.m2749.l2649
it is uk supplier the part i think made in japan or possibly china either way it has a 5 year guarantee and thats better than volvo also this is ali body the bit that fails on the original was crap steel and zinc coated which is why they fail after a short time compared with other makes.
i must say after my last car a peugeot 406 est the volvo is a pleasure to work on and i love that i understand every component and little things on the pug are big sensible sized and placed on the volvo ie stepper motor,dont go there on the pug!!!!!!!:_:
i will get around to some pics at some point,cheers:regular_smile:

Its one of the things that keeps delighting me - how (reasonably) accessible everything is, and how easy they are to work on :)

My other car is a Discovery V8 - while there is plenty of room under the bonnet, I have to climb a ladder (honestly) to do pretty much any work on it - and that kills the backs of the legs and my lower back.

I've just bought a Nissens branded heater matrix. While replacing the matrix is fairly easy on these, the fact that you could get serious engine damage if it fails completely made me play it safe. I've bought many Nissens radiators over the years and they've all been of superb quality - the heater matrix was only £38 posted which is fine. I had a quote from my local dealer for a Volvo branded (actually made by Behr)... wait for it... £231.66 :D :D :D

I am going to be using new genuine Volvo o-rings though as the pattern ones can leak apparently.

Lets see some pics, we all love pics ;)

hi yes very nicely layed out and not so many stupid fragile plastic fasteners as the pug had,well today the new tensioner pulley came for the serpentine belt and took me about 40 minutes or so to fit and that included fabricating the tool for detensioning and finding a split pin to lock it with,not bad for an old fart and now the horrid bearing noise is gone and she has a nice new belt we should be good for a while,still to go get antifreeze and awaiting a set of stainless steel hose clamps and some new hoses being made local to me by a good friend and fabricator all in super high temp materials he says are impervious to oil and solvents etc and at roughly half the price as caffyns wanted for the oe parts.
im wary of buying parts and having spent many years in the trade it still amazes me just how ignorant of the products they sell most online suppliers are.
anyhow pics will be forthcoming in due course i need to charge the new but knackered allready battery in the camera,more ebay crap!peace:tounge_smile: