General: 850: 850 t5 woes applenty

[vincem6059]

hello ,all new to the forum so greetings all round ,muchos apologos if this is something that's been covered countless times but I,ve bought an 850 t5 manual estate of 1996 vintage which has at some point had I think ,a young unsympathetic owner and I,ve taken it upon myself to bring it back from the brink ,anyway it appears after research that being a 96 its got the obd2 connector but uses flash codes to access dtc,s ,just wondered if its possible to deal with service light using a home made flash code reader or is it hobsons choice and use a re set tool or Volvo central at much expense ? any replies gratefully received ,thanks very much

[Shinsplintz 101]

Find a good Volvo independent - there's plenty about. Get the codes read & cleared. Give it a good stage zero ( essentially a full service with knob on) asap. Run it for a bit then get the codes read again. If something comes up, repair, clear codes and get it back on the road.

Parts are relatively cheap & plentiful for the 850t5s but do try & stick with OE wherever possible - particularly in the engine bay.

Good luck, Morgan

[cyclogenesis]

You can build a home made flash reader if you have one with the port under the coin holder and not in the engine bay. There are posts on here and elsewhere that show you how. Did it myself for about £15 in Maplins.

Regarding the service light reset. This has to be done with the special tool. either that or do what I did and take the bulb out.

As shinsplintz said a good stage zero first. I am not a mechanic, just a hobbyist but would suggest the following.

New plugs and leads
Change oil and filter
Air filter
Fuel Filter - RHS rear
Check for oil leaks - Common areas - LHS of the engine a the top where the cam shaft sensor is situated.
Dip stick oil seal
Turbo return pipe at rear of engine
The big one, check the weep hole where the gearbox joins the engine. oil leaking here signifies the main crank oil seal has gone and whilst it is only a £15 part, the labour will cripple you. Mine needed a new clutch doing while they were at it.
CV boots not split, check for play in suspension. Mine seems to go through wishbones regularly.
Check all vacuum hoses and induction hoses for splits and secure fit. There are loads of em and even one small hose loose can wreck your economy and fail you your MoT

Lots of other things to do all of which can be found on here. Good luck and well done for keeping an old lady going.

[Cypher007]

on the vac hoses, there's one that goes where it joins the intake manifold, the power steering pump end not the vacuum tree the other end.

[Paul240480]

To add to your list..... As you seem to think it's been neglected. Do your PCV. Get a kit from Rufe (FRF Volvo on here) . Guaranteed correct, the kit comes with everything to fit all models

Oh, what about cam and aux belts, pulleys etc? Any history. I did just the two belts circa 140k on mine. Then last year pushing 200k did belts pulleys all tensioners and water pump. Still running sweetly!