Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Jul 15, 2016 12:44:36 GMT
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Hi All, I've owned a Volvo V70 T5 auto (2002 model) for a couple of years (pic below), really like it as a daily car but lately have changed jobs and now commute by train meaning I don't really need such a comfy posh, relatively modern, commuter car. I started thinking about letting it go, and cut my fleet down a bit - makes sense, save some money and space. Then I started looking on eBay to see what they go for and gauge a sale price... Next thing I know, I appear to have bought another old, large, turbocharged Swedish dog transporter but distinctly more retro. Picked it up at the weekend, and love it. The V70 definitely needs to sell now (who needs 10 cylinders and 2 turbos...?) so much for fleet reduction! So, to the latest acquisition, behold the boxy joy of the mid-90s 850 (855 for Volvo nerds) T5 estate. It's blue, very blue (inside and out!), oh, and did I mention, it's square...? You want more blue? Step inside, sir... blue heated leather, oh you want fake wood, loads of switches and dials too? Yes - all catered for in a very 90s style... I've had a few cars with turbos, but never one with a factory fitted boost gauge before! The perfect feature on an old square family car... whoosh! So, what's it like? Well, it's 21 years old, it's done nearly 164k miles, one owner for the first 20 years then bought by an enthusiast to do up a bit - I bought it from him, unseen via eBay. Seems ok so far, and was reassuring to arrive at his house and find he also had a pair of 850R estates on the drive, an awesome beard, and his wife was out in his 'other' 850 T5. He liked Volvos, then. He's fitted a new cam belt, fixed a few other bits and pieces and threw in the essential OE dog guard and a few spare bits. I drove it home 100 miles+ last Sunday, all good. A/C doesn't blow cold as I knew before buying, but aside from that everything seems to work well. I'll try to fix A/C of course. Loads of service history, original booklets, PDI sheet, spare keys, original 16in wheels in very good nick (apparently not used and stored in a garage for most of the original ownership period). The bodywork is good and it seems very well maintained mechanically. It's a bit worn and creaky here and there compared to my (7 year newer) V70 as you'd expect, but feels so much more lively, light and fun to drive. The steering is more direct and connected feeling, even after all those miles, manual gearbox more involving (V70 is an auto) and power seems more than acceptable with a super throaty boosty noise when you give it some throttle. I don't think the exhaust is standard although apparently the engine is (for now). Performance wise, it's hard to say if it's quicker than the V70, that has 250bhp vs. the standard 225bhp in this 850, but the manual gearbox and lighter car seem to certainly make it equivalently sprightly. Plans: Sell V70, I don't need a comfy auto commuter any more. The 850 will be my daily and should prove cheap and fun to maintain, use and probably upgrade a little here and there. It certainly needs an audio overhaul as though it works well, radio and tape only isn't ideal - no cd player even. The V70 has the 13 speaker pro-logic thing so has spoilt me a little. I also need to track down a load cover for the 850 boot as that's missing but will concentrate on selling the V70 before I start playing with this... probably. Longer term, the 850 feels like it at least needs the clutch bleeding, or possibly replacing as it's a bit shuddery on the take up and the bite point doesn't seem quite right. I'd also like to tidy up a bit of bubbling in the paint around the roof rails, and get the spare boot spoiler it came with painted to suit and fitted for additional 90s street cred. Anyone else on here strangely attracted to these boxy old Swedes? Cheers Stu
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:05:27 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Jul 15, 2016 13:17:24 GMT
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I've got two of these, a saloon and an estate.... Mine are both auto tho..... As for the question of who needs 10 cylinders and two turbos, may I respectfully point you in the direction of claymore...... That particular swede fanatic has also added two superchargers into the mix These make a brilliant everyday car, fast, practical and loads of fun. Easy to upgrade the power too I've been considering dropping a T5 engine in my 3 door Mk3 Escort, they are really bulletproof when maintained properly. Make sure the pcv isn't blocked tho, that can cause some problems...... Good luck with it, I'll be watching with interest....
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'96 Volvo 850T5 x2, '97 Alfa 145 Cloverleaf '96 Alfa 155, '91 XR2i 2.0 Zetec (sold), '88 BMW 520i slug (sold), '81 Escort Mk3 Project, '68 Mk1 Escort Estate, Berlingo Parts Chaser.
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Jul 15, 2016 14:10:06 GMT
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I used to have an 850 T-5 several years ago, was a great car. Mine had been turned into an 850R rep and had a big air filter and boost controller etc so whooshed and chattered like a good 'un.
Enormous fun, would love another.
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Jul 23, 2016 19:49:27 GMT
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Cheers, chaps. I've not had much chance to play with this new (old) toy yet but it's been in daily use since purchase and so far so good.
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Last Edit: Jul 23, 2016 19:50:23 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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I've been rubbish at updating this since I got the 850, so here's a catchup from the last 6 months... some copied/pasted from another forum but hopefully makes sense. August Good: Tracked down a boot load cover from a P1 V70 in dark grey, fits and looks good. Bad: Odometer broke in typical 850 style. September I removed the rear bumper to replace wonky brackets, found the ones I'd got with the car are for a saloon model so don't fit, so ordered new ones and bolts from Volvo dealer and fitted those. All back together and a nice secure, (and level) rear bumper now (it had sagged somewhat...). Old brackets looked like this, one of the few bits that rusts on an 850 it seems! 1. 'Good' one! 2. Less good one, mostly crumbed on the floor in this pic 3. Work in progress... Once that was sorted, I turned my attention to the audio side and replaced this: With this (still need to sort DAB aerial and a cubby hole bit to fill the gap underneath): Also, this arrived yesterday - can you tell what it is? :lol:
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:07:20 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Still September... Fitted the strut brace last weekend, clearly this old tank is basically a touring car now... In less positive news, someone decided to rip my rear wiper off and try to yank the roof aerial away too whilst parked up a local dog walking spot. November... Found my winter wheels from P2 V70 fit but tyres were too wide and rubbed on full lock, so sold them. Ordered odo repair kit. Replaced vandalised rear wiper and fitted new DAB aerial for radio. As I don't drive the car very often further than a couple of miles locally, but on a rare motorway trip to Manchester (50 mile round trip) to see a gig a few weeks ago I noticed the temp gauge dropped at speed, and the heater cooled down seemingly in line with the amount of cool air coming at the car at speed. Around town, temp gauge read ok and heater warm. Stuck open thermostat symptoms. Probably making fuel economy worse than usual too (it's all relative! I ordered a new genuine Volvo stat and the correct coolant and did the necessary on a rare dry day off last week. Stat lives here, handy it's high up as you only need to drain a couple of litres of coolant to remove it. Nice metal housing too so no shearing off curse word plastic bits. New stat in: Put it back together, replaced the lost coolant (the drained stuff was clean and correct Volvo spec so didn't do a full flush), bled the system and test drive. Lovely warm heater again even at speed, temp gauge gets to half way on the gauge and stays here. Ideal. Also, no laptop required to reset anything - old school! Whilst I was at it, I had a look at the headlight bulbs as I notice in current weather they are pretty poor. No major voltage drop to the lights and reflectors and wiring look in order but I was surprised to find these little H1 bulbs. Turns out they're standard 55w ones and correct, but thought I could do better. I popped to my local auto factor and had a chat, they recommended some retro-fit xenon bulbs - approx. 5x the price of standard H1 bulbs but supposedly much better and a straight swap. Thought it was worth a go, so bought these: Results are great, far brighter, whiter and much better all round. Hopefully they'll last well as in this they're on whenever the engine is running as is the Volvo style: Still love this car, 20+ year old mechanicals but with DAB radio and xenon bulbs now - much more usable :thumb:
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:10:30 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Small update: I finally got round to repairing the broken odometer yesterday, the fault was indeed the common tiny cog inside the cluster. Quite a pleasant job, everything came apart and went back together as it should, and worked afterwards so I can run the car up towards 200k now :thumb: Here's a few pics of the process: 1. Disconnect battery. Remove dash top (lots of torx screws in air vents etc. Takes about 30 mins being careful to keep track of the bits. 2. Unplug green connectors and undo latches that hold cluster in. 3. Lift cluster out, disconnect small green plug for trip computer and vacuum hose for turbo gauge. Back of cluster looks like this. You can replace bulbs individually, but mine all work so I left well alone. 5. Take cluster into the kitchen as it's fiddly (and cold outside!) and remove nine torx screws around the outside, two at the bottom, three smaller silver ones in the centre and 8mm brass nut on nipple where turbo hose connects to. Lift off front cover. 6. Carefully lift off the face with needles and mechanisms intact to expose odo mechanism. 7. Didn't take a pic of the next bit but odo cluster lifts out, disconnect motor from the end of the unit and expose some tiny cogs. Library photo I found via Google: 8. Generally the small yellow cog is broken, mine wasn't but teeth were rounded and it was jammed. So I replaced it with a new one (very small, like 5mm dia so hard to photo) I had a new cog to replace the larger blue one too on the back of that white circular plate, but that was glued in place and looked fine so I left it be, reassembled odo and rotated by hand to add a few miles and test it was working and reset mechanism worked. All fine. Reinstallation is the reverse of removal etc. I don't drive much so worked out the car has only done approx four five tanks of petrol since the odo broke around 5 months ago, maybe 800 - 1000 miles so I didn't bother correcting the odo. I just wound a few miles on by hand to test it but it'd take hours (or require a drill etc.) to wind on much mileage so I left it there. I believe there is a way to read the mileage off the ECU via an LED and 'flash codes' but haven't got round to working that out yet. 164 or 165k miles doesn't really make much difference does it? :lol: All back together (reassembled dash by lead lamp as it was dark now), tested car and it's fine, mileage goes up on trip and main odo, reset works ok, all dash illuminations intact and gauges working and no new creaks or rattles. Good quality Volvo engineering :thumb: Next thing to tackle is a creak when I reverse of the drive which sounds like the handbrake is sticking on one rear wheel. Still love this car :thumb:
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:11:36 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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May 20, 2017 12:22:54 GMT
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I haven't updated this in a while as the Volvo continues to work and I've been messing around with the other old tat in my 'fleet' instead and just using this for daily stuff, dog duties, taking junk to the tip and that type of thing. However, while the weather is decent I thought I'd get round to replacing the shuddery original clutch. I got a quote from a garage I trust a while ago and they said it'd be about £800 ish all in as it's a large labour cost (6 hrs+). The gearbox is apparently a swine to get out and requires the front subframe dropping. Given the car isn't worth much, even though I love it I couldn't quite be bothered paying that much for a clutch job and as I have an engine crane, loads of spanners, and a spare car for when I break it, ordered the parts to DIY it. Started last weekend and made some decent progress, will keep this thread updated - if anyone has done one of these before, please do chip in with any advice. To get started, I ordered this lot, all genuine parts: 1. Clutch kit (£88+vat with discount - nice!). 2. Release bearing 3. 10x flywheel stretch bolts 4. Crank seal 5. Slave cylinder (classic part had to come from Sweden) 6. 4x subframe stretch bolts 7. Oil cooler connection clips and O-rings (not arrived yet) 8. Heater hose connection O-rings (not arrived yet) A few pics, firstly last Sat removing some bits above the gearbox area... I found you can move two little safely catches on the bonnet hinges and open the bonnet completely vertical, very useful for access and light to see what you're doing. Then on Sun, things got more involved... Work will continue when weather and time permits, but subframe lowered, passenger driveshaft out, pretty much everything disconnected that needs to be and gearbox still refuses to budge. I've probably missed some fixings somewhere so reading up on the web in addition to Haynes manual. Wish me luck...
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:13:08 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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May 20, 2017 16:20:50 GMT
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Santiago 1995 Volvo 850 GLT Wagon 1994 Land Rover Discovery Tdi (Webasto equipped) 1996 Land Rover Defender Tdi (TGV) 1997 Land Rover Defender Tdi 1981 Honda ATC 110 (Three wheeler)
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May 20, 2017 20:13:18 GMT
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You might want to add a crankshaft oil seal to you parts list as this is a possible cause of juddery/slipping clutch and IIRC the Volvo 5 pots are prone to leakage from there.
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Thanks! Yours looks great, the best colour!
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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You might want to add a crankshaft oil seal to you parts list as this is a possible cause of juddery/slipping clutch and IIRC the Volvo 5 pots are prone to leakage from there. Nick Hi Nick, thanks for the reply - already had a rear main seal in my goodie bag from the Volvo dealer, replaced it yesterday when the flywheel was off
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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May 22, 2017 10:10:01 GMT
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Ahead of me then - that's good!
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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May 22, 2017 17:53:56 GMT
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More fun with the engine crane this weekend, the job is picking up pace and may be finishing in the next few weeks... :lol: Subframe lowering, three trolley jacks and an engine crane required: After lots of huffing and puffing, the gearbox is out from underneath - left the engine in place. The bell housing was a bit oily inside, but not too bad. Release bearing very noisy / gritty feeling as expected. I spent some time cleaning it all up. Old clutch in place: And then out, for comparison with new. Not that bad for over 20 years / 164k miles but new one has a bit more meat on it! Rear main seal, which was a swine to remove and replace: Flywheel back on with new bolts (note heath robinson locking method): New clutch fitted (after trip to Halfords on Sunday aft to replace snapped Torx 40 bit I snapped removing pressure plate). Stopped there as I was knackered. Next phase is to wrestle the gearbox back on. Wish me luck... :lol:
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:18:42 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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May 22, 2017 17:58:39 GMT
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How did you remove the seal?
Cheers,
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Santiago 1995 Volvo 850 GLT Wagon 1994 Land Rover Discovery Tdi (Webasto equipped) 1996 Land Rover Defender Tdi (TGV) 1997 Land Rover Defender Tdi 1981 Honda ATC 110 (Three wheeler)
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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May 23, 2017 20:11:50 GMT
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How did you remove the seal? I tried various things, carefully poking screwdrivers in it, screwing self tapping screws in and pulling on them but eventually found a stanley knife with a hooked blade for vinyl flooring slid in and hooked it out.
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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May 23, 2017 20:14:39 GMT
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I picked up a few more parts for this today that I'd been waiting for.
2x new driveshaft seals for gearbox before I re-fit it
Also, these which I'd ordered last weekend.
Oil cooler connection clips and O-rings Heater hose connection O-rings
Parts cost is mounting up as I also ordered a full genuine PCV kit to replace all that gubbins while I'm at it.
More updated this weekend hopefully when I may get the gearbox back in... fingers crossed...
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Jun 10, 2017 15:57:34 GMT
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Well overdue update: I can report that getting the gearbox back in and aligned on my own was an utter PITA! However, it went in a few weekends ago now, new driveshaft seals fitted first, new thrust bearing (different design to the original with plastic type inner bit?), subframe back on with new stretch bolts and then many, many gearbox to engine bolts back in. Driveshafts back in too, found a split CV boot to add to my job list. A few pics from a couple of weekends ago... had to break out the 3/4in drive monster socket set and torque wrench for some of the bigger stuff... Gear cables hooked up, new slave cyl fitted and bled and I had clutch operation and all gears again (engine not running) so things were looking up. External slave cyl is such a great design, held in by a cir-clip, easy to bleed, doesn't need the gearbox off to change: The brake/clutch fluid that came out was pretty murky so I'll give the car a full brake fluid change too once this lot is finished. So, update from last weekend. I suspect the majority of the forum remain on the edge of their seats wondering how many bits I had left over (none!), whether it went back together (it did!) and if the car started first time and the clutch actually worked (it did!). Needless to say, I was pretty pleased, and a bit shocked! Whilst reassembling, I replaced the PCV system (crankcase breather gubbins). I found a 12mm ratchet ring spanner with flexible hinge bit (mine are a Halfords pro set) was perfect to get the awkward dipstick tube bolt and other bolt nearby under the manifold. I had a full new genuine parts PCV kit from Volvo, aside from one pipe they can't get anymore. Luckily, that one on my car still had a Volvo genuine spare parts sticker on it and was in good order so must have been replaced before. Didn't take many pics, but here's a few I did for those interested. PCV lives under the inlet manifold, so that has to come off first... This is the oil trap and all it's pipework which you find behind the inlet... mine wasn't too bunged up, some I'd read about are fully solid, blocking the breather ports on the block and causing the engine to blow it's main seal out. Ouch! That horizontal pipe with the sticker was the one I couldn't get a replacement for mentioned above. It links round to something called the 'PTC nipple' (ooh-er...) near the turbo at the back of the engine and has a vacuum line bundled in with it too. PCV removed is basically this lot, plus dipstick tube as that has to be removed too. I cleaned out that long pipe to refit and replaced the rest with new parts. I used my new Dr Oetiker pliers from Halfords to fit all the new bits together with the correct clips off the car, cleaned the ports in the block and head, and connected it all up. Stopped taking photos here as I kept getting work phone calls and just wanted to get it back together. Anyway, once reassembled, inlet back on with new gasket and I decided to embark on replacing all vacuum hoses on the car with new blue silicone pipe (about 2m in total) which the previous owner gave me with the car. They aren't generally easy to get to and I thought, why not just do it now. I carefully removed all the disintegrating old pipes, cut new ones to the right length and fitted them between turbo, various valves, inlet and other bits. I'll take some pics as the blue pipes look good and add 10bhp at least probably :lol: When that was done, I changed the gearbox oil (using genuine Volvo correct synthetic oil), reassembled the rest of the engine bay and gingerly attempted first start up in about 3 weeks. It only bloody started first time, idled smoothly, turbo boost worked, no funny noises, no oil p1ssing out or anything! Very surprising. I'll attempt a longer test drive at some point (only ran it for about 20 mins in the drive and tested clutch back and forward in reverse and 1st) so far as I then had to go and fix some storage arrays for work. I did notice the clutch is incredibly light and doesn't shudder or grind on take up, hooray! Jobs left: 1. CV boot 2. Oil cooler clips / seals replacement to solve small leak 3. Maybe get tracking setup since I've had it all to bits, subframe off etc.? Over and out for now. Will report back from actual test drive, hopefully this weekend. It will be interesting to deploy full turbo power in higher gears and not have the revs flare and clutch slip... or so I hope... :thumb:
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2018 17:21:50 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Jun 10, 2017 16:31:16 GMT
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Good work! We have a green one the same, but gle model.......it's even got heated rear seats! Really like it so far, had a few issues with the auto box and limp mode, but it seems to be getting better. It has only done 3000 miles in 9 years and I think being a daily gave it a shock. Lots of codes thrown up, but I changed the box oil and it has helped. It doesn't like steep hills for some reason, once a month or so it throws a wobbley, and logs a solenoid fault code. Total miles are on 125k. The pcv kit I'd like to do soon.
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Jun 10, 2017 17:00:54 GMT
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Wow - heated rear seats! That's one better than mine, spec wise. Auto box troubles usually come down to fluid condition and level or sticky solenoids from what I read when I owned my V70 auto. 850s tend to have the 4-speed auto with a better reputation than the later models so hopefully nothing major on yours. You probably already know, but there are various methods to change the auto box fluid, generally involving repeating the process a few times and driving in-between as you can't easily drain all the fluid at once. All the best.
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Last Edit: Jun 10, 2017 17:02:06 GMT by Stu
'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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