[Flat467]

Hello 850Swedespeeders,

Just yesterday evening I bought a '95 T-5R in yellow, and I would love to share the progession with you folks.

What's the history of this car?

• We'll know once I get a history report.

What's been done?
From what the seller told me, it is a combination of 2 T-5Rs...sad I know, but one was T-boned, and this one had a blown engine.
The seller was a tech at a Volvo dealer ship for a while, so he aquired both cars from a less mechanically inclined friend and pieced together what we have here.

• Complete Engine Swap
• New Seals, timing belt, water pump
• Seams to have IPD hoses throughout
• new brake pads and rotors all around (which is nice becuase I have never bought a car that didnt need a brake job)
• The dash and cluster was brought over from the T-boned car so the milage is said to match the cluster, 222,222k.
• I am realising I may not have listened as well as I hoped when he was going over everything...

From just searching the two VINs (one on the body, T-bone on the Dash), they both come from T-5Rs. Body is estimated to have 300k on it and the engine 230k, or so says a vehiclehistory.com...Again, we'll wait for the car fax.

What I've done?

Not a thing...yet

My Plan For The Future
So I should start out by saying this car was purchased out of a Jeep fund I saved up this summer. So I kinda blew my carfund on getting it, and now it is going to take sometime until I can do big things.

• First, it is going straight to the mech. to have a check up and make sure everything is mechanically sound. Not that I don't trust the seller, but everyone likes their own doctor better, right?
• Second, I don't plan on daily driving this guy. I have a '87 240 for daily, so this car is going to remain in the garage for Fridays, weekends, special occasions, etc.
• Once it is mechanically sound, then I hope to just maintaine the vehicle in a relatively stock set up.
• From there I'll move on to cosmetic details to bring it back to it's original 1995 beauty. (Got to loose the fo-carbon fiber vinyl for sure)

PICTURES

 

[sventastic]

Looks very nice! Let's hope everything checks out alright with the mechanic!

 

[ckmack]

Let me know VINs and I can get you the carfax(s)

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

That looks pretty complete and decent! Nice find!

 

[CYB3RBYTE]

Wow, that interior looks immaculate! Stellar find!

 

[Flat467]

Let me know VINs and I can get you the carfax(s)

PM sent! Thank you so much!


Thanks guys, I'm really happy with it. Found it in the neighboring county, I rushed the buying process because I was nervous one of you guys would pick it up first haha

 

[Wayne T5]

Looks great - congrats!

 

[Flat467]

HISTORY

So the car is a combination of 2 T-5Rs. The body is one, the engine/cluster/dash and probably a handful of other parts (we'll refer to this as 'T-Bone' because that was the eventually death of it) are from another.

THE BODY

• 03/02/1995 - Exported from Belgium and Imported to Newark, NJ
• 07/05/1995 - 21 - First Owner in Georgetown, MA home of the Erie Fire Company, oldest fire company in America (thanks wiki-p)
• 02/11/2002 - 60k - Second Owner in North Easton, MA
• Someone/family puts 10k-20k miles on it per year for the next 8 years, also passes inspection every year.
• 03/19/2010 - 204k - Third or Fifth own, depending on the family theory...in Virginia Beach, VA
• 03/31/2010 - 211k - I'm loosing owner count, Fourth or Sixth - York, PA
• 09/18/2010 - ~214k - Accident in York
• 10/09/2012 - ~230k - Car (and owner i guess) move to Red Lion, PA. That's in York county for you out of towners.
• 12/31/2012 - ~233k - Another Accident?! On New Years Eve, hell of a way to ring in the new year.
• 02/12/2014 - ~245k - Another accident...I'm gonna say it, even if they're on here, owner 3/5 was, and probably still is, a bad driver.
• 10/03/2014 - Another owner for a year in York, PA - this has got to be where the engine blows and then gets past around as a project.
• 05/14/2016 - Another owner for a year in Dover, PA.
• 07/28/2017 - Owner that sold it to me takes possession on Dillsburg, PA.

The T-Bone

• 04/13/1995 - Exported from Belgium and Imported to Newark, NJ
• 07/11/1995 - First Owner - Princeton, NJ.
• 01/2000 - 01/2004 - this guy takes it in to Volvo of Princeton for ever major service up to 120k service! Thank god I have this engine..
• 03/02/2004 - 121k - Accident in PA..go figure.
• 04/09/2004 - Second Owner - Junk title - Conshohocken, PA. That's out near Philly for the out of staters.
• 05/06/2004 - Vehicle Scrapped - report crushed?! Anyone got any insight into what comes next...
• 01/30/2012 - 193k - Owner 3 - Rebuilt title issued in York, PA.
• 07/27/2013 - 204k - Owner 4 - Dover, PA
• 04/08/2016 - Total Loss - accident involving left side impact with another vehicle.
• 04/22/2016 - 222,100k Salvage title issued

So that's what the carfax had to say.

 

[ZZZZZZZ]

That's so interesting that they were both in the same area. Wonder if the owners knew about or knew each other.
Yes, thank goodness you ended up with the correct motor, and damn the tboner, as that was overall probably the better car.

HISTORY

So the car is a combination of 2 T-5Rs. The body is one, the engine/cluster/dash and probably a handful of other parts (we'll refer to this as 'T-Bone' because that was the eventually death of it) are from another.

THE BODY

• 03/02/1995 - Exported from Belgium and Imported to Newark, NJ
• 07/05/1995 - 21 - First Owner in Georgetown, MA home of the Erie Fire Company, oldest fire company in America (thanks wiki-p)
• 02/11/2002 - 60k - Second Owner in North Easton, MA
• Someone/family puts 10k-20k miles on it per year for the next 8 years, also passes inspection every year.
• 03/19/2010 - 204k - Third or Fifth own, depending on the family theory...in Virginia Beach, VA
• 03/31/2010 - 211k - I'm loosing owner count, Fourth or Sixth - York, PA
• 09/18/2010 - ~214k - Accident in York
• 10/09/2012 - ~230k - Car (and owner i guess) move to Red Lion, PA. That's in York county for you out of towners.
• 12/31/2012 - ~233k - Another Accident?! On New Years Eve, hell of a way to ring in the new year.
• 02/12/2014 - ~245k - Another accident...I'm gonna say it, even if they're on here, owner 3/5 was, and probably still is, a bad driver.
• 10/03/2014 - Another owner for a year in York, PA - this has got to be where the engine blows and then gets past around as a project.
• 05/14/2016 - Another owner for a year in Dover, PA.
• 07/28/2017 - Owner that sold it to me takes possession on Dillsburg, PA.

The T-Bone

• 04/13/1995 - Exported from Belgium and Imported to Newark, NJ
• 07/11/1995 - First Owner - Princeton, NJ.
• 01/2000 - 01/2004 - this guy takes it in to Volvo of Princeton for ever major service up to 120k service! Thank god I have this engine..
• 03/02/2004 - 121k - Accident in PA..go figure.
• 04/09/2004 - Second Owner - Junk title - Conshohocken, PA. That's out near Philly for the out of staters.
• 05/06/2004 - Vehicle Scrapped - report crushed?! Anyone got any insight into what comes next...
• 01/30/2012 - 193k - Owner 3 - Rebuilt title issued in York, PA.
• 07/27/2013 - 204k - Owner 4 - Dover, PA
• 04/08/2016 - Total Loss - accident involving left side impact with another vehicle.
• 04/22/2016 - 222,100k Salvage title issued

So that's what the carfax had to say.

 

[Flat467]

The Mechanic Said..

• Parking Break is not holding.
• Left Wiper Blade is not contacting windshield properly due to bent arm.
• Upper Engine torque mount is heavily fatigued although still in tact.
• ABS/TRCS Lights are illuminated.
• CEL Bulb has been removed.
• Two Faults Stored: ECM-121 MAF sensor signal (intermittent signal too high), ECM-414 Boost Pressure regulation
• Both front brake hoses are cracked
• Turbo oil return line seal and gasket are leaking oil externally.
• Slight leak detected from front cam seals.
• Bolt is sheered off at left rear control arm

So all things considered, that's really not that bad IMO. Some fun little driveway projects, right?

The only things I need guidance on are the ABS/TRCS lights, and the CEL faults (my shop said 1995 doesn't have to worry about CEL, but I am not a fan of dash lights, bulb or no bulb.)

Anyone are to point me in the right direction?

 

[Wayne T5]

Pretty clean bill of health all things considered. The 1995 models have both the OBD2 connector in the console and the little doohickey thing under the hood front passenger side. You can download all of the codes and more particularly the ABS/TRACS codes there to narrow it down a bit. Could be a wheel sensor or something else like the brake boost pressure sensor, which was the problem with mine IIRC. A quick trip to the junkyard and I swapped out the sensor and it's been good since.

I would probably just erase the two ECM codes and see if they come back and fix the CEL bulb because I would want to know if something's not operating correctly and fault tracing these things is part of the reason why I own a 23 year old car, lol.

All of the driver side wiper arms need to be replaced at some point - I just did mine a few months ago.

Aside from the above, is the car running correctly, developing decent boost?

 

[Flat467]

Thanks for the advise Wayne T5. Is there any special reader/tool I need to read the codes from the 'doohickey under the hood front passenger side' or is it an OBDII read?

I did clear the codes, I'll probably replace the bulb this weekend and then see if they come back. Cross that bridge when we get there.

Aside from the stuff noted, the car runs greats. Engine idles and runs so smooth. Trans shifts smoothly. Perfect tracking so I am assuming there isn't an alignment issues, but I am doing to double check that. Suspension, and brakes for that matter, feels nice and firm (of course anything does compared to the ol' 240)

Holds around 5/6psi for the boost, is that low/high/just right?

 

[Wayne T5]

No special reader for the thing under the hood. Just plug the probe into the right spot and count the dots as they flash and pause - a Morse code of sorts. Really helps to have a helper writing the number of dots down whilst you read them and to have a Haines manual at the ready to decipher them.

That boost sounds light to me. The regular T5 is supposed to hold around 10 psi and the T-5R around 12 psi but I don't know if that includes the overboost functionality. Sounds like you might have a boost leak somewhere. No worries, they are sort of fun to track down and when you find the deteriorated rubber elbow or broken vacuum hose and fix it for $2 and instantly have more boost it's a wonderful thing.

 

[DrewsT5]

Congrats on the new addition. That is some interesting history you have on these cars. Lot's of owners. Let's hope you keep it longer than the previous owners did.

There have been moments where we all wish that CEL bulb would just burn out already. LOL. But it is a nice feeling when you can track all the issues down, reset the codes and not have the light come back on.

 

[JaredR]

[*]12/31/2012 - ~233k - Another Accident?! On New Years Eve

Why I don't drive on New Year's Eve/Day.

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses! Looks like you have a nice platform to start from.

 

[Flat467]

Well not the most productive weekend, but I did manage a trip to the junk yard.

I managed to open the broken glove box lock, thankfully someone already tried this and mangled the glove box for me so I only have to pull up on the lock and it came right open.
Bad news...no owners manual, booklet, or any T-5R goods in sight.

So I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled on the classifieds and eBay, maybe I'll get lucky.

I got some miscellaneous exterior trim pieces, but nothing worth showing. I forgot to get a rear mud flap and when I popped my hood, I found the intake hose to be missing?! May be a silly question, but would this lack of hose before the air box and MAF be causeing my MAF code?

Finally, I cleared out the garage and made space for yellow one to stay out of the elements. Right before backing it in I figured I might as well share a photo of the 240 with the 850.

 

[Wayne T5]

Hopefully someone on here has a spare glovebox door and fresh air snorkel to send your way. I kinda doubt that missing the air snorkel is causing your MAF CEL but I don't really know.

 

[DrewsT5]

Also missing the TB cover. Looks like the screw is there, just not the cover. So, one more item to be on the lookout for.

I concur that I doubt that missing the air snorkel is causing your MAF CEL. Many people remove the box and slap on a cone filter for that awesome hot air intake effect. Your MAF could be on its way out, or perhaps just needs a cleaning.

 

[JaredR]

The missing airbox intake just makes a warm air intake. It is unrelated to any MAF issues since it's not part of the metered air system.

 

[Flat467]

So I havent really done any work on this for the past 3 weeks, but I am planning on painting the plastic bumper trim this week or next. Just a quick question.

There are a few color options for the plastic bumper trims. I'm wondering which one is closer to stock, a black or the dark grey? I don't have any samples at the moment, but I have seen a bunch of photos of other 850's some black some grey.

As you can see below, my rear bumper must have been painted all yellow at one point and then black on the top trim.