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Few questions about volvo850i

Hi, please forgive me for my english, I hope that I described the problems clear enough to understand.

I have volvo 850(injection 10v) from 1995 and has automatic transmission, with 161000 km on the odometer. The car drive very nice and I'm enjoining it. However there are few problems and I would like to know what you think about it.

1- When the car is cold (specially in the morning) the gear light (an arrow pointing up) on the dashbord lights up for half a second when I change the gear from 'P' to 'R' and vice versa. This problem started only few weeks ago. Does anybody know why is this happening? could it be something that will lead to major problems in the near future?

2- The car is very slow at low RPM. When I change from mode 'Economy' to 'Sport' I notice an improvement in performance but I still need to reach high RPM (above 2000) in order to flow in the traffick at a similar speed as the other cars. Is this normal for volvo850 or is it only my car behaving like this?

3- I hear a sound of metal to metal (sounds like: 'Grrrrrr') that last for a half second only when transmission is changing from 2 to 3 (in other words it happens at speed 40 to 60 kph). I hear the sound only when you drive after the engin has been stopped. It happens only once and does not happen thereafter no matter how often you stop or drive as long as the engin is not turned off. What is that sound? the volvo dealer advised me to change the tranny!!!!

4- The engin consumes about half a liter oil every 5000 km. Is this normal or should I be worried? volvo dealer advised me to change motor!!!!! so, is there any measurment I should take to help this?

Thanks in advance. Husam Alwan

Reply to
Husam
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This is not normal. I had a '93 with 180,000 mi. and have a '95 with

120,000 mi. On the '93, when the gear light started flashing, the transmission died very soon. My '95 is still running strong.

Is the acceleration as poor as when in the 'W' winter mode? If so, it sounds like the transmission has serious problems. When it goes into the cripple mode, it acts the same as when in the 'W' mode.

Not normal.

I have never had to add any oil in 10,000 mi (16,000 km) on either car. The oil consumption could be an oil seal. I have replaced two seals which I caught when they first started leaking.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

Have your transmission checked out. This could be the first sign of a transmission about to go.

No, this is not normal. But another sign of a bad transmission.

I don't understand point "3". How do you drive with the engine turned off? Do you put into neutral and coast? In any case, a "Grrrrrr" sounds ominous.

Not normal, but probably not too difficult to fix. Most likely will not need a new engine.

Reply to
Bev A. Kupf

transmission,

If your car is the 2.0 10v than this is normal, this engine is underpowered If your car is the 2.5 10v then this is not normal.

Wrong! This is the ABS module doing a self test, it is normal! (it is annoying though!)

Agreed, my 850 uses no oil.

Reply to
Me

It is normal, but i think it's meant to kick in at 30km/h - if it doesn't kick in till 40-60, you may have a problem somewhere (though if there's a fault, the ABS warning light should come on after this test). If the Volvo dealer said you should change the tranny as a result of this sound, get a new dealer... if they recommended that because of the other points in your post, they might have a point....

Mark

Reply to
Mark Seeley

transmission,

My gear light flash only ones for less than a second and it stops flashing thereafter. According to my volvo manual, you need to go to volvo garage only when the light flash continuosly. Do you think that statained flashing is as bad as flashing ones?

I would like to explain this issue ones again. What I meant with the car is slow is that the acceleration from 0 to 50 kph. So, for my car in order to catch up with the other cars that start to accelerate in front of me I need to reach 2000 rpm or 2500 rpm. This high rpm consumes alot of fuel. For example city driving with my car which is 2.5 l consumes 15.1 liters per 100 km. In Holland we pay 1.5 USD per liter. Any way, I tried the 'W' winter mode yeasterday. The car was very slow in this mode (about 5 times slower than in 'E' mode).

My car has does not leak oil underneath. May be the engine is getting bad?

Reply to
Husam

Me schreef in berichtnieuws bri9e2$s3$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com...

underpowered

My car is the 2.5 10v. I explained this issue in more details in my answer to Stephen.

So why my car is consuming oil? what should I do?

Reply to
Husam

Mark Seeley schreef in berichtnieuws brikiq$k8c$1$ snipped-for-privacy@news.demon.co.uk...

The dealer advised to change tranny only on the basis of that sound. So, I think I'm going to change the Volvo dealer.

Reply to
Husam

Bev A. Kupf schreef in berichtnieuws snipped-for-privacy@myhome.net...

How should I fix this problem?

Reply to
Husam

I would start by finding out where the leak is.

Reply to
Bev A. Kupf

I have my dealer service my 850s. When I had oil leaks, the dealer found them and fixed them under warranty. They were both oil seals, not gaskets.

First you need to find out if it is consumption or a leak. Some consumption is accompanied by dark smoke after going down hill or slowing down on compression. This indicates major engine wear and is rather expensive to fix. Usually oil is much cheaper.

If it is a leak from a gasket, it is cheap to fix once you locate it. If it is a seal, then the cost of repair varies considerably depending upon which seal. I would have a good dealer give you an estimate.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

Most cars don't have much power below 2000 rpm. The other cars are probably turning 2500 to 3000 while accelerating. If you accelerate quickly up to cruising speed, no matter what the rpm, you won't use much fuel if you then immediately shift to your highest gear and maintain a steady speed. I usually accelerate about as fast as my car will go with the automatic in econo mode and get fantastic fuel mileage.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

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