Volvo 850R Turbo Gauge Stuck, Loud Whiny Sound from Fan, and Other Problems

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J

JW

I have a 1996 Volvo 850R IPD Motronics upgrade and 114,000 miles. I have a
few problems that I would like to know if anyone has quick, simple, cheap
fixes to:

1) There's a high pitched whiny sound coming from the blower vent on the
right side when the fan is on in cold weather. Sometimes it goes away after
a while and sometimes it does not. There is no such sound coming from the
left side or the middle. Please don't tell me this is a "take off the dash"
project.

2) The turbo gauge has stopped working. The needle is stuck right in the
middle and never moves. However, from what I can tell, the turbo is working
just fine. Not worth spending hundreds to fix so anyone have this happen to
them and have an easy solution?

3) A/C cycling on, off, on, etc. The shop diagnosed and thinks there's a
small leak in the evaporator. Yes, dash needs to come off, will cost four
figures, etc. etc. etc. I could do the environmentally irresponsible thing
and just add more freon every year but is there another solution that won't
cost thousands and won't unnecessarily harm the environment?

4) Gas door lock does not lock. I was quoted a few hundred to fix it -- not
interested. I sprayed some WD40 in case it is ceased. No dice. Again, any
easy solutions?

5) Paint on top, trunk, and spoiler is peeling like a person who got
sunburned. It's getting very bad and the clearcoat is going first. Not
interested in a $2500 paint job. What inexpensive or self-fix alternatives
do I have?

Before someone asks... I'm not interested in "proper" fixes for all of these
problems because I have about 6-8 *more* problems like these and it would
cost $6000+ ($4000 for paint and A/C evaporator alone) to address all of
these problems "properly", and it's not worth it for me. Car drivetrain
still works beautifully so plan is just to maintain it meticulously (as I
always have) and just patch up problems until car is undriveable.

Thanks.

-JW
 
3) A/C cycling on, off, on, etc. The shop diagnosed and thinks there's a
small leak in the evaporator. Yes, dash needs to come off, will cost four
figures, etc. etc. etc. I could do the environmentally irresponsible thing
and just add more freon every year but is there another solution that
won't
cost thousands and won't unnecessarily harm the environment?
Click to expand...
Don't worry about ozone depletion - not only is the refrigerant in your car
designed to minimize ozone destruction, it was a false alarm to begin with.
See the end-of-mission statement for NASA's 1997 stratospheric study at
http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/polaris/polaris.ems.html for an explanation why
the ozone holes are a natural phenomenon caused by sunlight.

Mike
 
1) There's a high pitched whiny sound coming from the blower vent on the
right side when the fan is on in cold weather. Sometimes it goes away after
a while and sometimes it does not. There is no such sound coming from the
left side or the middle. Please don't tell me this is a "take off the dash"
project.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the blower motor needs replacing, not sure how hard this is on
an 850 but on the 700 and 900 series cars it's not bad.
2) The turbo gauge has stopped working. The needle is stuck right in the
middle and never moves. However, from what I can tell, the turbo is working
just fine. Not worth spending hundreds to fix so anyone have this happen to
them and have an easy solution?
Click to expand...

The hose has either popped off a fitting or split somewhere, chances are it
popped right off the back of the guage but there's probably a tee for the
overboost cutout under the dash somewhere or it could have come off the
intake manifold under the hood.

3) A/C cycling on, off, on, etc. The shop diagnosed and thinks there's a
small leak in the evaporator. Yes, dash needs to come off, will cost four
figures, etc. etc. etc. I could do the environmentally irresponsible thing
and just add more freon every year but is there another solution that won't
cost thousands and won't unnecessarily harm the environment?
Click to expand...

R134a is relatively environmentally safe so adding some isn't a big deal,
though a better solution would be to repair it. In this case I would
probably try some of that stop-leak stuff though it always worries me what
will happen if you later open the system up and stop-leak is all over,
perhaps it breaks down over time.
4) Gas door lock does not lock. I was quoted a few hundred to fix it -- not
interested. I sprayed some WD40 in case it is ceased. No dice. Again, any
easy solutions?
Click to expand...

Have you taken it apart to see how it works? It can't be particularly
complex.
5) Paint on top, trunk, and spoiler is peeling like a person who got
sunburned. It's getting very bad and the clearcoat is going first. Not
interested in a $2500 paint job. What inexpensive or self-fix alternatives
do I have?
Click to expand...

Paint job, this is one of the few areas where it's *not* worth it to try and
take shortcuts even if you're short of cash, any stop-gap measures will just
be a waste of time and money.
Before someone asks... I'm not interested in "proper" fixes for all of these
problems because I have about 6-8 *more* problems like these and it would
cost $6000+ ($4000 for paint and A/C evaporator alone) to address all of
these problems "properly", and it's not worth it for me. Car drivetrain
still works beautifully so plan is just to maintain it meticulously (as I
always have) and just patch up problems until car is undriveable.
Click to expand...

Most of the problems should be relatively easy to fix yourself, the paint is
the only big one.
 
Turbo gauge; Sounds like a vacuum hose is off somewhere. Look under the hood
for vacuum hose going through the firewall. That will be the turbo gauge
hose. Trace it back to where it starts in the engine bay and see if there's
a hose off or a rip somewhere in it. If no disconnect or rip is found under
there, pull the instrument cluster out from the dash (not scary, probably
two screws holding it in) and look on the back of the turbo gauge. Reattach
it if it's off. Done.

Can't help you with the other stuff, since you don't want to spend money.
Paint is paint, AC is AC, etc. All of those are typical 850 problems.

A final note, this is only one man's opinion.

cheers

RS
 
JW said:
I have a 1996 Volvo 850R IPD Motronics upgrade and 114,000 miles. I have a
few problems that I would like to know if anyone has quick, simple, cheap
fixes to:

1) There's a high pitched whiny sound coming from the blower vent on the
right side when the fan is on in cold weather. Sometimes it goes away after
a while and sometimes it does not. There is no such sound coming from the
left side or the middle. Please don't tell me this is a "take off the dash"
project.

2) The turbo gauge has stopped working. The needle is stuck right in the
middle and never moves. However, from what I can tell, the turbo is working
just fine. Not worth spending hundreds to fix so anyone have this happen to
them and have an easy solution?

3) A/C cycling on, off, on, etc. The shop diagnosed and thinks there's a
small leak in the evaporator. Yes, dash needs to come off, will cost four
figures, etc. etc. etc. I could do the environmentally irresponsible thing
and just add more freon every year but is there another solution that won't
cost thousands and won't unnecessarily harm the environment?

4) Gas door lock does not lock. I was quoted a few hundred to fix it -- not
interested. I sprayed some WD40 in case it is ceased. No dice. Again, any
easy solutions?

5) Paint on top, trunk, and spoiler is peeling like a person who got
sunburned. It's getting very bad and the clearcoat is going first. Not
interested in a $2500 paint job. What inexpensive or self-fix alternatives
do I have?

Before someone asks... I'm not interested in "proper" fixes for all of these
problems because I have about 6-8 *more* problems like these and it would
cost $6000+ ($4000 for paint and A/C evaporator alone) to address all of
these problems "properly", and it's not worth it for me. Car drivetrain
still works beautifully so plan is just to maintain it meticulously (as I
always have) and just patch up problems until car is undriveable.

Thanks.

-JW
Click to expand...
Hi,

I have a 1966 850 (non-turbo) and had the same problem with the A/C, almost
3 years ago and dreaed the "leak in the evaporator" too, but I had it
re-gassed and its still going fine. As I bought it second hand in 2000, I
don't know but I suspect the A/C had never been serviced, as there was
nothing in its service record. So perhaps a small leak isn't worth fixing,
and maybe that amount of leakeage is even normal.

Has yours ever been re-gassed or serviced before? If not, it's probably
about time, and it that case your leakage could be less than mine.

It's also often recommended that the pollen filter be fitted if your model
doesn't have one (you can buy the adapter and filter from Volvo and easily
fit it yourself) to prevent build up of air-borne crud in the evaporator
core, and prolong its life.

Regards
Barry
 
Baz said:
Hi,

I have a 1966 850 (non-turbo) and had the same problem with the A/C, almost
3 years ago and dreaed the "leak in the evaporator" too, but I had it
re-gassed and its still going fine. As I bought it second hand in 2000, I
don't know but I suspect the A/C had never been serviced, as there was
nothing in its service record. So perhaps a small leak isn't worth fixing,
and maybe that amount of leakeage is even normal.

Has yours ever been re-gassed or serviced before? If not, it's probably
about time, and it that case your leakage could be less than mine.
Click to expand...

It's been serviced before.

Does your A/C cycle any more or does the clutch stay engaged all the time?
It's also often recommended that the pollen filter be fitted if your model
doesn't have one (you can buy the adapter and filter from Volvo and easily
fit it yourself) to prevent build up of air-borne crud in the evaporator
core, and prolong its life.
Click to expand...

It was fitted a few years ago, probably around 2000-2001.

Thanks.
 
James Sweet said:
Sounds like the blower motor needs replacing, not sure how hard this is on
an 850 but on the 700 and 900 series cars it's not bad.
Click to expand...

It's easier on the 850:
1. Open the glove box.
2. Remove the screws in the glove box frame.
3. Remove the glove box.
4. Now you can figure the rest out your self!

/Erik Lidén
 
JW said:
have (as

It's been serviced before.

Does your A/C cycle any more or does the clutch stay engaged all the time?


It was fitted a few years ago, probably around 2000-2001.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
The A/C was "short cycling" prior to regassing and that fixed it.

It is still running ok, and the compressor cuts in and out, timing depending
on the heat load. Usually several minutes between on and off cycles.

Mine is the "manual" not climate control A/C. When short of gas, cycling
was less than 10 seconds, and it wasn't cooling as well as before. With the
"clutch controlled orifice device" (CCOD) type of A/C (from memory that's
what they call them) short cycling is a symptom of low gas.

Just for your information the guy who serviced it (I've known him for many
years) said the system capacity was 790grams of R134a, and he weighed it as
it was re-charged. He had a neat device like a set of bathroom scales,
through which the refrigerant line from the gas bottle passed, to the car.
The bottle (20kg?) sat on the "scales". He dialed in the weight of gas he
wanted to put in the car, zeroed the "scales" and turned on the gas, ran the
motor etc. When the correct weight loss had occurred in the gas bottle a
beeper went off and the "scales" shut a valve in the gas line. Neat!

Weighing the charge was necessary as there is no direct access to the high
pressure side of the system.

And even if you do have a slow leak (a couple of years say), it'll take a
lot of recharges before you reach the cost of an evaporator replacement. By
the way, my serviceman's comment was the Volvo was no worse than many other
types of cars for difficulty with evaporator replacement - they all build
the car around the air conditioner.

Regards
Barry
 
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