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I have a 1996 Volvo 850. It runs well, but the engine is 20 years old and I am concerned it may not last forever. The coolant is brownish, so I am afraid there might be a cross-contamination between the crankcase and the coolant channels. Also, some parts for this vehicle are being discontinued.

How viable would it be to replace the engine of a vehicle like this? It is currently a 4-speed and ideally I would like to upgrade it to a 5-speed turbo. Can I replace the engine with a non-Volvo engine, or do I need to replace it with a closely compatible engine? Does anyone even make compatible engines? What if I get a wreck? For example, what if I find an old, wrecked Turbo 850; can I just salvage the engine out of that, or would that be a bad idea?

Cooter Davenport
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3 Answers3

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I had a volvo 240 estate and I fitted a Nissan TD23 engine with turbo into it.

Points to watch:

  1. Make sure you get the engine lined up correctly,
  2. Once the bell housing adaptor is sorted, go to AP Lockheed or equivalent and get the strongest clutch to fit both engine and box,
  3. Make sure the engine mounts are fabricated well : strength and weld quality,
  4. Use a fuel pump rated for the fuel: if you change from petrol to diesel then the petrol pump may not deliver sufficient fuel at higher engine speeds,

The brownish coolant : may just be old - when was it last changed? As for sourcing an old turbo 850 engine - the turbo will probably need replacing (a mate had an 850 T5 that he bought VERY cheap, used for a year then the turbo failed and that killed it).

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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Solar Mike
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Research the platform and find out what if anything else shares the same block, head, trans etc... you'll then know what intakes and maybe turbo setups are available, and the existing wiring harnesses and Ecu setups that can be salvaged instead of painstakingly patched together and programmed from scratch. Usually if you're aiming for a significant performance upgrade plus a transmission and or drivetrain conversion your going to be modifying and reassembling the components your swapping in. So if you're desired motor shares the same block, and you will have to tear it down anyway, why not just buy the new head, and use your existing block with some aftermarket internals that will have zero miles on them and be far superior to any components included from the factory today, let alone those from more than 20 years ago.

Frenetic Skeptic
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The easiest approach is to buy a similar engine: anything from the same model range should fit without having to fabricate engine mounts etc, as listed by Solar Mike. These engines are generally very reliable.
If you keep your old transmission, it has to be strong enough to take the torque of the new one, I don't know if you can combine the automatic with a T-5 engine for example.

Hobbes
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