Ford F-250 Pickup & Volvo 850

1990 Ford F-250 Pickup and a 1996 Volvo 850 GLT

May 19, 2007

A Ford F-250 pickup that has "grabby" brakes, and a Volvo 850 GLT that won't start.

Question: 1990 Ford F-250 Pickup

1990 Ford F-250 Pickup. 5.8 liter V-8 and 5 speed transmission. The right rear wheel locks up intermittently -- it's more frequent in wet weather conditions (less friction between tire and road surface). During hard braking, the RABS releases the brake pressure almost completely for longer durations than what would seem normal. It's now at the point where there is almost no stopping power under hard braking and rear wheel lock up under minor braking conditions.

I've noticed the RABS warning light on the dash once or twice but the majority of times it doesn't come on.

Affected Vehicles:

ISSUE:

The rear brakes may "grab" in the morning and/or after the vehicle sits for a long period of time. This condition may especially occur in cool and damp weather conditions. High humidity increases the friction of the brake linings.

ACTION:

Replace the existing rear brake linings with new brake linings that are less sensitive to humidity/temperature conditions. Refer to the following service procedure.

Part Number

Part Name

Class

Question: 1996 Volvo 850 GLT

Dear Sir: I just purchased a 1996 Volvo 850 GTL that gave no indication of problems until the very next day after purchase. The problem is that the car will not start at times and after a while it will start. And sometimes the dash light points to the battery, which I replaced with a new one (goes off after restart). Also when it is in this mode, the transmission will not shift properly, but when these conditions are not present the car runs fine. Please can you help me?

Answer: When you say it won't start, do you mean the engine cranks but not start? Or the engine doesn't crank at all but there is power to the dash, horn, lights? Or there is no power at all? There is a distinct difference and troubleshooting depends on which condition it is.

Since this is an intermittent condition, troubleshooting will be difficult at best. The only time we can troubleshoot this problem is when the problem manifests itself. At any other time everything will check out good. Volvos have always had problems with electrical connections so the first thing to do is check each and every connector. Make sure they are clean and tight. If any of the connector locks are broken the connectors can be secured with small wire ties.

After that get 3 pieces of fairly heavy wire and solder some eye terminals on one end. Take one and attach it to the engine block, the transmission and firewall. Gather the ends and solder them together in an eye connector and attach to the negative battery terminal. What you have done is run an independent ground system to eliminate the possibility of a bad ground somewhere.

With more details I can probably offer more specific possibilities and suggestions

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