*** 960 - blown engine

Hi Folks,

Well to make a long story short, I've got a 1993 Volvo 960 sedan
w/approx 80K miles on it (yea I know I don't drive much) with a blown
engine. One of the cylinders is heavily gouged.

My shop is quoting around 3200 to replace the engine.

If you were in this situation, which option do you think is best:

1) Replace the engine. I'll get a one year warrantee but most
probably an engine with a lot of miles on it. Am I just looking for
more trouble in a year?

2) Sell the car as is. Certainly not goin' get much for it. Maybe
some shop will buy it for parts or to repair/resell.

3) Give it to charity and take the tax write-off

The car is in good shape, physically, and if it had a new(ish) engine
I would keep it as a second car or maybe give it to a friend who needs
some wheels. As is, it is unusable.

So, if you were in this situation would you replace the engine or just
get rid of the car? Or, do you have any other ideas?

Thanks,
Zag

 

(zagat) wrote in @posting.google.com:

<snip options>

I'd probably sell it for parts, unless I was sentimentally
attached. If you could get a used or rebuilt engine installed
cheaper, then I'd be more tempted to keep it as a second car etc.
In this part of the country, I suspect you could pick up a running
960 (but with way more miles) for around 3000.

 

Depends, do you intend to keep the car long enough to get $3200 worth of use
out of it? Can you find a good used motor?

 

repair it.....3200 invested in another car only buys someone else's
problems. 3200 for a good Volvo is a winning proposition.

 

just get the parts/engine on eBay...i'll bet if you
are patient and "smart about it" ... you can get
it back on the road for < $1,000...(do the labor yourself).....

the 960 series is worth the $ to keep running...

 

If you don't mind my asking, how did it blow up - we've got a 960 and I
don't want ours to suffer the same fate, if at all possible. (it's a 1993 as
well... sorry, not selling the engine, ours has only 160K Kms on it)

Can they not rebuild the motor for cheaper? Bore out the cylinders etc.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I would be reluctant to buy another
person's used car, especially if it had "way more miles." If the car
could be put back into very good+ condition then I'd be tempted to
keep it. Otherwise I just might pop for a new car. My mechanic is
looking around for a good used engine and the cost might actually come
down a bit. Thanks again for your response.

Zag

 

Thanks for the response. I agree with you on buying someone else's problems.

Zag

 

If the car can be brought up to very good or better condition by the
engine replacement (ie, if there are no other major problems that need
to be fixed), then I would probably keep it for maybe another 4-5
years. My main concern is all the other things that will start going
wrong now. By the time I include all the upcoming scheduled
maintenance (90K soon)and all the other things that go wrong on an
older car (engine mounts, joints, suspension, aircon, etc, etc, etc),
I'm thinking that I can lease a new car for more than a year for what
I am likely to spend this year on a 12 year old car. Also, in 3-4
years I'd probably consider a hybrid.

Anyway, thanks for your response. I guess it all depends on how much
the repairs will actually cost.

Zag

 

If I had to guess I'd say he didn't replace the timing belt on time, if that
happens there's usually not much hope of rebuilding.

 

(zagat) wrote in

I sympathize, it's a tough decision. If it could be put on the
road for less $$$, then I'd keep driving it. Another option might
be to do a 5.0 Ford conversion. If it were my 960, and I didn't
worry about having to have it fixed ASAP so I could drive it to work
then I'd consider something like that. I think the company is
Converse that makes parts to help.

 

I spoke with my mechanic today and he said that the clips holding the
piston to the connecting rod had broken off. This evidently caused
large/deep gouges in the cylinder wall (from the piston hitting the
wall, I guess). He said he had never seen this happen before. He does
not think it is due to coolant leaking into the engine but can't really
give me a good explanation of how this occurred.

The sequence of events went something like this:
1) Noticed slow coolant leak. The resevoir tank would drop down to
the min position. No pools under the car, no clear indication that
coolant was leaking into either the engine or transmission. Heating
coil was not affected. Filled the resevoir tank and about 4 days later
noticed the same thing.

2) Took car to mechanic #1. He performed a pressure check and
replaced the thermostat/housing and sent me on my way.

3) 4-5 days later, the coolant light comes on and the resevoir is back
down to "min". I take it back to mechanic #1 and he does a pressure
test overnight and also does a compression test. He says that
everything is ok and there might be an air bubble in the coolant system
(which makes no sense to me). He tells me there is a chance that the
gasket has a small leak but it will cost over 2K to replace it. I
decide to take it to another shop to get a second opinion.

4) Next day, my wife is driving the car home and tells me that it is
shaking. I check it out and it is idling very rough. I have an
appointment to take it to another shop in a couple of days so I just
let the car sit in my driveway until then.

5) I take it to the other shop. They tell me that the first thing
they did was a compression test and there was no compression on cyl #5.
OK, that explains why the car is shaking. They open up the engine and
find that the cylinder has been gouged and the pins/clamps holding the
piston to the connector rod have failed. Again, they say that they
have never seen this and "it shouldn't happen."

6) Result is a new engine. Evidently the gouges are really deep and
cannot be machined out. I am going to the shop on Friday and see
exactly what they are talking about.

I don't think it was the timing belt as I am pretty careful about
having the scheduled maintenance and I believe that it was done not
that long aog. Anyway, the second mechanic checked that and didn't
note any problem there.

Well, that's my whole sad story and I hope can learn something by it.

-Zag

 

Yep, it kills me to spend that much on an old car. But I guess I can
get another 4-5 years out of it (my mechanic says it'll run for more
like 10). If nothing else I suppose I can sell it and get back most of
the money I am putting into it.

Well, maybe I'm just paying off some karma from a prevoius life.

-Zag

 

I'll take that bet!!!

Seriously, I do not have the tools, the time, or the talent to swap out
an engine. This would be soooo far beyond anything that I am capable
of doing.

-Zag

 

Not sure if this engine uses Circlips on the gugeon pins to hold them
central in the piston, but whichever, sounds like either the circlips came
out or the gugeon pins tried to come out- and were then in contact with the
cylinder wall as the piston went up and down thus scoring it and eventually
scoring it sufficiently deep to get into the water jacket.

Tim,,.

 

Sorry to hear... Guess nothing could have been done, really... Could have
flatbedded the car at the first hint of trouble, but who actually does that
(i'd have risked driving it to the shop too most likely).

 

It was probably just a fluke, either the clip was defective or it wasn't
properly installed at the factory, not much you could do to cause that.

 

If you put a new engine in it you practically have a new car aside from the
cosmetic stuff.

 

If you like the car and it's been trouble free, replace the engine and
drive on. Just note that you'll soon have to start replacing suspension
components (mainly bushings, shocks and struts) and other high mileage
wear items. BUT... the car will last forever with care and, considering
your aversion to buying a used 960, irreplaceable. However, note that I
just purchased a creampuff 1996 960 wagon (70k miles, one owner with
records) for $6400 and there are several on ebay right now.

Goodluck!