Update: I found out that the owner says he had started the car about 3 weeks before I bought it. It ran but smoked alot. This is not surprising after what I find below...

Last weekend I tore into the engine. First impressions after opening the hood were bad. There was dirt/oil/leaves everywhere. The battery area was full of crap. This all was solved with a leaf blower. After that I took off the bottom tray and cleaned a bit.

As far as the condition of the hoses and such... all were amazingly good. Based on the hoses and the aux belts it looked like it had had service within the last 20,000 miles.

After taking off the air box, the afm, and the throttle body I find clue #1- oil residue in the throttle body. Not just a bit, but a considerable amount.

Fuel rail and I spot issue #2- the number 3 cylinder's injector wire was ripped out of it's plug. Well... that is one reason why the car wouldn't run right..

Then the intake came off. I have never seen the inside of one of these intakes off a car, but this was was black as hell, all the way up to the throttle body. Maybe this is normal?

All bolts came out great except a fuel rail bolt, broke it off with a little sticking out (after this happened, I PB Blaster'ed everything I'd be turning on...). That sucks, since the fuel rail is definitely something that needs to be held down tight. Oh well, plenty of time to fix it later.


Then come the moment of truth- the belt covers. Are there teeth missing? Is it off time? Are there belts at all????

...well to my surprise yes they were there and they were great. In fact, damn looked brand new. No wear whatsoever, and tension, based off the good ole twist n feel... seemed in the OK range. The thing that worried me is the amount of oily residue inside the covers. There was a lot. I mean, enough to blacken a large rag alot. I couldn't tell where the oil had been coming from, I need to get the radiator/fans out to see better. The cam gear itself had tons of dried oil even built up inside it's dish.



So that is where I stopped as I didn't have a socket big enough to turn the engine to TDC before I took the cam tower off. I took lots of pictures but unfortunately forgot my camera. The car and engine sure did look good after a little cleaning though....

more to come soon!

I was thinking last night about how well I've gotten to know the 944-series mechanically, and whether it wouldn't be easier and cheaper for me to just buy an early 944 or a 924S to use as my winter/bad weather car and keep my 951 pristine. The Volvo has served me well so far, but my lack of knowledge about Volvos is glaring every time something goes wrong; with a 924S... well, let's just say I would have no qualms with tearing apart the engine for a cam tower gasket or head gasket repair. After my winter with the 951 (and the previous 5 or 6 years with 944s and 951s), I have gotten to know these cars well.

A set of rear snow tires, and I bet a 924S or 944NA would be fine in the winter...

You can pick up a great running and well cared for 924S for amazing prices right now (although according to Excellence mag the prices are rising fast.) Anywheres from 4000-5000 for a perfectly good daily driver. A good $1000 less than a comparable 944 I would say.

I wish I had more time to pay attention to my red 924S which is still under it's cover. I hope to bring it out for the summer in the next two to three weeks. I have been moving into a new house which has proven to be absolutely crazy times lately. Yesterday I spent two hours trying to fix a friend's lawnmower I borrowed after I blew it up mowing our neglected yard... and tonight we had about 20 people (ladies) over for a party which just now ended .... as you can see by my post time... at 4:45AM.


So yea... so much do do and so little time.. But I love these cars and have actually found it 'fun' to work on them.