I'm doing a timing belt on a '90 240 with 130K on it. It is the sweetest running 240 I have or ever had. I wish I knew what combination of things make it that way. Anyway, being a little anal, I planned on changing the front engine oil seals while I was in there. But, the engine is bone dry and the front seals have not leaked a drop of oil, so I hesitate to screw with a good thing.

Would I be foolish to count on the original seals for another 60 Kmi.?

Thanks one and all,
Rich
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No trace leaks, leave them!

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

I'm well enough tooled-up and I am old enough to have made most mistakes at least once before, so changing the seals is no big deal. The wisdom offered up helped me decide which way to go, but the deal breaker was when I got out a new set of Elring seals only to find those horrific words on their packaging - made in R.O.C.! Whenever I squirrelled them away, I must have been blinded by the Elring logo and not given the country of origin any thought. As Dan said, if they aren't leaking, why change them? And, I sure as hell would rather take a chance on dry, Volvo seals than some unknown quantity.

A sad fact of life is that the parts in the blue and white boxes are worth the money.

Thanks for all your help,

Rich
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If it's not leaking I would wait until the next belt change. Dan

Do you feel competent to change the seals? Have you already pulled off the gears (pulleys), which IMHO was always the hardest part* of the job? Do you have the picks? Do you know how to properly position (how deep to place) the replacement seals?

If yes on all counts, I don't see why you shouldn't. I just did them on one of my '93 240s with about the same mileage. Like yours, they were bone dry, but I just know that because I had all the gears (pulleys) of the timing belt off, it was the best opportunity to do the job. It will have to be done eventually, so why not now? And, I've learned that the material in the new seals is superior to the original ones, so they should last even longer.

[ * As I wrote above, IMHO I've found pulling off the pulleys (gears) is always the hardest part -- they're so closely fitted, they always resist coming off. I always put them back on with some thin coating of antiseize, but the first time (on a newly acquired car), it takes some tapping, pulling, tapping, ad infinitum.
One of these days, I'm going to invest in a good (three-arm) gear-puller -- the kind with thin fingers to get behind the pulleys no matter how close they lie to the seal carrier/block -- but I'm always relieved when I'm past this anxious step. Everthing else is easy!]

Hi Ken,

Doing yet another B230 timing belt yesterday, I found your comment about getting the gears loose strange. I've never had to do more than pull with fingers, perhaps doing a bit of rocking at opposite ends of the clock while pulling, but definitely never any tools. Do you find rust underneath?

To me the most time consuming part of the job is cleaning, and the part where you have to be most careful is while removing the seal without scratching anything.

By the way, I have left dry seals alone in the past. I'm sure there were many factors in the decision, including what else I wanted to accomplish that day.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Before I got married, I had six theories about bringing up children.
Now I have six children and no theories. (John Wilmot)

Art:

Our 89 and 90 244s were a BEAR to get the pullys off of the first time. The 92 245 was just a matter of removing the bolts and grasping the pullys. In all three cases, I saw no rust on the shafts or pully journals.

Just another reference point.

jorrell
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89 244 171K miles, 92 245 236K miles, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup

Thanks, because of your and Ken's experience I'll not be surprised when that happens to me.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

A plateau is a high form of flattery.