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Make sure your tires are up to pressure - the cold weather reduces pressure.
On your trip, you should check your oil more often - steady driving at speed can use oil more than normal.
Considering your car's age and mileage, your timing belt could be quite old - even if the belt were to break and not do engine damage, you could be passing a big truck at the time.
I do not know what your owner's manual says about the time the belt is good, 850s have a 70k or 7 years - I'll bet that your belt may be on borrowed time.
The Rockies can be a tough test.
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Why don't you just tell him to slit his wrists now and get it over with huh?
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That's a bit extreme, I thought what he had to say was pretty much right on. The belt is 50-60k, so maybe it is time to do it before the trip.
The leaks, I'd start with cleaning the flame trap. Clogged, it'll create pressure in the block that will blow oil past the seals.
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I agree that the flame trap should be cleaned to minimize oil loss on the trip. With a clean flame trap there should be a little suction on the oil cap with the engine idling when you gently hold the oil cap over its hole.
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Yes, overreacting a little aren't we?
As long the t-belt is free of oil it can last a lot longer than the 50k interval. FWIW - I sold my 240 @300k miles. The t-belt was last changed at 202k. About 7 years previously. Belt still looked good when I checked it before selling it..
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Ha. Yes, Scorron, I do do all of those things already. Tranny fluid is good. I recently added 3/4 Lucas tranny fluid (it seems like a good product; hopefully, I didn't just squeeze away my money). The tranny is feeling good.
I did recently drain the power steering fluid from the banjo bolt; it was a messy process and after some more reading on this site, I opted to finish the process with the cutting edge turkey baster technique. The steering is feeling easier (it was very stiff in cold conditions). Once I get the fluid back to red, similarly, I was going to add some Lucas power steering fluid. I threw a magnet (rather, carefully tied it to a string) for good measure. I wonder if that oil by the column could've been fluid migration from when I drained from the banjo bolt. I'll clean it off with tough (do they actually spell it tuff) stuff and see if it returns.
I checked the timing belt. Written on the TB cover is 60,000 miles, but I wonder if it was done a second time because the belt seems to be in good condition. I did purchase a timing belt and seals (I needed to somehow get my order of retaining pins over $50 for free shipping).
That's good news about the hose. One less thing to worry about.
Finally, freed the bolts on the fuel filter and replaced that. There was a pair of rubber belt clamps in the clearance bin of advanced auto, and I used that to free the back bolt and then slid on an oil clamp to get off the front clamp (albeit with a longer torque wrench I have and a lot of elbow grease and PB Blaster).
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Hi Jimmy,
I think Scorron covered it pretty well. The foil hose just brings warm air during startup and cool weather from the exhaust manifold "stove" into the air filter box so the car warms up quicker.
It's required for California and other states which perform a "visual" emissions inspection under the hood, and your car isn't old enough yet for a 25-year exemption (if that's done in your state as it is in mine.)
The hose can be replaced, removed, patched with aluminum tape, or ignored, without worry about performance. You MAY have to fix it, as stated for emissions compliance, which is silly.
Your oil leaks should be identified and addressed. A good cleaning at a self-serve car wash, preceded by a thorough spraying of Castrol Super Clean, should get rid of the grime.
Power steering leaks are common but can be slowed down or stopped by addition of a power steering "fix" oil. Check product labels for one that's designed to help renew seals. I had good luck with that in my 89, with nearly 300k miles.
If the mess is from engine oil leaks, plan on a timing belt- water pump - front seals replacement job. You can do it with instructions from here, or a shop can for (my guess) under $300, especially if they're willing to let you source the parts. (FCP sells the water pump for about $50, and the belt/seal kit for about $20).
Good luck with your 240!
--Rob
--
89 244GL Turbo // 92 244 M47 \\ 90 745T // 76 242 Convertible
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You can take off the aluminum hose without ill effect - it's the airbox preheat hose, and you will find lots of information and differing opinion on this forum as to whether the system should be removed or repaired: do not worry about it.
The oil you show in your picture is normal b230f oiliness, probably minor blowby from the seals, the pan gasket, and any number of other sources. Just keep it topped up and monitor the oil levels - until it leaks more than a quart or two between oil changes, you probably don't have an actual problem, just typical leakiness.
Check your power steering fluid. The oil on the rack could be from the rack itself. Top up with ATF. Check your tranny fluid while you're at it - don't you already do all these things?
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