My 1994 960 wagon with 72500 mi has developed and engine shake condition. The shake is noticable while seated in the car. The engine shakes at idle but seems to run fine while underway. Opened the hood tonight and sure enough it was rocking away. The condition cropped up just in the past few weeks and prior to this I was amazed at how little the engine shook. I added a can of concentrated fuel injector cleaner last week but it has not burned that whole tank of gas yet.
The plugs were changed at 30 and 60K.
The O2 sensor has not been changed.
Without bringing this to my dealership (which I no longer trust) does anyone have any recommendations on how to diagnose the source of this problem?
Thank you in advance for any help. Is there a device available to consumers for retrieving engine codes? Sevice engine light has not come on.
Jim
jh2000@attbi.com

Those symptoms perfectly match the ones my car had when the intake manifold gasket went. (Red gasket with the leak at lower front of number 1 cylinder. New gasket from Volvo was silvery-green.) About an 8 hr DIY job if you've never done it before. Get a copy of the Volvo engine manual.

In addition to the gasket, you'll want a set of injector seals and those clamps that hold the rubbet hoses between the inner and outer manifolds. You'll only need to take off one end of the hoses. (I was able to salvage most of the clamps so I now have some spares in my "box".) The biggest PITA is the nut at the bottom of the of the outer manifold which you have to remove in order to get to the inner one.

BTW, diagnose the problem before you just dive in! A piece of tubing held to your ear with the other end held near the #1 port should get you some "sucking" sound. I made an adapter to fit in the rubber boot to put about 5 psi of air pressure n the system to find mine but I have an air compressor and a requlator. (Don't put more than 4 or 5 psi in it.)
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 95K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

I used a different method. If you spray carbuerator cleaner it will plug the hole up and stop the shaking for a few seconds. That is one other way to proove that it is the intake manifold gasket.

There is a post on the Volvo UK site about this, that has 27 responses and the person still has the problem. One area to check is the connections to the power paks on the plugs. I had alot of problems with the conncectors. When the engine would shake then almost always have the problem with one of the connectors to the coil paks. A dirty plug will also cause this. How did the plugs look like at 60K? A burned valve will also produce a shake at idle but not necessarily show up as the revs increase. You don't want a valve problem, lots of $$$ to fix if you can't DIY.

I also think the same intake gasket.
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1996 964 130,100

I thought they were all fixed by now. You could have a leak in the intake manifold gasket, these engines originally came with a red color gasket, this was so common didn't think any more were left, check and see if yours is the old red gasket or the new updated green gasket. They usually leaked around the #1 cylinder. If its red it is about time for it to fail. Mine drove several hundred miles with the miss before the check engine lit up.


DanR 94 964 204k miles
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DanR

Get the timing belt changed pronto, unless you already have.
See the FAQ about the Abe Crombie tuneup. (960 section)
Report back.
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Warren Bain - '86 744Ti M46 >290Kmi, '99 V70Glt > 45K mi, '96 965 >100Kmi Wifemobile near Manassas Va.. Check the 700/900 FAQ via the 'features' pull down menu.