I just bought a 93-944. I bought in pouring rain after a long day. When I got home, I looked at the engine again and it looked like my 90-244 motor. It was not the B230 that my 92-745 has (the rear-mounted distrib), or the photos of the 940's I have seen. It has the reddish front mount distrib. Did they put that engine in the 940? Is there any way to tell what year that motor was made from the engine number?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Don

If it's any help, I have a '93 940 wagon I bought from the original owner quite some time ago that also has the block mounted distributor (with Rex/Regina FI). The casting date on my cylinder head is mid-March of 93. Hope this helps restore your faith in your purchase.

Thanks Jim, it does help. I guess my experience with 740s and other 940s had been more limited than I realized.

Don

My 93 940 has the front mount distributor also same as the 86 245. It is the original.

Regards,
--
Will Dallas, www.willdallas.us, www.willdallas.org, www.willdallas.com 86 245 DL 205K miles, 93 940 250K miles, 88 765 GLE 149K miles, 87 745 , 86 244 DL 200K Miles, 88 744T 200K miles

Pull the timing belt cover to see whether it's round tooth or square tooth belt. Not a surefire way to verify, but most will not have bothered checking if it was an older engine swapped in.

Such said, I have seen some of these later 940s with the block mounted dizzy, and there are some folks who will go to the trouble of switching to such because it's a lot easier and cheaper for servicing.

-- Kane
--

While I would never deliberately mislead anyone, take into consideration that any information and advice provided was at no cost to you.

Kane,

I will check the timing belt teeth...which is the older version, round or square?

Thanks,

Don

Round is new. Square is old.

-- Kane
--

While I would never deliberately mislead anyone, take into consideration that any information and advice provided was at no cost to you.

Thanks for the information. I will look at all of the suggestions. I just do not know how many miles the motor has on it if it was replaced. Many thanks for the photo of the year mark on the block! A great help.

Thanks again,

Don

That's the right engine! In '93, N/A 940 cars had Rex/Regina rather than Bosch engine management. Cars with Bosch have the distributor mounted at the rear of the valve cover, cars with Rex/Regina have distributors mounted at the front/left of the engine (front/right as you look at it standing in front of the car with the hood open)

Jeff Pierce
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'93 945 Turbo ( one kickass family car ! ) 197K miles, '92 Mercedes 190E (my daily driver) 170K miles, '85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow 225K miles, ’95 Lawn Chief

My '93 940 NA has the Rex/Regina system and the dizzy is on the back of the head. I've seen pictures of 940s with dizzys in both locations.

" My '93 940 NA has the Rex/Regina system and the dizzy is on the back of the head."

Same for mine.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Thanks Jim. I stand corrected. I've never seen a set up like yours (Rex & rear mounted distributor).

But just so there's no confusion for anyone else:

A '93 940 N/A can have EITHER a block-mounted or head-mounted distributor.

Strictly from a service standpoint, the block mounted is preferable. Because of ease of service, and the fact that a replacement cap only cost $5 versus $35 for a rear-mounted.
From a durability standpoint, the rear-mounted seems hard to beat since there are no moving parts. (although I've never heard of a Volvo block-mounted distributor going bad.)

Jeff Pierce
--
'93 945 Turbo ( one kickass family car ! ) 197K miles, '92 Mercedes 190E (my daily driver) 170K miles, '85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow 225K miles, ’95 Lawn Chief

Also there is another wrinkle in this. The Rex/Regina with the rear mount dizzy takes different spark wires rthan the rear mount dizzy with the Bosch system. I ran into problems ordering new wires and it took two attempts with the supplier to get the right ones.

I'm still learning. My 91 940 (B230) has Regina ignition and the distributor is in the back of the head.
steve

Behind the rear spark plug, you will find the casting date for the head. Mine was born on March 19th 1987:



Erling.
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My 240 Page

The later model should have dist in rear of head, the motor probably has been replaced. You did not get taken if you did not ask about it and then was told that it was original engin. It is not the first Volvo that had engin replaced and hopefully it is a good one and surely better than the one outted. How dose it run/preform?

Park,

Agree with you about the motor having been replaced and that it's not the end of the world, but, on the other hand one would expect a 12 year old car B230F with average mileage to still have plenty of life left in it. This could have all kinds of implications for the longterm reliability of the car, i.e. if it hasn't been well maintained.

I'll tell you what that is one that I would've told you that you were smokin' crack on. A 700 with a block mounted distributor, get outta here! But, WorldPac has a listing for it right on their site, the typical block mounted Bosch dist cap for Regina/Rex cars. Learned something new today, thanks

Mark

Hi Mark. Is the block mounted distributor NOT the norm on 1990s vintage Rex/Regina 940s?

Jeff Pierce
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'93 945 Turbo ( one kickass family car ! ) 197K miles, '92 Mercedes 190E (my daily driver) 170K miles, '85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow 225K miles, ’95 Lawn Chief

Being a California tech I do not see too many Rex cars, that is why it suprised me that one would have a block mounted distributor. The Vadis parts fische shows it on for door cars from chasis numbers 124137 on and on the wagons from numbers 74407 and later. What does that mean in the big picture? I do not really know without knowing how many cars were in the run and what the year model breaks were. If you look in the green Volvo wire schematics they show the dist as being in the back of the head on every year model, but we know that it just is not so.

Mark

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

Jeff Pierce
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'93 945 Turbo ( one kickass family car ! ) 190K miles, '92 Mercedes 190E (my daily driver) 165K miles, '93 945T (sold), '53 Willys-Overland Pickup (my snow-plow truck/conversation piece -- sold to a loving home), '85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow