I thank very much Mr Robert Ludwick;immiediately one parks the car,and you bend
and look under the car, you see the engine oil dropping. After sometime, it will stop.
ABOUT THE EXHAUST PIPE:Is it okay for the mechanic to have opened it up and remove the net matrix
without replacing it with another one? I strongly believe it is the wire-net
matrix that normally absorbs the exhaust noise or can you explain to me the function of that wire-net matrix? Please educate me.This is why I asked if it would be necessary for me to replace the entire exhaust pipe.
ABOUT THE WETTING SPARK PLUGS:Apart from the cables, is there any thing or component or circumstances that can make the plugs to become wet?
Pardon me for botthering you;I love maintaining my properties,Iam a maintenance addict.
CHALLENGES:We have maintenance challenges here; good spare parts are not easily avaialable;our auto-mechanics are poorly trained and are not technically sound.That
is why I must get the volvo 960 factory manuals by all means, following your recommendation.Can you explain to me the meaning of 'FLAME TRAP' or flame trapping?
I thank you all.

From the sound of it, the 'matrix'you mention that he removed is most likely the innards of the catalytic converter. when those things get clogged, it will make the manifold glow as it did, he basically unplugged the exhaust. if it's nt a problem with local regulations, I woouldn't worry about it,that rattling ought to ease up after the rest of the loose chunks blow out.

That is not an overely difficult engine to work on compared to most modern cars, if you get the factory manual, you or your mechanic( tell him to wipe his hands before using your book :-) should be able to figure out the wet plug problem, it usually happend because those plugs aren't firing, either from dead coil packs, bad wiring from power stage to coil pack ( most common and easy to make a new harness ) or a bad power stage ( overglorified electronic ignition resistor, there are two of them, one on front and rear of bottom of intake manifold ). I've seen a 960 running on 3 cylinders that really didn't sound all that bad, and yer, those three bad ones were wet.

The flame trap is the crancase ventilation system, supposed to keep flames from ignited blowby gasses from entering the intake system where raw fuel is. if it clogs or any of the breather curcuit clogs or has a vacuum leak, pressure will buildup in the crancase and oil will blow out of every available spot.

check ALL connections. I ran across a 740 that someone had bought, that blew oil like crazy, a "volvo specialist"told her it was shot. the only thing wrong was the flame trap clogged and it's hose disconnected, pouring oil all over the place.

Read and study the 700/900 faq's and if it's a bit over your head, print it off and take the works to your mechanic, I bet he'll make sense of it.I know mechanics in that part of the world may not have alot of fancy training, but they have a reputation for being extremely resourceful.Given the instructions, they should have no trouble figuring it out.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD for sale