Hey guys,

I posted this as a response in my thread titled: "Is 1994 a good model year for the 960?" that I posted on the 900 forum. Anyway, I haven't gotten any response and thought maybe you guys could give me your thoughts/advise;

The T-belt; the guy I bought the 964 ('94, 80K mi) from said that he asked if the t-belt had been changed when he bought the car ('94s have a 50K mi interval). The Volvo dealer he bought it from called the previous owner and the answer was 'yes'. There was no paper documentation to prove the t-belt change. I was going to have the t-belt and tensioners changed right away but my Vo mechanic recommended we have a look under the t-belt cover first. I removed the cover and although there was no printing on the outside of the belt it looked fine and had no cracking between the teeth (I was told that's where old t-belts crack). The cams are marked with whiteout and my mechanic said this is a pretty strong sign that the belt was changed as there is no evidence of engine work that would require removal of the t-belt. So, it seems as though the belt was changed at the proper time. There is other evidence of proper maintenance on the car so I would say it's been relatively well maintained. So, I don't know if I should just leave the t-belt until 100K mi (it's at 81K mi now) or do one of several things; 1. Replace just the belt and then not worry about the tensioner, idler and water pump for another 20-50K mi. 2. Replace the belt, idler and/or tensioner and leave the water pump for another 20-50K. 3. Replace the belt, tensioner, idler and water pump and change the belt again in another 50K.... My budget and the indications of service tell me to leave it alone, but my paranoid side is telling me that maybe I should replace the belt, idler and tensioner just to be absolutely sure. What do ya think? When do the tensioner, idler and water pumps generally fail? The cam seals? What about the crank seal? The serpentine belt and tensioner look great. The tensioner isn't off center and other then a little belt noise when it's cold (sometimes) it appears fine. I was going to leave all that until at least 100K mi (checking periodically of course). The recirc problem turned out to be a wired shut recirc door. I got annoyed when I couldn't find a problem under the dash so I removed the cowl and found a screw in the pan with a wire around it and though the door. Why someone would do this is beyond me, but I promptly removed it and everything seems fine now :) As for the cooling system; I was going to replace the rad as it appears to have a minor leak at the upper neck (haven't noticed any coolant loss) and just because of it's age. Along with that I was going to replace the t-stat, coolant (volvo of course), and maybe the lower rad hose and expansion tank hose. Therefore if I decided to replace the other coolant hoses before the next coolant change (~2 years) I wouldn't loose a lot of coolant. All of the hoses look great; they don't crack when squeezed and there are no buldges or anything like that. Given the low mileage and the climate here in Nova Scotia, I thought they might be fine for a while yet. I am familiar with the heater valve problem. Do you think one would fail at this relatively low mileage? I guess age is really what matters....... It's just the money and my Volvo mechanic will tell me I'm crazy if I start replacing all this stuff "for no reason". I flushed the tranny last week. I used the cooler line method (out of the top of the rad and into a bucket. I flushed 2L at a time, putting 9L of normal dex-III ATF though and then 8L of Mobil 1 ATF. The fluid was fairly dirty, but looks great now. The tranny shifts well (a bit smoother then before), but it still doesn't seem to be as smooth as the V90's tranny (which I also flushed with Mobil 1 ATF). I read somewhere that the shifting was improved in later cars so I thought that accounted for the slight difference. I just changed the T-stat (broken) and coolant (Volvo coolant/deionized water) in the V90 (195K km = 122K mi). I figured I'll renew the cooling system (new rad, hoses, heater valve) at the next coolant change as everything seems fine and it's only a '98. Right now the V90 is under cover in the garage (hibernation) while the poor 960 fights the salt :( Anyway, thanks for all the help! :)
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 80K mi. SOLD: '91 745T > 301K km (and no, I don't know why I sold it.) and '91 745 NA > 411K km (I miss her).