We are looking at this car near Broken Arrow, Oklahoma:
http://tulsa.craigslist.org/cto/1988468091.html
As you can see they have priced it at $2500. I have not made an offer yet.
It looks REALLY nice. But there were a couple things about it that slightly
bothered us. There is some oil on the upper part of the engine, not much.
There is a rather loud ticking from under the hood. If I put my fingers on the fuel rail,
I could really feel it. I could NOT feel it with my hand on the valve cover.
So I really don't think it is a valve noise. It didn't get louder when I opened
the oil filler cap.
The fuel pump is directly below the driver and seems to be pretty loud, and its speed seems to vary.
There are some clunks in the rear when the rear wheels hit bumps sharply.
Does anyone have enough experience with the 960 to hazard a guess on these things?
The price seems pretty reasonable and I was astonished at the room under the hood compared
to Susan's 850, as well as my S60T5 and V70T5.
Any help you can give us with a decision on this car will be most gratefully appreciated!
There is a 1994 940 in Tulsa that we will look at tomorrow, about the same price.

Morning, I know it says 960 but the headlights appear to be that of a 940? Was it a 4 cylinder or a 6?

Six.

Hi George,

I'd go with the 960 if I had the choice. It has the DOHC 32 valve engine that is really smooth, powerful and is a blast on long haul trips. Most would advise you to stay away from this engine, but then again you already have TWO DOHC 4-valve/cylinder Volvos in your driveway. It also has other luxuries that come with it and it also has more room than the FWD Volvos. They are not easy to find in this part of the world, and good ones are hard to come by.

Which was why I settled for the 940. Nice car, really, and mine has the light pressure turbo, which is more than enough pep to haul it around. I am on my second 940 after the 1st one got destroyed in the crash. ( and I walked away unscratched). Both cars are (were) trouble free despite their age and my daily use, and I am one happy owner.

The ticking sound you heard is probably the fuel injectors. I have them on both my cars. As for the clunks in the rear, I replaced the axle bushing, also on both cars, and it cured the problem. The oil on the top of the engine was coming from the camshaft seal, and was fixed when I had the T-belt replaced.
All the best. Let us know which car you decided to go with.

--
...and the bricks keep on rolling

Error...its 24 valves.
--
...and the bricks keep on rolling

George
I would have to ask why they had to rebuild the engine in 2005. Surely they wouldn't have rebuilt it just because they won a prize would they?? But if its a rebuilt engine, chances are the ticking is just what I said, a sticking hydraulic lifter.
I also wonder why they would have had to replace the seats. The original seats in the 960 are pretty long-lasting. Did they have wild parties in the car?
I guess my only other comment would be on the cosmetices: why oh why did Volvo ever produce such an awful putty coloured interior???? I have always told myself I would never own a car with that colour interior. Oh well, maybe others don't find it so offensive......

God Bless
John D

Hi George; I have had a couple of 960s and really like them. My wife currently drives a 97 with 80,000miles on it. Our previous one was a 92 that dropped a timing belt. I wound up doing the (expensive) repairs myself, which included all new valves. One of the results of that rebuild was one noisy hydraulic lifter, that ticked just as you describe. It never went away in the three years we had the car after my rebuilding it. I understand that you said you could not feel the noise on the cam cover, but keep in mind these twin cam white block engines are significantly different than the redblock engines (as you are already aware).
The clunk in the rear end is likely to be bushings for the IRS. They can be a pain to replace, but nothing a man of your ability would shy away from.
If the fuel pump is intermitantly loud, it may well be that the in-tank pump has headed south (further south than Oklahoma), and the primary pump is doing double duty.
As I said at the start, I like the 960. The six cylinders are great for long-legged smooth power, just like the 160 was. And the cars are very comfortable.
I had issues with curling interior door vinyl, which I recently fixed, and I do find there is more road noise than I would have expected, but overall they are lovely cars. There will be some people that will tell you to run away from such a car, but you don't sond like a guy that would run from much....
John D.