Time has come for what may be the last major 50,000 mile PM.. 1994 940 sedan NA with 148,000 miles. The car has served me then my two kids for almost 2 decades. Still a very good car, looks like new, great paint, no rust dents or scratches everything works, even the sunroof, just did a 1600 mile road trip, no issues.

HOWEVER what is average life expectancy of a 1994 940 as a super dependable driver (yes I know the old Volvo joke, durable not dependable) ..I feel like at @ 175k I might think twice about driving on a long trip. Surely at 200k it's time to move on… I do have other Volvos.

and the REAL question is if's only going another 50K would you use aftermarket parts for the last major PM , the typical stuff that is showing wear at 150K, Harmonic Balancer, timing belt kit, seals control arm bushings, mounts, tie rods, ball joints, tune up kit, water pump ect..

all small ticket items, not that big a deal, but every 940 FAQ post always says "not worth using the aftermarket" but really? Overall the difference is like $500 vs $2000 aftermarket vs OEM….and I don't want piecemeal it and spend a month of weekends under the car doing one project at a time.. Most will get replaced in one shot as part of the timing belt and tie rods jobs.. then ONE trip the the alignment shop.

As you know book value now on a clean 940 w/ 150k is about $2500.

Hi Soundmiami,

I order items that needs to be replaced in advance from IPD. I buy them when they have sales and ship it at lowest price point. Before I joined the Brickboard, IPD was there for me so I try to buy most of items from them. They have kept me very happy. So far, I didn't have any major issues with after market parts except this "Uro" tie rod and Napa brand exhaust rubber hangers.



I can't always predict what's going to break down on my car but I try to do my best based on Brickboard information.

Read this thread if you ever need a break. It helps me to give new perspective.

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1547592/220/240/260/280/re_funnies_art_benstein.html


Good luck.

1) I just rolled over 300,000 miles yesterday. Yes, it was a lot of work, but most of that was neglected maintenance from my parents' ownership.
2) If aftermarket is cheaper, I get aftermarket. I've been on a student budget, and now I'm on an unemployed-graduate budget. The exception is for things like Rear Main Seals and Crank Position Sensors and other critical or really horrific to replace items.

I tend to avoid Scan-tech and Uro-parts, but some of their stuff works fine. Some of it lasts 5,000 miles and quits.


The thing about OEM is - volvo isn't making it. Some other company is making it. If you can find out what brand (Moog makes Volvos ball-joints, for example) an OEM part is, you can buy that brand and avoid the dealer markup.

Good Luck!

148k miles doesn't seem like that much to me.

And as the old saying goes, "Parts is parts".

I agree with what others have suggested, mix OEM with aftermarket parts as per importance.

Also, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Yes, perform scheduled maintenance as required but why swap major parts until they show real signs of wear?

Thanks I like the mix it up idea, but don't agree with don't fix what ain't broke.

Thanks to the wisdom of this crowd I know things the book doesn't about PM….and hate waiting for AAA or not being able to do road trips in my Volvos for fear breaking down in the boondocks of North Carolina and waiting 3 days for $60 part..

For example the FAQ tells me a number of things can quit without warning at this mileage that aren't PM items, i.e. the tank fuel pump.

Some "mission critical" things are showing wear but not critical, i.e. tie rods, at what point do they get replaced, when they break? No.

Then there's the stuff that's just a PITA to get to twice, like the timing belt. Why put back old belts, tensioners and pulleys this crowd KNOWS are going to fail around 150,000 miles? Will the squeaky $60 harmonic balancer or the $35 tensioner from ild last another 150,000 miles? No, but how long will it last to be cost effective? 50,000 miles?

Like I said, I think I'm just venting.. Why no one now makes a bullet proof engine that you can work on in your driveway with a hammer and a pair of pliers (and some rope in the case of the timing belt) is frustrating

Have you ever tried to even tighten the belts on a Toyota? How about removing the intake manifold to get plugs on a dodge?

and if it wasn't for the volvo gear head community I don't think there would be an aftermarket, as a friend once told me, old cars are for either mechanics or rich dudes.

I love wrenching but Im not a mechanic. I'm an a electrician so clearly not a "rich dude" .

Thanks

Dear soundmiami,

Hope you're well. Timing belts - as used on 940s - are rated for 50K miles. Tensioners should be changed at least every-other timing belt change. I change the tensioner, whenever I change a timing belt, i.e., every 50K miles.

Harmonic balancers (crank pulleys) do not have so precisely-defined a service life. Further, there's a simple way to track a crank pulley's condition. Use white-out (or any white paint) to draw a line from the crank pulley's bolt towards the face of the pulley, and then out to the edge of the front rim. If that white line breaks into two segments, e.g., if the center portion is at, say, 6 o'clock, and the outer section is, say, at 10 o'clock, the pulley has failed. Failure results, from deterioration of the rubber, that joins the inner and outer steel segments. I recall only a few posts of a crank pulley's outer segment - on which the belts ride - coming free of the center segment (which is bolted to the crankshaft).

Drive belts are also easily inspected. A belt with frayed edges is at the end of its service life. A belt, which - when removed and flexed - shows cracks in the rubber, is at the end of its service. Generally, drive belts should be changed every five years.

Based on reading several years worth of posts, Volvo brand heater hoses last about 15 years. In an area with low average ambient temperatures (Canada, Russia, northern United States, northern Europe, northern China, etc.), the working life might be a tad longer. Equally, in the tropics, rubber items are subject to more heat, so likely have a shorter working life.

I do not recall a post reporting a tie rod having broken. If the car is aligned periodically, the technician will be able to spot tie rod wear long before the metal breaks. Indeed, a badly-worn tie rod makes alignment impossible.

As to relays - e.g., fuel pump, fuel injector, overdrive, etc. - spares should be carried on-board. If a relay fails, few - if any - tools are needed to change it.

Fuel injectors seem to last "the life of the car". Only rarely have fuel injector failures been reported. A fuel pump's working life will depend on the presence or absence of water in the fuel, and whether the pump has been operated a lot, when the tank is near-empty. As Amarin noted, fuel cools the pump, so running with a near-empty tank can shorten fuel pump life. Most Brickboarders are not first-owners, so we can't be sure what prior owners did. Generally, a fuel pump "goes intermittent" before it fails.

Coils occasionally fail, but there are not enough reports on which to base an estimate of when a coil should be replaced.

Hubs (with built-in bearings) generally start to make noise, when the bearings are "on the way out". The noise may start at a "hum" or a "whine" and gets louder, little-by-little. There should be time to intervene, before a wheel comes loose.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

I've been informed that pre-92 B230FT (square-tooth) belts were rated at 100K miles and 92+ belts were rated at 150K, not 50K. Did you omit a 1?

You have been misinformed! Pre 95 belts have a 50k life, 95 have a 100k miles life. They last longer than that but the book says what it says. I personally don't sweat the B230 T belt--if it breaks, I fix it. I usually have some vague notion as to its condition... That's the beauty of non interference motor!

Dear tedv,

Hope you're well. I, too, have read that timing belts in '95 940s have a service life of 100K miles.

As belts used in '95 940s are identical to those used in '93 and '94 940s - and the timing mechanism is the same (i.e., the same sprocket, pulleys, and tensioner) - can you suggest why the '95 940's timing belt service life should be double that of the belt used in '93 and '94 models?

I try not to exceed the rated service life, as belt breakage means the car stops where it is. That is not likely to be convenient.

Thanks for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

"... not likely to be convenient" Spook, that was funny!


I had not heard the above claims before, but I do know that there is a Kevlar belt available with a life of 100k.

COMPLETELY forgot about the heater hose..WAY overdue, and my nephew has his blow a month ago, on his '95 940 and only 100k miles! Talk about a PITA repair by the side of the road at night! How could I forget?

See that's why I read this forum.. stuff that not in the owner's manual OR Haynes.

Thanks.

Dear soundmiami,

Hope you're well. You're welcome!!

I cannot imagine doing a heater hose replacement "by the side of the road at night". It is hard enough doing this job with all necessary tools handy, and in daylight!!!

Your report of the heater hose failure on your nephew's car is helpful. That report suggests a factory-installed heater hose (if that is what it was) lasted 18-19 years, before failing.

In what region does your nephew's car live, i.e., does it live where average ambient temps are high (e.g., the southern half of the US) or does it live where average ambient temps are low (northern half of the US)? If the former, then to get 18-19 years from a heater hose is remarkable, indeed.

You forgot the repair above-noted, because we tend to repress painful memories!!!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

thanks spook,
yes everything is well,

the heater hose in question lived it's whole life in South Florida.. but FYI the kid had been running around with a pin hole leak and a bottle of water. I'm sure you know the scenario…so how often he had run the car hot is a matter of conjecture, He says never but he's 19. .

and yes, trying to clamp off the hose in bowels of a dark, hot engine is something I'd rather forget, especially since it is exactly what I told him was going to happen if he didn't take care of the water pump in the first place..He was lucky it was only the hose and not something much worst.

Hence my take away is replace it before it breaks, in the case of a water pump, volvos shouldn't squeak or leak ANY water and they never fix themselves.

$500-$2,000? What exactly are you replacing? I have the feeling you are throwing good parts away... Just a hunch. Remember, it's not a 747, you can pull over and call AAA if something should happen (not that replacing all those parts gives you any guarantee that nothing will happen.)

Mine have 235,000 and 230,000 respectively. I use Volvo OEM parts on critical stuff (coolant hoses, etc.) and aftermarket on belts, etc. Buying Volvo OEM from Borton Volvo or Tasca can be surprisingly inexpensive. Your car will easily go to 400,000 miles with care.
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See the 700/900 "FAQ" at the menu bar top screen left side.

I bought my first 740 with 192K, it was hit at 290k, was still a great car. I bought another at 250k, just got rid of it at 294k due mostly to good luck getting another with much lower miles for cheap.

It will easy do 400,000 km if serviced. Use genuine parts on water pumps timing belts and rubbers.If its a high labor job go genuine, after market parts for cheap and easy to get to things are ok.

Sounds like you are ready to give up? These older Volvos will run reliably and dependably for as long as you choose to take care of them and keep up the maintenance.

We do seem to be reaching a point where the quality of parts is deteriorating which likely will require more frequent replacement of faulty parts.
Dan

not giving up as much as passing on.. and lamenting as we come up on 20 years since the last of the red blocks.. My swedish mechanic thinks 940s will never have the cachet of my 240 and thus not as collectable and worth keeping OEM. But he left Sweden in the 80's. Just seeing what other volvo experts/owners think. IMO 940 was the high point of Swedish car building, their tipping point into a luxury car BF (before ford) They sure ride better and are more dependable than their predecessor. But my 240 drives like a go cart..I love it.

Either way 8 cars is enough, I'm not Jay Leno, I must cull the herd this spring. I did the fluids today and am ordering the parts Monday….so fix one up with chinesse idp parts and pass it on or factory parts and hold for a connoisseur?

Your rear wheel bearings, as with front wheel bearings, are lubricated by grease, not differential oil and some believe, whether live or IRS axle. (Unless I'm egregiously wrong here.)

May be about time to look at parking brake shoes also and other rear axle works.