95 960 PCV/Flame Trap

bright · Post by **bright** » 05 Feb 2010, 14:42

Hello,
It's raining today, so I haven't gotten a chance to dig under the hood. Here's the symptoms:

1) Strong gas/volatile oil smell when parking (presumable because I am at a standstill and walking past engine.)
2) PCV is oily
3) eats a bit of oil
4) spark plugs are proper and clean
4) No external oil leaks

There's a great deal of discussion regarding the "Flame Trap O' Death" for other models. Is this an issue for later engine 960's? I couldn't find a mention of it. I bought a kit from FCPGroton (got here last night.) I haven't had a chance to research it.

Any advice?

Bright

Post by **billofdurham** » 05 Feb 2010, 15:34

On the 960 the flame trap should be changed every 60,000 miles. The same problems will affect your car like any other with a flame trap.

The attached may help:

960 flame trap.pdf: (933.08 KiB) Downloaded 1696 times

If it hasn't been done for some time I would suggest cleaning the oil trap as well.

Bill.

bright · Post by **bright** » 05 Feb 2010, 20:53

Thanks,
Bright

bright · Post by **bright** » 06 Feb 2010, 12:20

1995 960 with 112K miles

I looked at the oil trap today. It seems that I have to remove the intake manifold to wrestle it free.

Is this correct?

Also, what is the consequence if I do not empty an old oil trap. The car was volvo maintained until a year ago (purchased April 2009)

Thanks,
Lee

DanR · Post by **DanR** » 06 Feb 2010, 13:26

bright wrote:1995 960 with 112K miles

I looked at the oil trap today. It seems that I have to remove the intake manifold to wrestle it free.

Is this correct?

Also, what is the consequence if I do not empty an old oil trap. The car was volvo maintained until a year ago (purchased April 2009)

Thanks,
Lee

Do you mean the flame trap or the oil separator? Two very different things. The flame trap is attached to the rubber air intake hose where it bends down to the throttle plate.

The oil separator is located under the intake manifold right behind the alternator. To change that you may need to undo the intake manifold, but some have been able to with double jointed wrists I believe get at it without messing with the manifold.

DanR '94 964 348,000 miles (114,000 on the new engine)

bright · Post by **bright** » 06 Feb 2010, 13:42

The oil separator (sorry). I have the kit to change the flame trap.

I saw that the oil separator sits behind too much junk for me to want to tackle it anytime soon. I have work, well, to work on.

Thanks,
Bright