Thank you all for the advice! I got the car back from the mechanic, and so far there are no leaks, but I will keep an eye on it for now. He did say if it leaks anymore, he will definitely pull everything apart and replace the seals.
From what I can tell, the PCV system should still be pretty clear; it’s not smoking from the dipstick and there doesn’t seem to be any excess pressure in the system. When I did the glove test it didn’t really pull the glove in to the oil filler cap or push it out it - just kind of sat there and fluttered. I also checked the flame trap - it was clear; I also pushed air back through the breather box out of the open oil filler cap, and air flowed very freely. I do know that the S90 is smoking out of its dipstick so it likely needs to have all that serviced very soon.
That being said another related issue has come up, but let me give some background information first. Around 2004 the serpentine belt snapped and somehow got bound up at the bottom of the crankshaft. In doing so, the timing belt jumped three teeth, and bent all the valves. We took it in and had everything repaired and replaced, but… we’re not sure if they used all the right parts (we assume they’re all new parts). My mechanic noticed that the cam gears don’t match, and said one is a VVT gear, and the other is a plain one. You can see the picture that I have attached both my 960 and my later 1997 S90. According to what I can find engines up to 131,000 should have two identical cam gears, where as engines above 131,000 should have two different gears. My engine, according to the number stamped on the block, is 13,818. Which means, as you can see, one of the gears is wrong. You can also see in the picture that the timing belt is sticking too far out on the intake gear, and is too far in on the exhaust; the two gears are not flush with each other. (
See EDIT 2)
1992:
1997:
Now, I know that 1992 engines for retrofitted in someway to use the wider belts of the 1993 cars; originally my car had to have the timing belt changed every 25,000 miles whereas now it only needs to be changed every 30,000 miles. Does anyone know if it was the cams that were changed or what part exactly was used to retrofit the engines?
The other concern, is that I get an odd noises at certain RPMs under load going up hills; I wonder if this might stem from other things possibly being wrong, such as the cams themselves may be the wrong ones or mismatched; which I wouldn’t know unless until we tear apart the engine. We’re thinking about pulling a used head from another 960 – would a 1993 or 9094 head work just as well as a 92? Is this a feasible route to go for making sure everything is as it should be?
I would really like to get this whole front engine stuff sorted out before the next time we replace the belt and the seals, so I’m trying to do all of my homework now while I’m saving up to have it all done. I would probably also have the intake taken off and the breather box cleaned or replaced at the same time. That also being said – you mentioned that the hydraulic tensioner is NLA, is there an aftermarket one, or is something that I can use from say an S80 engine?
Thanks for all the advice everyone, I really appreciate it!
(Edit: sorry for being so long winded - I used dictation on my phone haha)
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EDIT 2: so apparently the thing behind the exhaust gear is a “oscillation dampener” for cars 93 and newer; is this what was added in the retro fit?)