Firstly, I must boast, because I just got in and am proud. I just finished re-attaching the mechanism to lock/unlock and open the passenger door! (hooray!) the door panel is loose at the bottom, but I guess 3 or 4 plastic push pin clip thingies are in order (do I need those specific orange ones? or will any old plastic do?

ANYWAY:

there was/is a hissing noise coming from beneath my glove box, and it was suggested (by the dealership) that it is a vacuum actuator and would be extremely expensive to repair, but unnecessary. Time consuming it was not, though - 1 torx screw and 2 7mm bolts, and I got the piece off. A green plug unplugged, and the hoses off. (it was a bit of a squeeze, but my hands 'sort of' fit.)

My problem now is that I don't know if it's that box that the hoses hooked into that's bad, or a gasket, or a line itself (which *would* be a hassle :-)

there are 7 hoses that connect. When unplugged and the car running, they are all inactive except for the very center one (white, I think).

I'm not sure how these work - does that one provide pressure for the other 6, or do I have a leak further up the line? should I try replacing that blocky thing? or do I have to remove the entire dash?

Anyone have any experience with this kind of stuff???

 

I will bet the recirc diaphram is bad. It is over closer to the side of the car. If you look up there is a hole with screen in it. That is the fresh air intake. There is a diaphram in there that commonly goes bad.

 

do I have to remove the entire dash to get to it? (i.e. is this a relatively big job?)

Also, does anyone have any reliable literature on mechanical upkeep on these cars (besides the volvo tech's themselves...)

I was considering getting one of those ALLDATA diy subscriptions, but it asked me if I had a B6304 or B6304F engine.......... from what I've surmised, I have a B6304S2... but what do I know...

Anyway, Diaphragm anyone have pics or link to appropriate thread? (of course first hand knowledge is welcome as well, I just try to make it easier on the questionee :-)

 

I do not have the info on this PC.
No need to remove the dash. The cover by the hole comes off then you can see the diaphram. Alot of people screw the door closed(up) then block the line off and run the recirc on all the time.

 

funny, my recirc was the first thing to go when the hissing started... the light works, but I'm taking in fresh air all the time (and I dont' want to - I live near a bunch of schools and exhaust smells. If I want fresh air I open windows.)

Would your "patch" solve my problem?


Also, I have lost all control of vent changes (from face, to feet, to defrost, etc). They are all open all the time. This could be a *slight* inconvenience next winter when I need defogger... Might as well fix it when the weather is right and I'm in there anyway...

 

i have just taken my dash apart to find the hissing noise
and my vent selector did not work either
it was easy to find
in my case the vacuum hose holder at the back of the selector had come off
and was actually broken off
i have epoxied the switch ( vacuum ) back in place
will reinstall it tomorrow
but if you can hear it , it will be easy to find
good luck
Les Vegas

 

Ah, sorry for not knowing the names of things, I'm not a real mechanic, I just take things apart and put them back together ;-) (give me a UNIX box, and I'll show you the world though)

Is that baseball sized widget the selector? because I found that... and found the hoses, which *were* attached to it (although when I pulled it off it was MUCH louder - I could see how you would notice that!!!) I have no need for epoxy, I can take mine off and put it back on (usually without cutting myself on that big black metal thingie right under the glove box)

Does anyone know how these work though? does that center (7th) white tube provide suction for the other 6? (feet, face, defrost, recirc, and auto, perhaps?) and the white suction being good all I need is a new selector? or do I need an EGR type thing, or sell the car, etc?

I'm just not familiar at all with vacuum technology... mechanical cables and electric wires, no problem (I'm a computer techie) but vacuums?

I mentioned the white center 'active' tube as the 7th and primary because I could only see 6 copper coil spools inside the widget (with the green plug...) I've seen plenty of PCB go bad in my time, so I figured (hoped) it was that box thing. That would be an easy fix (as long as it's not expensive >< )

 

I think the baseball size thing is prob an accumulator ( or storage tank )
and yes the other hoses would run the various functions controlled by vacuum
which would include a diaphram ( fastball size air bag thingy ) that would open and close a larger vent.
But I do not have your model and am just going by past experiences under the dash.
Les.

 

OH-THATS what that softball size thing was!!! (I had no idea - I thought it was just in my way ;-)

So the car should be drivable without any of this stuff connected, right? if I open the ball, and check out the innards, I can drive it to the store for a replacement with its entrails all hanging out?

And if the diaphragm is bad, will I know? will it be torn? black? anything?

Thanks Les!

 

That will help with some of the problems.
Here is one thing you can try. Get some rivets or small BB's or something like that. Then one at a time slide it in one of the holes in the connection and plug the group of hoses back in. See if that makes a difference.

If only the recirc one is bad then that will fix all the problems. But if one of the other 3 are bad then it will not fix it.

 

Usually if the diaphram is bad yes you can see a small tear where it attaches to the shaft that moves.

 

I used my finger as a test, and got *major* pressure on the central white tube. No other tubes had suction (once the tubes were disconnected from the actuator). Is this normal? Or should I have suction on all 7?

 

Only suction on the white one when disconnected. It needs to be connected for the other functions to work.

 

so when I reconnect it to the actuator, how will I know which lines are losing suction?

btw, I also noticed that if I leave it connected but unplug the electric power plug the suction (i.e. hissing) goes away as well... this leads me to believe that it's the actuator that's bad, but I don't know much of anything at all about vacuum actuated cars! help!! I'm drowning! (lol)

 

Like I said above find something small and slide it into the hose one at a time and connect it back up and see when the hissing stops.

 

i am no expert, but i think that the elec plug on the back of the heat controls runs the air conditioning side of things only, so if you do not need air you may be able to leave it unplugged, which is what i am going to do today when i reinstall my glued up controls.
my air is deactivated anyway, and i dont need it much up here in canada
Les

 

Once I get BBs or anything in there, I won't be able to get them out... I get major suction on the central line, and this seems to be a good thing. I'll say that it's the frakkin' gimbal (always is, right?)

BTW, I tried to open up that sphere under there to get to the diaphragm, but I took out EVERY SINGLE BOLT/SCREW I COULD FIND and it doesn't want to open. Do I need a manual? Should I get ALLDATA or Chilten's? they're pretty much the same price, but I've always used Hayne's, so I'm at a loss...

 

I would get whatever they sale on ipdusa.com. I got a AllData manual once and was not happy with it. To general.

 

they got bad reviews....... the ones on ipdusa... and there are none for 960s specifically anyway (maybe that's why they got bad reviews... too general?)

 

I have found that the 960 is a unique creature. Most people that purchased these cars had the $$$ to take them to the dealer every time something went wrong. They also had low miles compared to other Volvo's. I think most of them were owned by old ladies (no offense). It's just been in the past 3 to 5 years that they have been passed on to DIYSers like us. Not many after market parts or instructions anywhere. I did get a disk/manual from eBay but have not depended on it much to do anything.