I was recently offered a job in near the arctic circle of Alaska and I want to make an adventure out of my trip up there, so I'm considering driving a main possibility. I'm not really mechanically inclined at all. I change my own oil, tires, the easy stuff but that's about it. I've had my 1997 Volvo 960 stationwagon for about a year and a half now. It has 188k miles on it right now. The only problems I have had out of it so far was that the heater-core blew out a while back. I never actually fixed it but instead hooked up one of those bypass hoses, so now I'm left without a heater. Recently, the car overheated due to a coolant leak through the heater-core. A steam/smoke blew from under my hood and I immediately pulled over. I haven't had any problems after that besides a couple of rough motions in switching gears when driving in the mountains. I'm a delivery driver currently so it's pretty hard on my car. It's about 3,500 miles to where I'm going and I'll be coming back in a few months. My question is this: is this journey vehicular suicide!? I plan to get a full vehicle inspection before leaving, what would you recommend they check out? What are some precautions I should make to help my car make it to Alaska and back? Thank you for reading this and I greatly appreciate any advice!


Chris McIntosh

 

I drive my 960 between southern California and Montana anywhere between 2 and 4 times a year. Obviously it isn't as far as Tenn to AK, but still sometimes I do it straight through which means the car runs for about 20 or so hrs nonstop. You might want to get that heater core replaced because you'll want your heat and defrost in Alaska. Also get a transmission fluid flush. In the mountains my car gets picky between 3rd and 4th gear and if I don't manually put it in 3rd, it shifts around a lot, which is hard on the trans and the fluid. Aside from that I would just do a basic tune up, maybe change the 02 sensor and MAF sensor if they haven't been done, make sure your tires and alignment are good and then go for it. I have had mine for 4 years and 75k now, and it has never let me down.

 

If you don't know or can't find out for sure, you need to replace the timing belt at a minimum. These engines are interference types, meaning if the belt breaks valves will be destroyed, maybe pistons. To the point of rendering the vehicle unusable. I would replace the timing belt, water pump and the tensioner.

These engines had a problem with the fuel rail leaking at the end closest to the radiator. It happened to mine. I did a through de-greasing cleanup, and repaired with JB weld. Volvo came out with an updated part, I got mine off ebay, however the JB weld is still holding going on two years.

Sounds like you are on the road to an adventure. I hope
all goes well for you.