anybody ever heard of such a thing? My mechanic told me that was the issue. Said it was leaking into the distributor causing the car to buckle and die. Runs fine, just misses, especially in the morning. Sputters a little on occasion, but still runs good.

 

yes- happens all the time. These cars don't really have a traditional distributor- just a rotor mount bolted to the end of the camshaft, and a distributor cap screwed to the end of the head. What's gone bad is your rear cam seal, and it's letting oil get into the distributor. That oil causes all kinds of havoc. It's not a hard thing to fix, though, and not that expensive, either.

 

Oh, and if you're starting to blow seals, get the PCV system checked, and replaced if necessary (it probably is.) The last thing you want to have fail is your rear main seal. Seals on Volvo engines often fail due to excessive internal air pressure, which is normally caused by a plugged PCV system. Yes, PCV replacement is a bit tricky and expensive if you have someone else do it- and make sure it's a shop that knows Volvos/ european cars- but it's a LOT cheaper than a rear main seal!