Tell me about my engine...please.

Evening.

I seem to have found myself with a Volvo 960, 2.5/6 manual. I bought it because it was really cheap and because it has a whiteblock m90 which I want to stash away. I am in the UK. The engine code is B6254S I think. No turbo. The car is sweet, engine is smooth, as is the 'box. I own an amazon (amongst other projects), and I know nothing about this engine. Is there anything special about it? I don't know whether it's worth keeping..I can't see myself putting it in my amazon..if I do a swap like that I would probably put a t4 on the m90 or something. It doesn't seem to be a much talked about engine, but I could be wrong..is it worth stashing away for a rainy day? Cheers.

2.5L (short stroke) version of the 2.9 longitudinal engine that was also in the 960s and original S/V90 and later turned sideways in S80s and XC90s. The larger versions without a turbo are not powerhouses but smooth and relatively efficient. The 2.5 is probably even softer but the manual box should help keep it moving and the short stroke probably makes those 2.5s happy to rev.

Otherwise they likely have the same pluses and minuses as the rest of the whiteblock family, in other words robust basic layout but susceptibility to headgasket problems from cooling system neglect, and the 6 cylinder engines in particular seem to turn up with burned valves from time to time. I owned one and it was a nice engine for daily use, quiet and refined.

Probably nothing special about that particular engine worth keeping for use elsewhere as it likely has no advantages over the larger displacement and/or turbo versions of the same family, though as we never had them here perhaps others can speak to any advantages they may have relative to the other B6xx4 versions. Sounds like if the car is that nice you may want to drive it as it is though.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It does seem like a sweet engine..can't see me swapping into anything though. I would like to drive around in the car, but I already have too many, and the other half is not best pleased.

Get a Marcos and put the engine and trans in that.

Nice plan. Just the car for a newly single man

Be sure to be on top ot the timing belt changes. The first model years (91 - 93?) had narrower timing belts that the engine designer (Porsche) suggested. In the US, Volvo shelled out for a lot of crashed head repairs on these due to premature failure. By '94 the timing belt was wider. (Maybe Porsche knows something about engine design.) Even still, the engine is not crash proof, and 24 bent valves are not fun. Change the belt on the early side, not late of the mileage.

I have seen one weird failure that is timing belt related, but not a timing belt: the crank "pulley" on my '93 960 that drives the timing belt failed when the splines that sync it to the crank wore out: Perfect condition timing belt but 24 bent valves because of that failing.

The US 2.9 version (and probably your 2.5) really like the "Italian Tune-up." They are susceptible to carbon build up on the valves. Look for the "960 Water Torture" thread for a yearly solution, but also just running the car at 5000+ rpm for a 5 minutes every month or so really helps. (I always found my 965 drove much happier after an autocross.)