960 Update

As luck would have it, the 960 started acting up just as I sold the S60. I was driving on Saturday around town when it suddenly started losing power. Immediately the engine began jumping in a feeling that I knew all too well from when I first got the car. Cylinder 2 was misfiring, and the loss of power was nothing short of significant as I was able to limp the car back to the shop under its own power. About a month prior during my road trip back from Florida I got a code for a lean running condition. I cleared those codes and they stayed gone for a wile, but now I can see that it was most likely the bad injector/spark plug I had starting to die on me. My first course of action was to replace the injectors as I had a spare set left over from the 850 days. The 960 actually uses the same Bosch injector as an 850. Installation is straight forward on the 960 as there are only 3 bolts holding the fuel rail in place. The bolts can be tough to access, and dropping one can mean losing it forever down below the intake manifold. For this I recommend using “dum-dum tape” which is 3M’s butyl rubber tape. A dab of the stuff inside a socket keeps the bolt securely in place during removal and the installation later on.

The plugs were also replaced at this time, I have no previous records on the car so most things I do are a mystery as to when they were last changed. The previous owner had installed NGKs which was a nice relief, and I used a Denso as a replacement as we already had them stocked in the shop. With the misfire resolved, it was time to test drive…

After only a few minutes the CEL was back on. This time for a rich condition. Damn. Back to the drawing board.

Well I knew that the condition had to have come from the “new” injectors. These were old used injectors from a junkyard car, so they were a mystery if they worked properly or not. I ordered a set of re manufactured injectors and began to inspect the ones I had.

My 960 most likely had its still original injectors. I could tell because all 6 bore the “A” mark, meaning they were part of the first batch of injectors that Bosch made for this part #. The 850, had 5 “B”s, and we also had a few spare “E”s in the shop.

I made sure to mark the old and new injectors so that I could tell which ones I replaced and which ones were “new”.

After I received the new injectors, I took a look at the rest installed in the car and found what was most likely causing my issues, broken O-rings.

Most of the injectors had broken or no pedestal, and this one had a very damaged O-ring.

One thing I did note about the reman. injectors I received was that they were all from different batches. While I later learned that it doesn’t make a difference, it would have been a nice peace of mind. These fresh injectors were tested and had new hardware like rings and caps. They were installed without a hitch and it has been running without a hitch (fingers crossed).

Everything was going great for about 3 hours. Thats when I decided to take the car out to go grab some dinner. Arrive at the location, go to grab the inner door handle and POP, the handle went limp on me. It still actuated the door, however it was not returning into place. In my haste, I got home, grabbed my tools, and began to remove the door panel. Well I did this without a guide so I just brute forced the doorcard off, thinking it would be the same as my S60. Well I was wrong, it destroyed the clips at the bottom that have a pop out retainer on them which is easily removed from the door…

You live and you learn.

Well I did find the culprit to my issue. The spring in the handle had sheared clean in half!

Removing the handle on the 960 is an easy process and only requires a punch / screwdriver and a hammer. It is help in with a pin with the spring behind it providing a force to return the handle to its resting location. A quick trip to LKQ and I had a new spring ready to go. I also had to order new pins for the door, but for now it is solid with just the screws behind the grab handle.