1998 C70 Coupe, 2.3L HPT, 220k

Been loosing coolant for a while now, stopped all the leaks with new components, but the coolant loss has only accelerated. Came close to overheating, but never had a full event. Stopped driving the car and ordered tools and parts.

Replacing the head gasket over the long labor day weekend. I have some questions for the experienced folks. Will spawn some sub-threads for the major questions.

I have been using this pictorial and textual guide.

Posted for the benefit of the next person facing this repair.

Here are my key observations in-addition to the notes in the linked guide.

1) Getting the turbo on/off can be a nightmare.
Unbolting the Air Injection Valve will make getting the turbo loose substantially easier. DO NOT remove the rigid coolant pipe from the turbo. It makes it a bit unweidly, but getting that connection and the two copper crush rings back in place is almost impossible. Leave it be, or you'll be cursing a lot.

2) Expect the turbo oil drain pipe o-ring to be destroyed. Order a new one along with the oil pipe-to-turbo gasket.

3) Get all new manifold nuts. The stock nuts are a special oval-thread locking nut that is next to impossible to remove. DO NOT RE-USE them - you *will* regret it. Get 10 for the manifold, 4 for the turbo-to-manifold, and 3 for the turbo-to-downpipe. So order 20 to be on the safe side. These are M8x1.25

4) Expect the manifold studs to come out of the head when you remove them. Expect the stock manifold nuts to be welded to your studs and expect the nuts to destroy several of your manifold studs when you try to remove them. You'd be wise to order 10 new studs (Get full-thread studs, DO NOT USE PARTIAL THREAD STUDS!!!) and plan to replace them on re-assembly.

5) Do NOT try to remove the turbo flange studs from the manifold. These are special studs that are not designed to come out without doing serious damage to the steel of the manifold. Ask me how I learned that...

6) When reinstalling the manifold nuts and studs, do not worry too much about driving the stud into the "bottom" of the head. The odd design of the manifold nuts appears to be designed to drive the stud in to the ideal depth before torque is sufficient for the manifold nut tighten down against the manifold washer. This only works with new manifold nuts...

7) Original manifold nuts have a 13mm head. New replacements from FCP are 12mm.

8) Install the manifold studs by hand into the head BEFORE you put the head back on the engine block.

9) Clean the headbolt holes in the block before re-assembly. DO be sure to soak up any oil/water/degreaser than might be down there. If you do not, your headbolts will return a false torque reading. I wasted a whole set of bolts learning this lesson.

10) Plan to replace vacuum lines, elbows, and wiring insulation when you have the engine apart.

11) Replace/Renew your PCV system while you have the head apart. It will never be easier than now

12) while you can blow-torch old copper gasket washers and let them cool to restore them to like-new performance, the aluminum crush ring on your oil drain plug will MELT under heat. Don't bother trying to save it, have a few replacements on hand.

13) Now is also a good time to add IPD blue poly engine stabilizer bushings.

14) Getting the timing *wrong* is a LOT harder than you might think. if the engine sounds like a tractor, then problem is not the timing, it's an issue with the exhaust system.

15) Don't worry too much about keeping the Camshafts immobilized. They are marked on the ends with codes that contain I (intake) or E(exhaust) and they are NOT that hard to put back correctly.

15) Unless you've done this repair before (on a Volvo whiteblock engine!!!), expect that this repair will take several days to perform. It will likely take a couple weeks if you have to order even a couple additional gaskets, bolts, buts, studs, or OEM/Dealer parts. Have NEW Studs, Nuts, and Gaskets on hand before you start the repair.

16) expect something else (plastic or rubber) under the hood to break while you are performing this repair.

17) You *CAN* do this repair yourself. To make it less painful, you should seek the advice of someone who's done this repair before.

Buttoning my 2.3L whiteblock engine back up after a headgasket replacement.

Follow guidance to torque headbolts (in proper pattern) to 15 lbs-ft, then 45 lbs-ft, and then use a torque angle gauge to tighten to 130 degrees.

Used a 1/2 drive torque wrench for the first two passes. Followed up with the Torque angle gauge. Things did not behave as expected - of all 12 bolts, only two creaked and groaned as I tightened them to 130 degrees. The torque angle tool seems to be a one-shot twist. I can't reset it like a torque wrench and re-check the value.

All bolts were oiled up, but only a couple bolts presented me any sort of groan/pop during the final angle-torque.

I can't figure what's happened here. I'm worried that several of my head bolts are too loose and I need some way to check them.

Does anyone know what the final torque reading should be for these bolts? I can't finish reassembling the head until I know that these bolts are uniformaly tight.

I tried re-setting my torque wrench to match the "tight" bolts and managed to get a few others to squeak at 90 lb-ft. Several are still turning w/o a whole lot of resistance. These are supposed to pop and stretch, right?

I am VERY worried about stripping out the bolts (aluminum block/steel bolt).

I decided it was entirely too risky to deal with bolts of unknown torque.
I have a spare bolt set, so I removed all 12. $30.00 is not worth the total cost of this "experience"

All the bolts came out *very* easily. The ends had an odd mixture of oil and water and I'm failrly sure this was the problem.

I'm going to expend more effort and time clearing the bolt holes before I try again.


My additional seals and rubber arrived from FCP today. As soon as I sort the turbo install, I'll be ready to go.

... and of course, now it's raining. 102 a week ago and now it's 70 degrees and raining. Screwed up weather. Gotta love climate change.

Did you use new bolts? If not, you likely won't get the desired torque-to-yield stretching effect as they've already been stretched - maybe even twice if the PO did indeed have the head removed.

Chris, thanks for the response.

Yes, I did use 12 new bolts. I actually have two sets.

The only thing I can think of is that I didn't chase the threads on the head. I just dropped the oiled bolts in and torqued them in the correct order. Some are stretched tight, other can be tightened w/o squeaks or groans. Something must have caused a false torque reading on those bolts. I'm half tempted to remove them all and start other with the spare set. However if they don't torque up either, then I'm doubly screwed. Right now, They are all torqued up to about 90 lbs-ft. Only a few started groaning, about half are tight but not stretched, a few more could be torqued further.

Are there steel inserts in the block to take the bolts? I'm concerned that continuing to tighten bolts that won't groan is setting them up to strip out of the head.

Aside from some new oil seals for the Turbo-Block pipe, this is stopping me cold.

"...Are there steel inserts in the block to take the bolts?..."

I've never pulled a head on a white block, and from what I'm reading in your thread, I don't think I ever want to. But I doubt that there are steel inserts in the block.

Besides lubing the threads, do you also lube under the bolt head shoulder to minimize friction betwen the under side of the bolt head and the aluminum head surface? (I'm asking out of curiosity more than authority.)

After getting "deeply" into the motor, I can say it's not particularly difficult (aside from maneuvering in the small space) and that the engine really starts to look familiar once all the other junk has been moved.

The learning curve here is pretty steep. Lots of little pieces of weirdness have come to light. For example. The turbo/exhaust manifold flanges. The turbo has them on the top. The exhaust manifold has them on the bottom (instead of all four being on one side. They will back out easily of the turbo flange, but the manifold has special bolts that don't back out - until you actually *do* back them out... then it's too late.

- Most of the rubber elbows will tear off if you try to remove them.
- Everything is far filthier than one could ever expect.
- Clamps and bolt heads are inaccessible by adult humans.
- Getting the Turbo off is a rube-goldberg experience. Everything is bolted to everything else.

Frankly, I've gotta wonder what Uncle Olaf was thinking when the FWDs were designed.

If I manage to pull this off, it will be worth it. If not... my sanity will be the cost.

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Also, I dipped the bolts up to the head, into new motor oil. There should have been plenty on the head when I dropped them in.

I've posted for help over at MVS, as they seem to deal with Whiteblock Engines more often. Maybe I'll get some advice that will let me wrap the car back up...

I forgot to mention - maybe someone else has....

Since you have separated the sprockets from the cams, I believe there is a tool that attaches to the cams on the LH end (drivers side) that holds them in the proper rotation so that you can secure the sprockets in absolutely the correct relationship. They'll likely mention it over at MVS.

Trying to re-install the sprockets based upon the imprint of the bolt heads on the sprocket face seems a bit iffy. Not that it creates enough error to cause an interference hazard, but even being off 1 degree can effect performance.

You might ask about that tool over at MVS if nobody there mentions it.

The block. I rubbed it down with a shop rag to remove the crud from the combustion chambers. I have since cleaned it up with Acetone.


Underside of the head. I've been cleaning it up since taking this pic.

I see no evidence of a major breach and have no plans to have the head machined.
The "wear" on #3 exhaust look a bit different.

The top side of the head gasket was uninteresting and appeared to be in fine condition. I've taken no photos of it.

However, flipping the gasket over, there are some obvious potential trouble spots.


A close up of #3 reveals the problem.


Pretty sure this is how my exhaust gases were getting into the cooling system.


I've used a straight edge on the head and am fairly confident that there is no warpage. It lays true along several points down the length of the engine head. The engine never really overheated, so I'm not surprised. But regardless, I'm crossing my fingers that I can just bolt it all back up and go...

I've just completed a careful head removal. Getting to those exhaust nuts and bolts turned out to be a real challenge, but I finally finished the task. The lower water pipe bolt was also a challenge in working blind.

I carefully levered the head off and transferred it to a flat cardboard box. I took a look at the valve surfaces and they all look pretty good. But I think I know why.

There's a sticker on the computer box stating that the volvo dealer replaced the timing belt at 172,000 miles. I'm at 220k now, which should mean that that I have another 20k-30k miles on this belt.

Upon removing the head and starting to clean out the combustion chambers I noticed that there are a pair of deep marks on the frontward side of all five pistons. They are pretty clearly valve impact marks.

Checking the valves again, I can see nothing to suggest that *these* valves hit those pistons. My working theory is that the original owner let the belt snap and paid a pretty penny to put on a new head - that, or the car got a complete valve job.

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Head gasket failure is not obvious, but I see some evidence of trouble.

All the cylinders were carbonized on the top, but #3 came *really* clean with minimal efforts. The #5 exhaust manifold port has recent internal surface rust formation, all others were clean. #3 piston had some weird black carbon throughout. It's hard to describe, but was quite unlike the usual carbon build up one finds in a cylinder. There were also some places of odd build-up under the gasket.

Several of the exhaust manifold gaskets had broken also. I had to fish one little fragment out of the exhaust manifold.

I'll load up some pictures soon.

Those 'dents' in the piston crowns are factory. That is how much clearance there is!! Any valve that hit a piston will have a bent stem.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Really? they seem a bit irregular. Maybe it's just the carbon crud around the dents. I *did* notice that the engine in the guide I've been following has similar dents.

Well, no matter. The head is apart. I was working on cleaning things up before starting reassembly tomorrow.

A rainstorm sent me for cover (and a nice cold one) an hour ago.

I started using the copper gasket sealer on the ELWIS kit I got from IPD.

Had a similar problem with a '98 GLT that someone had overboosted. Believe it was number 3 cylinder that was clean also. Took the head in to my favorite machine shop and they did a complete valve job and made sure it was milled perfectly flat. No problems for a long time. It was not inexpensive and was time consuming, but worth it. I hope you take the head in for a complete going over by a good machine shop.

dick

Wish I could. Many factors dictate that I get the engine back together ASAP. Maybe I can grab one from a junkyard and have it properly machined.

You have a T5 engine, so you would need a head from a high pressure turbo engine.

The cold front came through this afternoon. Temps in the 60s tomorrow and highs in the low 70s for the next week. Hang in there.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Rainstorm shut me down pretty hard. Looks like I've got 10 or more leaks in my carport. Prepping the new headgasket.

No real plan to replace the Head unless this fix doesn't hold. I want to get this engine up to 300K.

Important Question - Do I grease up a new whiteblock gasket, as I would do with a redblock? I've sprayed down the new head gasket with the permatex copper gasket sealant. Unsure if that removes the need for grease...

Plan to begin re-assembly tomorrow.

No to grease, the copper coating should do just fine.

Any scoring on the old gasket? Any cracks in the block?

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Thanks to shipping delays from Hurricane Irene and FCP, I ordered a second head gasket and bolt kit from IPD. IPD was a little cheaper, but with second day air shipping - it came out about the same.

I got a full ELWIS kit (but no sealant) from IPD. I got a Elring Kit (came with sealant, but needed water pump and thermostat gaskets) from FCP.

I'd like to return the Elring kit and gaskets (as it was more expensive), but above all, I want to put the best quality kit on the car.

Elwis or Elring? Any difference in quality here?

I'm familiar with the careful way you have to treat valve tappets in a B18/B20.

Are hydraulic lifters similarly "worn-in" or can I just pull them all and set them aside until reassembly? The guide was unclear on this bit.

Thinking I should have ordered new ones. They all look to have some wear from the cam lobes...

That is a nice online guide, but much to much work!!! The crank sprocket does not need to come off to remove/install the timing belt. There is 'just' enough room to slide the belt out once the silly cover is off. The new belt goes on easier.

No need to remove the fan either.

The cam sprockets stay with the cam.

If anything looks rusty, dab it with PBBlaster.

A 3/4 crows foot works to release the serpentine tensioner. Do not forget to pin it.

Do not mess with the engine mounts! You are working on the other end.

I gave up reading at the cam gear removal section.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Fear not, I have not messed with the crank, engine mounts, or starter. Marking the position of the cam ends seemed more than sufficient for re-assembly - I think the guide-writer was a paranoid about those cams...

My IPD parts and tools arrived yesterday, and I used the serpentine belt tool to remove the belt, and the cam locking tool when I removed the cam gears.

The gears were marked with a paint mark, and I was able to put the cam back on the way they were. Small marks on the gears show me where the cam gears were positioned.

Weird thing is that #1 TDC, the actual cam timing marks are not in the right place, but they were correct on the on the crank pulley and the water pump... so I'm somewhat confused. I used a wooden dowel in the #1 cylinder to determine when the #1 piston was at TDC, but perhaps it was on the wrong stroke? However, the Intake cam was horizontal above the center line, and the exhaust cam was horizontal below the center line. so I think I'm good.

I'm thinking that the previous owner might have pulled the cam gears and put them on incorrectly. That's one reason I'd like to know the guidance for getting these installed correctly.

I'll leave the turbo in place and shoot some photos once I get the head off - probably tomorrow. Temps climbed back up above 100F today and working outside is ill-advised.

This is the volvo guide on the job, it might provide you with additional help. It does have a picture of the cams that might help you put it on properly.

One thing that you MUST NOT DO is try to tighten the head with the head bolts. You need to use something to hold the head down then secure it with the bolts. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE HEAD DOWN WITH THE BOLTS. YOU WILL STRIP THEM, AND YOU WILL BE SCREWED. That's my warning..
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If you're not driving it "like its stolen," are you really driving?

I'm not quite sure I follow you. The head bolts are supposed to be tightened down in a sequence to apply the correct pressure to seal the head. I realize that this is an aluminum block and stripping is death. I've got a torque angle gauge and a torque wrench on hand for the job.

--edit---
OK, Klaus made your point clearer. I've got wood and a selection of pipe clamps available.

Thanks for the file link BTW. This should be helpful!

As of Friday 9/2/2011, this my main challenge and the point where the guide I've been using fails.

How do I remove the turbo and exhaust manifold properly? This is my first Turbo Volvo and I've never had to do this before.

Do I need to remove the turbo to get the exhaust manifold off the head??

--edit---
this link seems to be helpful...
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/download/file.php?id=411

First, the only reason to remove the turbo is to get room. You should already have enough room to move the exhaust header towards the firewall. Use PBBlaster.

Second, you should not have removed the cam sprockets. If you were careful, you can put the bolts back on in the same position. The holes are oblong because of timing considerations, this allows the timing to be changed and the only way it can be modified.

Use a zip tie to mark the exhaust cam, you do not want to get confused later.

If you have a hydraulic tensioner, compress it a little and shove a nail into the small hole to lock it into place. If you have the new style manual tensioner, order a new one.

The cam cover gets 'glued' to the head. Clean both surfaces with alcohol before mating. Use a very small foam roller to put the glue on evenly. It is thin and will not clog up any passages unless you pour it on.
The cam cover is what Tman is refering to, you can not bolt it down with the bolts. It must be compressed with a special tool - the valve springs will put a lot of tension on the cover.

Use new head bolts. Make sure the gasket is OEM and not Chinese.

Take a picture of the underside of the head so we can see the valves. And another one of the block with the old gasket in place, so we can see what you are up against.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Good news about the turbo. I won't mess with it.

Not sure how I could replace the cam seals w/o removing the cam gears...

You only replace the forward seals if they are leaking. Then you need to scribe the bolts before loosening them.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

I could not for the life of me figure out how to release the timing belt tensioner. Mine looks nothing like the one in the guide I've been following. (http://www.tracystruesoaps.com/tutorials/850hg/p1.html).

After I removed 40+ securing bolts on the top of the head, I was able to *very* carefully pry the the top of the head off. I noticed immediately that there is no gasket or sealant in the head - not even around the perimeter.

I purchased a tube of volvo liquid gasket for this project, should I apply a thin thin film of liquid gasket around the edged of the upper head when I reassemble the engine?

Obviously, one must take great care to avoid plugging an oil hole.

With the intake manifold off, I can see that the whole engine is grimy with oil/dirt. Could the engine crud be a result of lacking a seal on the upper head?

I was slightly horrified when I removed my cam gears to discover that they can be installed in any of three positions on the end of the camshaft. Now that they are off, how can I be 100% sure that I will get them back on in the correct position?

Right now, I *think* they are on correctly, but I need to be 100% sure when I put this all back together.

An added bit of screwiness is that the cam holes are oblong, allowing several degrees of rotation on each.