Does anyone have any good tricks or tips to removing the gasket that goes between the block and water pump? I will need to pry the gasket off the aluminum water pump body. I need to re-do the water pump seals on my B23 and I am sure the seals will be pretty well stuck. I tried scraping the gasket off an old pump and I gave up. Any fast, clean method of removing this gasket?
Thanks!
Nick

I had a similar problem. Mostly in cold weather. If I let the car warm up without moving it, everything would be fine. If it was over 50F outside and I drove it, everything would be fine. If it was in the 40's and I drove it, it would try to overheat everytime. This was just after I changed the water pump and thermostat. On the advice of a local mechanic, I rotated the thermostat so that the little vent port on the stat was at the highest point. Apparently, the stat was getting air bound and not opening soon enough. Cold air flowing through the engine compartment cooled the stat housing just enough that the car would just touch the red on the gauge before the stat would open. Rotating the stat so that the vent was up allowed any trapped gas to flow through (like it is supposed to do). It hasn't had a problem since.

By the way, I use a plastic paint scraper (available at your local hardware store) to scrape gaskets on aluminum surfaces. It has enough oomph to really get the gunk off, but it's not hard enough to damage aluminum. They are cheap too!

chris

I hope your old gasket wasn’t glued on and it just falls off. I always use a light smear of RTV on both sides of the gasket. It is not too difficult to scrape off if you have to. Some prefer not to use any sealant or just use sealant on the pump side. Your call but do use a very little bit of RTV on the rubber gaskets.

My son had a mustard yellow 78 wagon. IIRC it is similar to the B230 pump. For the installation on B230 engines, I use a stick, from ground to the bottom of the WP. I just give a little body weight to lower the car and lift the pump. NOTE!!! Tighten all the screws and nuts equally, not just the ones at the elongated hole first.

Tom

Thanks for the tips. I will try the kerosene method. My reasoning behind the gasket replacement is this: after replacing the pump, the needle on the temp gauge would peak like the symptoms for a blown head gasket under the FAQ. I bought the NAPA tester and found no combustion leaks. I have since replaced the radiator and fan clutch, but no change in behavior. My theory is that one of the seals is not visably leaking, but will pull air in as the engine cools, creating an air bubble under the T-stat until the engine warms up. Sound reasonable?
Thanks,
Nick

Does the temperature gauge go immediately to the top? Has it registered normal temperature any time since the pump was replaced? You could have an air locked thermostat preventing the coolant from circulating. Usually a couple of cycles of starting and shutting down as the temperature gauge heads for the red will solve that problem.

Have you removed the temperature compensation board in the instrument cluster which gives you a more accurate gauge? With the board in place they can have a tendency to show overheating.

Good luck
Randy

Sounds highly illogical. What exactly are your car's symptoms?
Charles

From intial cold start, the needle will rise to about the 8 o'clock position and pause for about 10-15 seconds. The needle of the gauge will then rise to about the 10 o'clock position and hold for about 5 seconds. After this peak, the needle will stay pretty much in the 9 o'clock position. Every other 240 I have driven will only warm to the 8 o'clock position and stay there. I replaced the T-stat (Genuine Volvo) after the water pump, so that is out as a possibility. After the water pump and the T-stat, I squeezed the upper radiator hose with the expansion cap off until I could not get any more air bubbles in the exp. tank with the engine both hot and cold.
Also the car is an '84 and I do not believe I have the compensating board.
Nick

I have a 9:30 temp reading on my 86 245 pretty much all the time. Well the last fluid change I added water wetter and now it reads 9:00. But 9:30 is a perfectly normal temp reading year round for Inga. That temp would not even raise an eyebrow.

Have you considered the problem my not be under the hood but in the dash? By that I mean there is more to needle fluctuation than just temperature change. Not sure if your year has the infamous Temperature Compensator Board in it first of all. If so rip it out, add the jumper to 1 and 3 and never look back if you have not done so already.

It might just be is the voltage regulator on the back side of the instrument panel. In order to keep variances in voltage from affecting the gas and water temp gauge (also called a Temp Faker right there on the front) Volvo installed a regulator to clamp the voltage down and steady your gauge readings. Without that, as your Alternator Voltage changed, so would your dash readings. It is something like 10 volts, others with post the exact voltage I am sure. If there was something causing that voltage to vary, that would swing your gauge up and down also. There could also be a corroded ground someplace giving you grief. You could measure that by putting a DVM between the yellow wire connector and the block. Never have actually made that measurement but if that was the issue, that is where you would see it.

You might not have cooling issues as much as reading issues.

Just a thought anyway.

Regards,

Paul

I would guess the OP has an 83, or 84 based on the B23 remark. Those didn't have the temp comp board (Temp Faker) but certainly it could yet be a problem with the voltage stabilizer.

That yellow wire is a good (easy) place to check the regulated +10V. Just pull it off of the temperature sender on the head and measure the wire end to ground. If you measure it with it connected, you'll have a voltage less than 10 that runs lower with heat.

BTW, I used to wonder if we all agreed on where "9:30" was, so I measured the angles on that gauge. Pretty easy while yanking out the temp faker board. The scale extends from 8:00 to 10:00. 9:30 is just below the red.

My kid bought me an IR thermometer a few years ago, and of course, everything has behaved itself thermally for the most part after adding that to the arsenal. Here I am playing with it on a 940.




--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

Thanks for the continued advice on the cooling system issues I have been having. I know my engine wiring harness is crumbling and that is slated for replacement(Ouch! The B23 harness is salty!). I was wondering if I was getting voltage cross-over under the harness.
Art, is the 200F degree reading fairly typical? Where is the IR thermometer pointing to? I remember mine would run around that in the middle of the summer at the top of the radiator.
Thanks again,
Nick

Hi Nick,

I use Paul's technique on the block side. I'd guessed you were talking about the pump side, something I'm doing also this week. Nothing fast and easy about it, because the soft aluminum will certainly get a gouging with a slip of the razor blade or hardened scraper.

What I am doing and have done in the past, is soak the pump face down in a shallow pan of kerosene. An old credit card (or borrow the Mrs.) is a good tool once it has softened. Still there are stubborn areas if the last person used gasket sealer (I don't) that just need elbow grease and a careful use of sharp tools, wire brush, Scotch-Brite, etc. It all makes you aware of the money and metal you're saving by not replacing a pump that still has a tight bearing and seal.

I've tried the methylene chloride gasket remover spray. My opinion is the results do not justify the health risks.

Once you get the block/pump interface squared away, get a mirror and check out the head.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

A banker is someone who lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining, and who asks for it back when it start to rain.

You do not have to pamper that engine block like you do AL surfaces. With that said, you could get after it with a scraper like you would use to remove stickers off the glass on your car. I had one with a razor blade on a handle that made short work of the old gasket.

Be sure to give the pump a push up be before you tighten any of the nuts or bolts.

Since I was solo on my last one, used a long stick with a v cut in the end. Put the stick up behind the front pulley and slowing raised my jack until the pump moved up just a bit. Did the trick, just enough pressure to hold it in place while you tighten.

And you do not need a lot of gasket compound on there. Just a light glaze to hold the new seal in place while you snug up and tighten up.

Regards,

Paul