Well it took about three weeks, but I am finally finished replacing the head gasket on my 1992 240 wagon. Last night I double checked all the connections and added the engine coolant. Turned the key and the engine started instantly. What a great feeling to get this repair completed by myself and get everything back together and working again. I'll keep monitoring the engine and hose connections for any leaks, but so far the thing is running great.

Total cost was approximately $400 to get the head resurfaced, pressure tested, cleaned, new valve stem seals installed, and buy a bunch of replacement parts such as (head gasket kit, water pump, new heater and radiator hoses, timing belt, flame trap, a torque wrench, and such). So in the grand scale of things I saved $800 and got to know my engine a lot better.

Thanks to all who provided assistance, especially jorrell. Talking to him on the telephone gave me the encouragement to tackle the job myself. The knowledge and assistance on this website is fantstic.

Now to possibly fix the leaking rear main seal? I'm not sure I'm up to that just yet.

Best Wishes,

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Thanks for the thorough followup. I was about to do mine when you started yours and the $400 price tag has persuaded me to swap engines. I have multiple spare engines that will probably be wasted otherwise and there's probably less risk in doing the engine swap
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240s: 2 drivers and some parts cars

Jfh,

I've never pulled an engine before, so I'm not sure how much work is involved with that. I hope all goes well for you. I wish I had an extra engine or two laying around to mess with.

Out of the $400 I spent $180 for the machine shop to pressure test the head, check and resurface it, clean it up, remove carbon deposits, and install new oil seals and valve stem end seals.

I bought a new torque wrench so that was another $40.

The rest was all parts such as the head gasket kit, new water pump, and new timing belt kit.

It was a good opportunity to clean out the oil separator box and I was just due for the timing belt change anyways.

It was definitely a good learning experience and I'm so happy I did it myself. There really is a lot of room in that engine compartment compared to so many cars these days.

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I've done engines and I've done heads before. The engine job is easy. I have a good shop. The head job isn't bad either but more prone to errors and more time-consuming for me. And when you add $3-400 for the head job it's tough to justify when you have spare engines.

A couple of times I've manually filed & sanded heads to get them within spec but this is time-consuming and hillbilly stuff personified. It can work though.

The ~$300 is the key: I probably won't do a head job until I run out of good engines.
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240s: 2 drivers and some parts cars

Tom,

Congratulations on a successful HG job! Its amazing what a bit of persistence mixed with elbow grease can do! On the rear main seal, really the only way to do it is to drop the transmission, it is doable on a level surface with tall jack stands, but it is a real PITA.

jorrell
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92 245 250K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Now that I've cleaned the oil seperator box, put in a new flame trap, and corrected a partially clogged vacuum hose that goes to the throttle body/intake area, I'm hoping I'll have less pressure in the system and maybe the leak will stop. Fingers are crossed.

Did you check the valve cleance or did you put the Head back together with whatever tappets were in it?
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Nope Tony, I didn't check or adjust the valve clearance. I just placed the guides and discs in numbered bags and returned them to their original positions.
All seems fine. I drove the car Saturday on a 225 mile trip and all was well.

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Just curious, At 300K miles, I was thinking about doing teh Valve clearance for the first time. And was a bit confused about the procedure. Using a feeler gauge between a worn Cam and a worn Disc will not help me know what disc to replace it with OR does just the Cam wear??
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Tony,

The cam is mostly the wear item, so the feeler gauge will tell you what shim tweaks/replacements you need to make. Normally, replacing shims is only needed on a B230F if you have swapped cams or had the valves ground. The cam and valve train lubrication system is impeccable on a B230F... unless you overheat it or run it out of oil.

jorrell

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92 245 250K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Thanks Jorrell
I figured it had to be something like that. If both the Cam and Disc wore then you couldn't used a gauge to figure the replacement disc.

The book calls for valve clearance maintanence every 30K miles, I have 300K and when the engine is cold, they are a bit noisey. It's been floating around my mind to maybe slide feeler gauge under there and see what the numbers are.
I sure liked the Heads on my wifes '75 (before we were married) that had the very simple 'loosen the nut, screw down the rocker' type. 15 minutes and the job was done.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Tony,

I've never adjusted or measured the valve clearance, so I'm not sure. But from looking at my camshaft and the discs, it only looked like if anything was worn, it would be the camshaft. The discs looked perfectly flat with not really any wear spots. But I could be totally wrong since this was the first time I've ever taken a cam out.

Good luck.

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