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Buying tips for 940T with 'bad head gasket'? 900

posted by  zeeko on  Fri Oct 19 11:13 CST 2018
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last visit: Fri Mar 28 10:03 CST 2014
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Hey all-

I'm going to check out a 93 940 turbo wagon with what the owner says is a bad head gasket.... He says that it overheated after some plastic on the radiator broke and he lost coolant, and after replacing the radiator, apparently there is 'bubbling' in the coolant reservoir. I think he said it is NOT overheating when he drives it.....

I guess I have a few questions-

1. Any words of wisdom on identifying how bad the head gasket problem actually is when I go to check it out? I.e. is it a cracked cylinder wall, is the bubbling in the reservoir normal? Is the HG even bad? What should I look for?

2. Difficulty? I'm no pro mechanic (I do most of the normal work on my 240 though), but I've always wanted to learn how to do a HG change and I've heard it's not too bad of a job on a redblock- i.e. pull the head, have it checked/skimmed and replace the gasket and bolts. How bad of a job would it be to replace?

3. Lastly, price. How much would you pay for something like this? I've debated just flying out to the west coast and picking up something in nice shape for 2k when this one popped up. He says I should be able to drive it 20 miles to my house and that it's in 'decent' shape....maybe some minor rust... He's asking for 800.

Thanks!

Zac








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    Buying tips for 940T with 'bad head gasket'? 900

    posted by  wally660 on  Fri Oct 19 15:18 CST 2018
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    last visit: Wed Oct 22 09:26 CST 2014
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    I would exercise some caution in purchasing the car and get a mechanic to look at it too.

    Aside from the head gasket, check out all the other "wear out" and expensive to fix items (timing belt, muffler, shocks, struts, a/c, etc) and make sure the vehicle won't cost you a lot to get back to satisfactory condition.

    If the vehicle is going to require much work (other than the HG), you might be better off waiting for a better alternative. I would guess if he's asking $800, you probably could get it for a little less, too.








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    Buying tips for 940T with 'bad head gasket'? 900

    posted by  someone claiming to be John McPhail on  Fri Oct 19 11:50 CST 2018 [RELATED]

    Did you look at the oil on the dipstick and under the oil filler cap? If it looks like a chocolate milkshake, you definitely have a blown head gasket and/or a cracked head.

    Bubbling in the coolant reservoir is not definitive for a blown head gasket - at least not in my mind - if it is the *only* symptom.

    Personally, I would take the car to a mechanic pre-purchase and have them use an exhaust gas analyzer on the coolant expansion tank. That will tell you for sure.

    If the head gasket IS blown, the repair is pretty straightforward, but one thing I would be concerned about is how long this guy has driven the car in that condition. If the coolant is contaminated, that could damage the auto trans if driven for a prolonged period of time.

    If you do it yourself, you might consider replacing everything on the front of the engine while you have it torn down - water pump, timing belt, tensioner, cam seals, etc. This would also be a good time to either clean the injectors or replace them. I'd also clean out the throttle body and flame separator since you'll have easy access with the head off.








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      Buying tips for 940T with 'bad head gasket'? 900

      posted by  spook on  Fri Oct 19 15:00 CST 2018
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      last visit: Fri Oct 24 08:06 CST 2014
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      Dear John McPhail,

      Hope you're well. A few months ago, I post-mortemed a Nissens rad, that I changed. The in-radiator ATF cooler is a foot-long, double-wall, hollow-core, heavy-duty copper tube. It has coolant pipe nipples brazed at the top and bottom of the cooler's outer wall. Hot automatic transmission fluid flows into the top nipple and cooled ATF flows out via the bottom nipple.

      It would take a great deal of force, to separate the coolant pipe nipple from the cooler tube. Thus, if the coolant pipe hex fitting (15mm, if I recall correctly) were solidly corrosion-bonded to the nipple, then not using a wrench to keep the nipple's brass hex nut from turning could damage the cooler itself or break the seal between the coolant nipple's face and the radiator's plastic side tank wall. If that seal (coolant nipple and plastic side-tank) failed, coolant would escape the radiator. However, seal failure would not allow coolant to enter the in-radiator ATF cooler.

      Absent that, unless the ATF cooler tube suffers a corrosion perforation from deteriorated coolant (as might a heater core), ATF will not become contaminated with coolant.

      As radiators need to be changed once in a decade (depending on climate), an in-radiator ATF cooler is unlikely to fail because of a corrosion perforation.

      Hope this helps.

      Yours faithfully,

      Spook







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