Hi,

My timing belt tensioner failed and I believe my engine (base non-turbo) needs to be replaced.
I'm looking for donor vehicles, does anyone know what years and models are compatible?

Thanks!

 

There isn't a wide variety to choose from like with the 850s. You need a '99 or 2000 non turbo engine to make it plug and play.

If it was just a tensioner failure I would be inclined to re-work the head and replace the bent valves on the engine that you have.

...Lee

 

Thanks Lee.
So 99-2000, s70, v70, xc70 non-turbo are all compatible?

I would prefer to rework as well rather than replace with an engine I'm not familiar with.
How can I assess how bad the damage is? I was under the impression that the damage may be much worse than bent valves.

Thx

 

Let's back up and get the whole story. I may have commented on your problem earlier but I comment on dozens of things like this across several boards every day.

If it was just the tensioner that failed then there is a very good chance that the damage is limited to the head and it can either be reworked or a rebuilt purchased in the $400 to $500 range. That number may be lower if you have a good local machine shop and it may go a bit higher, when freight is added in, if you buy a rebuilt from someplace like Clearwater Cylinder Heads. You have the freight coming in and the freight to return the core. The head is fairly heavy so the freight will add up. In either case you are looking at a new head gasket and a seal set as well as new head bolts. Many say that you can re-use the head bolts, once, but for $30.00 or $40.00 worth of bolts I'm not going to chance it on a project of this scale in terms of cost.

If, on the other hand, the car blew a coolant hose and was severely overheated then the certainty of the damage being limited to the head goes way down and you can run into stuff like scored cylinder walls, broken pistons, or a cracked block.

The only way to really know with certainty is to remove the head. It is a lot like unwrapping a Christmas present, you never really know what you will find until it is unwrapped,

Much of what needs to be done to remove the head will also need to be done to replace the engine so it isn't a total waste of time and money if you find that the engine is beyond economic repair after the head is off.

The more you can provide about the circumstances surrounding the failure the better we can guess.

...Lee

 

Here's the story regarding failure...
My kids were driving on the highway and the oil pressure light was intermittently going on. Suddenly there was a loud thump like the car had dropped and the car started smoking. THey pulled over to the side of the road. By the time I got there an hour later the engine had cooled. I checked oil, coolant and tranmission levels and all were fine. I looked under timing belt cover and could see that it was still there over the camshaft. I couldn't see anymore of it and didn't have any tools with me.
I asked my son to turn car over and when he did it made a loud banging noise. They towed to nearest shop and they called me the next day and told me the tensioner failed.
Timing belt, tensioner, water pump were changed a couple of years ago. Engine has nearly 90k miles on it

Thanks for your help.

 

Are you sure it was the oil pressure light?

If so that pretty much spells doom but, given that you had proper fluid levels in the car there really is no reason for the oil light to come on since the oil pump is driven by the crankshaft itself and not the timing belt.

Draining the oil might tell you a lot. If it comes out all oil and isn't coolant on the bottom of the sump pan then the block and the bottom end (crankshaft, rod bearings, etc.) are likely OK.

Back to you list of potential donor cars if you need to go that route, you have them right except for the XC, those all had low pressure turbos in them.

This cropped up on Craigslist in Kansas City a week or so ago:

***1999 VOLVO S70 PARTING OUT***

I don't know a thing about the seller but that is what you are looking for if you need an engine.

...Lee

 

Yup, pretty certain it was the oil light or at least that's what I was told.

I'll have it towed this week and check it out this weekend. I've been looking around for used engines in the Boston area.

I'll let you know how I make out.

Thanks

 

So I got the car towed back to my house and looked at the timing belt.
Tensioner appears to be ok and timing marks seem to be in sync (see attachments)
Not sure what the problem is...
Any ideas where to look? Should I take the oil pan off?

Thx

 

Well I decided to remove the head today to understand what really failed. Thanks to this link which really helped (Head Removal and Installation, Volvo 850 / S70 Turbo B5234T, B5254T, Head gasket replacement, valve replacement.)

I pulled the cam cover and cams didn't seem too bad but more sludge than expected. Also noticed some of the cam surfaces didn't look to good (see pic). All of the lifters moved freely.

I then pulled the head and the first four pistons looked ok but the fifth piston had some valve interference marks and I noticed it looked rotated. When I touched the piston the whole thing moved and rotated. Total disconnected from crank.
Piston walls and valves look ok despite damaged piston. I haven't removed the oil pan but I assume the crank is damaged from the piston flopping around.
Is it possible to just replace the piston or is the engine a total loss?
Any ideas what would cause this type of failure?

 

How does the cylinder wall look? If it looks good, without vertical scoring, you can likely get by with replacing the connecting rod, the rod bearings, and the piston. If the rod broke lower and tore up the crankshaft then it is pretty much "Game Over" for the engine.

Go ahead and pull the sump pan and have a "look-see". That is how you would replace the connecting rod and piston anyway, from the bottom - up through the sump.

...Lee

 

Piston wall looks good (picture is deceiving due to reflections).

I'll pull the piston from the top and/or pan to check it out tomorrow.

 

Finally took the oil pan out and pushed the piston out. Here's a pic of the broken connecting rod, piston and parts found in the oil pan.
Needless to say engine is done.

Question...my engine is a B5244S from a 2000 s70. Can I replace with any B5244S? I found one from a 2002 s60 that looks promising.

I found this list of vehicles with this engine
B5244S
Naturally Aspirated. The B5244S produces either 142 hp (106 kW; 144 PS) at 5400 rpm with 152 lb·ft (206 N·m) of torque at 3600 rpm, or 167 hp (125 kW; 169 PS) at 5700 rpm, with 170 lb·ft (230 N·m) of torque at 4500 rpm. It features intake cam VVT on 2000- models.
Applications:
1993 - 1997 Volvo 850 2.4
1998 - 2000 Volvo S70 2.4
2000 Volvo V70 2.4
2001 - 2003 Volvo S60 2.4
2001 - 2003 Volvo V70 2.4
1996 - 1998 Renault Safrane 2.5


Thanks

 

I guess that's what they mean when they say "it threw a rod". How does that happen?

 

Hey XRay, I have 2 questions I'd like to ask, hope you don't mind.

1. Do you know what octane fuel was run in the car when this happened?

2. Do you know if the car had a CEL light on before this happened?

Thanks.

 

The car was running 87 octane.
The oil light was on intermittently before this happened but no CEL.
I'm assuming the oil pressure was low and that's what caused the failure however when I pulled the cam shaft cover it didn't look as 'burned' as I expected nor was the oil pump clogged.

I'd like to replace with an 02 S60 B5244S engine but want to make sure it will fit.