Hi,

I know nothing about these cars.

I am thinking about buying one that has 155000, clean. Really cheap.

Owner says in August compression was lost in cylinder #4.

He has AAA and can get it towed to my house or to a garage for free. Car runs but he removed the Cat converter to avoid damaging by the rich exhaust.

Normal wear & tear on the seats....etc. overall in decent shape.

Would the compression issue something that can easily be fixed by using the liquid additive "Restore", replacing spark plugs.?

How do I diagnose this and determine if it is worth the effort??

Please HELP me.

Thank you.

 

No.

You'll be pulling the head at a minimum.

You'll need to do a cylinder leakage test to determine where the compression is going.

 

Car has 157k on it, he wants $300 for it, maybe less and will tow it to my house. Is it worth it ?

What do you think cost of repair would be?

Thank you.

 

Depends on the repair.

New head?
Reman head?
Just valves?
Used head?

 

So is there an easy way to find out if it is worth getting this car?

What if it was free or close to it ?


So all these U tube videos about the additive "Restore" restoring compression is not true ?

 

You would need to find out what was wrong and then price the various options. A new head would probably be around $2800 in parts.

If you have a burnt valve, there is no magic liquid that fixes that. Low compression is a mechanical problem. Band aiding it is not going to fix it.

 

I buy stuff like this all the time. If I bought it, I would have another 99 V70 variant with a good (same) engine lined up for $500. Maybe two. These cars have tough engines, but because so many have death-by-heater-core-leak or death-by-timing-belt, you'd have to be selective. Basically you want to find a second car with electrical problems. This is the "easy way to find out" of which you speak. Get the solution lined up this way before you aquire the problem.

I would not take this car free thinking I would repair internal engine damage by purchasing engine parts one at a time. It's not worth it.

 

This is what the owner just told me:

"I had driven to San Francisco for work, car running totally fine. I parked, did a few things, and when I went to leave the car was having trouble starting, and when I got it started it was rumbling. I called AAA and got towed back to our mechanic in Santa Cruz. I'm not sure how it happened, it was running completely fine beforehand.

As far as I am aware that cylinder lost compression entirely? I think what we had been told is that it would need a new head gasket repair, which is only necessary for cylinder #4, but had also been recommended for all cylinders, if you want to go that route. We had our main mechanic look at it and then a second Volvo mechanic who did not tell us any new information"

What do you think, does this sound accurate to you?

How much does a head gasket job cost/labor ?

Thanks

 

I wouldn't trust that information. If they were told they just need a head gasket repair for cylinder 4 and not the rest, whoever told them that has no idea what they are talking about. The head gasket seals all 5 cylinders.

Labor for a head gasket would be in the area of 15 hours. Plus parts which would probably be around $800. And if its just a head gasket, you might want to have the head checked at a machine shop and remanufactured so it's good for another 150,000+ miles.

If you aren't doing the work yourself, this is probably not worth it.

 

Yes I am aware that a gasket would be for all cylinders, I was relaying the info.

Since they had 2 mechanics see the car I would assume the gasket needing a replacement is accurate.

It takes 15 hrs to replace the gasket on this car ??

 

What it takes and what it pays are not the same thing.

I doubt it's just a head gasket. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. If you're paying to have the work done, this car probably isn't worth it either way.