New Volvo Owner. Need help with Project.
 

Hello VolvoFourms.

I am the proud new owner of a beautiful 2001 V70 XC 2.4T 165Kmi

This car has a really clean black interior with heated leather seats. Does this mean it has some sort of premium package or do all XC versions have all this luxury? I really like the car, but I have to say my favorite part is the price I paid for the car, 0. Free. Nothing!

That's the good news, lol. The Bad news is that I had to tow it home with half of the engine in the backseat. The story goes as follows:

Previous Owner is the original owner. It was in some sort of minor accident in which the radiator was damaged. The car was repaired at the body shop, but nobody noticed the radiator was damaged right away. It was driven and overheated at least once. The radiator was then replaced. After that, the previous owner was experiencing overheating and coolant loss (Head gasket). They took it to a local shop (not a volvo mechanic) to have it repaired. The shop determined the cylinder head was warped beyond re-surfacing (0.012").

They decided it would be too expensive to repair and offered it to me for free.

I have lots of home-mechanical experience. Including Cylinder Head removal and head gasket replacement on other (not volvo) cars. I'm not shy about getting my hands dirty. I don't have any issues with this project except that because I didn't disassemble the car, I will be confused at where everything goes, especially hoses and wires. I am hoping by taking pictures and using this forum, I can get it back together.

I am planning on getting a re-manufactured cylinder head from odessa cylinder head. Does anybody have experience with them? They seem to be the only place that has 2.4T volvo heads in stock. I have used a reman head on my Honda and it's still ticking 50k+ miles later. I'm planning on fabricating the special volvo tools.

I wouldn't bother doing this repair if the car wasn't in such good shape and so well maintained.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Does anybody know of a good place to get a cylinder head?

2. I'm worried about how to get the camshafts correctly in time. Is there a foolproof way to do this?


I'm sure I will come up with more questions as I go. 1st thing is to source a head.

Thanks in Advance for the help.

you can search car-parts.com to find a recycle yard that has the head to match your engine (look for the build plate to see which specific engine you have ie B5244T3 is the 2.4 low pressure turbo... ) - you can also see if anybody is parting out a V70 or an XC on Craigslist. Regarding the camshaft timing, its a bit more complex than say an 850T due to the VVT gear but there's enough write ups on line (search for timing belt replacement guides) and on Youtube to walk through it.

I ended up getting a reman cylinder head from clearwater cylinder head. I got the head installed and completed the process of getting everything back together. The hardest part for me was dealing with the exhaust side of the engine. I made the mistake of not putting the exhaust manifold studs in before the head was installed, so I had to unbolt the turbo and remove the exhaust manifold, install studs and reinstall the manifold. Figuring out the routing and install the misc turbo bits (coolant lines, oil lines, and vacuum lines) All of this took me quite a few hours. Most of my time was spend scratching my head trying to figure things out as I didn't take the engine apart myself. It was the most complicated and difficult puzzle I've ever done! Usually when I work on a new mechanical project, I say to myself that I could do the same job twice as fast next time. This is especially true with this project!

The cam timing was downright easy after watching you tube videos and reading forum write-ups. Intake side was easy also.

I decided to try starting the engine before installing the strut brace and upper engine mount. I filled it with fluids, gave everything a double-look to make sure I didn't forget anything and crossed my fingers......

The engine fired up right away on the first try! I was very excited and happy to hear the engine start so easily and run so smoothly and quiet. It's times like this when your self-confidence is at it's peak and you feel like a hero! Then, it all comes crashing down. (or should I say splashing down) when you quickly realize you have a substantial coolant leak.

I shut the engine off and took a look to try and figure out where the leak is coming from. After looking at the engine for a while, I concluded it had to be coming from either the water pump or the hard coolant line that bolts to the back of the cylinder head. (the one just around the corner from the water pump, next to the exhaust manifold). The coolant tank is clearly not the issue. The coolant is dripping down from the back (or left) of the timing cover. I looked at the waterpump from every angle, and I couldn't see where the leak was originating.

First, I tried to tighten the water pump bolts (none seemed loose). I thought that might have slowed down the leak, but that might just be my imagination.

I can't even see the bottom half of the coolant line flange on the back of the head to inspect it, but from what I can see, no leak is apparent. I also reached my had around that area and it seemed to feel dry, but again, I'm doing this blind.


I plan on replacing the waterpump and gasket, but I do have two questions.

1. Is there any other places in this part of the engine bay I should inspect for leaks? It's clearly coming from the engine itself near the waterpump or coolant line on the back.

2. Is it possible to remove the inner timing cover to get better access to the rear coolant line? Is it hard to remove the inner timing cover? the timing belt and water pump are currently removed.

Thank You!

You are going to need to deal with the cooling lines in the back of the engine. The turbo has cooling lines too.

These lines press fit into the cylinder head and are sealed with an o-ring then bolted in place. You probably don't have them connected properly.

tony1963,

Thank you for the reply. The leak is definitely not coming from the turbo or associated coolant lines. It's coming from the waterpump side of the engine. I will try to remove the inner timing cover to see If I can get a better look at the coolant line that bolts up on the back of the cylinder head near the waterpump.

I think that you need to reconsider whether the coolant tank is leaking. If you have a water pump leak, your coolant will be all over the timing belt and sprayed in the cover. It will also run down the inside of the timing cover. So, the question I have is do you have coolant inside of the timing cover, YES or NO?

Yes, there was coolant inside of the timing cover, on the waterpump.

I removed the inner timing cover and was able to see the coolant pipe in question. It was clear immediately that the hard coolant line was the problem. I mistakenly used a bolt that was too long on that flange. Because I couldn't see it, I tightened the bolt until tight. This flange would drip onto the inner timing cover and the waterpump. What I didn't realize was that I was tightening against the end of the threaded hole and not against the flange. I removed the bolt and replaced it with a shorter bolt, and that stopped the leak.

I got the last few odds and ends done and took the car on it's 1st test drive. The engine was running smoothly and quietly. I did notice a few concerning potential issues.

1st. The car is letting out a white-ish colored smoke from the tailpipe. At first I didn't think much of it because it's cold here (18F) and it's normal for cars to have visible exhaust when cold. Also, because the car hasn't been run in over a month and had the engine open for most of that time, I figured that some residual moisture/oil/grease on engine parts had to "burn-out". After my short 15min test drive, I still had more visible exhaust smoke then I would expect.

2nd After 10min of running I got a check engine light for a P0014 code, which i understand to be the VVT timing being too far advanced. How much off could this be? I certantly did mess with the VVT and am not shocked to see this code. I'm guessing it's not very far off as the car was running very smoothly.

3rd. The car had trouble staying at operating temp. It would warm up at idle (never above the 1/2 way point, but cooled down when driving. I would suspect a faulty thermostat, but may be related to above issues?

Ok, the smoke went away! It must of had a lot of water/oil in the engine or exhaust as it took a while to burn off.

I will re-time the VVT this weekend when I have more time. I'm also planning on replacing the thermostat because it's still having trouble keeping warm.


The only other thing I noticed is a light and random transmission clunk when sitting at a stop light in drive with the brake depressed. Is this normal? It didn't seem to do it while in manual mode. The transmission is butter-smooth otherwise. Shifts are very smooth.

You are going to need the timing tool in order to get this engine set up right. Those VVT units need to be at full stop when you time the engine.

Volvo Crankshaft Camshaft Cam Engine Alignment Timing Locking Tool Fixture Kit | eBay

Tony1963, thank you for the reply.

I have a question. I have a home-made cam holding tool. It works great. I have used three different techniques now to set the VVT and have got the same P0014 code every time.

I'm confused why I'm not able to get rid of the code. My thoughts are:

1. My cam holding tool holds the camshafts in-line with the cylinder head. Does the official tool not keep them exactly parallel? Or is one cam tilted slightly from "straight"? If so, that could be my problem.

2. I have another issue altogether. (cam sensor, VVT solenoid, etc...)