So here’s my story:

Back at the end of April my Volvo’s engine threw a rod after 289,000 miles, so obviously I can no longer drive the vehicle. As you can see from the pictures, it’s an absolutely beautiful car but it won’t move an inch. Chances are, I’ve got a loose rod or piston in the engine but I haven’t had my mechanic verify that. I’m confident in saying that’s the problem because my mechanic suspected a loose rod and/or piston once I specifically described how the car started losing power and then wouldn’t restart after I turned it off.

This 240 has quite a bit of sentimental value to say the least. My parents bought this car when they were planning on having me and I came home from the hospital in it. This is the 1st car I learned to drive on (and drive stick shift) and I took it to high school every day of senior year. In college, I drove this Volvo 500 miles to and from home a couple times a year. To say the least, this vehicle was my girlfriend before I had a girlfriend.

Besides the engine (which is really the most important part), this car is in impeccable shape. The clutch has plenty of life left and the timing belt was just replaced back in December. The AC system was completely overhauled from R12 to R134 5 years ago and the fuel pump is less than 2 years old. The car has plenty of life left if only it had a working engine.

What should I do with my baby?

Should I try to get the engine fixed or would it make more sense for me to swap in a used one or even a new one?

Should I try to sell the car as is? If so, how much do you think I could get for this vehicle given the condition of the engine?

 

Put a used engine in it--plenty of them out there! And this time make sure you do regular oil changes with a good filter.

 

a broken piston rod would make a hellaciously loud clatter as the engine shudders to a stop. it would be easy to diagnose, do a compression test on all 4 cylinders, the one with the broken rod would have zero compression at all as the piston would no longer be moving. I'm really not sure how a mechanic could come to that conclusion based solely on loss of power and no-restart symptoms.

if it really is a blown anything in the bottom end of the engine, what lev said, find a B230F from another volvo 240/740/940 non-turbo, and swap it in.

 

Yea, valid point... Just because "losing power", etc, means nothing! "threw a rod" is a serious thing and usually said rod is sticking out of the motor somewhere in a cinematic fashion! B230 are not known for throwing rods--diagnose further before hunting a new engine!

 

those symptoms could also mean that you have a broken timing belt ... so you
need to investigate much further before deciding what to do.

 

Thanks so much for all the input guys!

Silvermine, great point about the timing belt as I hadn't even considered that. I had it replaced back in December but that doesn't mean nothing is wrong with it.

I'll definitely do some more due diligence on my end. Once again, I appreciate all the advice.

 

well i saw you got the t-belt replaced but as you say that doesn't mean it didn't fail or jump a tooth. it is easy to check that.

will the engine turn over? is there any oil in the crankcase?

 

indeed, does engine turn over smoothly when its being cranked? if so, pull the oil cap and have someone crank it, and see if the camshaft is turning, if it is, the timing belt is at least still connected

compression test all 4 cylinders.

verify you have fuel pressure when the car is being cranked (the fuel pumps only run when the engine is actually turning over, and not when its stopped).

verify you have spark when you crank the car over.

pull the timing belt cover and verify the timing belt marks line up when the engine crank mark is turned to TDC

 

Over the phone diagnosis is ****. So can internet diag.

It could be a million things from Intake hose falling off, to fuel pump relay, to dead mice in your airflow meter! who knows!? Pics of engine bay


Unless you hear knocking. Your engine is ok. There is a yellow/blue test wire at firewall. Add 12v to it from battery and see what happens. (With your hands and hair away from the belts! )

 

So a Volvo enthusiast buddy of mine helped me test some parts and most everything seems to be working well.

The engine is trying with all its might to turn over but there's definitely something loose in the engine compartment. The sound mirrors what you would hear when you've got something rattling around in a washer or dryer. The t-belt and fuel pump definitely work from our diagnosis so I still need to do a compression test to determine the source of the problem.

I was thinking of just renting a compression kit from AutoZone but I'm reading terrible reviews online. Is that a safe bet or should I just purchase one outright elsewhere?
Any particular brand(s) of testers I should be looking for?

Also, can I get away with a tester gauge or do I need a full kit?

 

Absolutely cannot hurt anything much more to go pull the plugs and look into the bores the best you can and look for damage and then spin it around a few times with a rental compression guage.

You could also pull the oil cap and make sure the cam is spinning.

 

A few weeks ago a guy on Craig's list had a '93 240 in excellent condition minus the motor that he had just blown - he only wanted $650 for the car. the car was just in excellent condition otherwise, I had even price a replacement engine from the local Pick a part wrecking yard, they had a replacement 240 2.3 1993 motor with supposedly 140,000 miles for $300 already pulled out and ready to be installed. Just my luck someone else beat me to the car. But you can see a replacement motor is not that bad of a price.
so I would pull the plugs, pull the valve cover and see if the cam is intact and not broken. you can do the compression test then.

 

Fix the car. Doesn't she deserve it for everything she has done for you? Sometimes family members get sick and you have to nurse them back to health. Your love for her will only deepen after you have come through this crisis together.

 

So I finally got around to doing a compression test on the engine. Even before doing the test, I discovered that one of the spark plugs was pretty damaged from something inside the engine. Unfortunately the first cylinder tested had no pressure whatever and the last cylinder had almost no pressure.

I've decided to simply swap in a used or rebuilt motor since I'd probably spend more money trying to fix the current motor. Any recommendations on where I should look for a good used or rebuilt engine?

Also, are there other parts I would need to replace if I'm swapping in the same type of motor?

Any thoughts or suggestions here are much appreciated!

 

pity the engine is toast... see post #2 of this thread!

 

you should be able to swap any 240/740/940 non-turbo B230F engine from about 1985-1995 onto a 1987 240. A 740/940 will have a plate where your distributor is, and the distributor on the back of the camshaft, behind the head, your engine has a 'plug' where that camshaft distributor goes, just swap that and your 240 distributor onto the 740/940 engine.

a 1989+ engine has LH 2.4 fuel injection, just swap your LH 2.2 injection stuff, along with wiring harness onto it. manifolds, everything else are pretty much bolt-on to any of the same engines.

Me, I'd look for a clean well maintained recent rear-end or side-impact wreck in a pick-n-pull junkyard, and get the engine from that, as its more likely a well maintained engine if the car itself was kept up nicely.