you definitely want to drench the head bolts in Kroil or similar and let them soak overnight, maybe even apply more after a couple hours.

and yeah, 12" isn't even really a breaker bar, mine are 18" and 30" (1/2" drive). worse case, you get out an air impact driver in reverse but then you probably should plan on buying new head bolts.

 

I only had a 3/8" drive on the breaker, so I didn't want to use a pipe. I gave it a bit of thought and came up with a solution: I pumped up the tires on my long-unused bicycle and booked it down to the local O'Reilly (closest auto parts store) and got there with 1/2 hour to spare. Picked up a 1/2" drive 18" breaker and a 1/2" drive deep 14mm six-point socket. When I got back home, I snapped them together and went at the bolts again. After a little grunting, they all came off sweetly.
I neglected to order new bolts when I ordered my gasket kit, and I'm not sure why. However, I'm reasonably certain that this hasn't been done on this vehicle before, and the Volvo specs say you can re-use them a maximum of 5 times. I'll still be measuring them for stretch. Anyways, now I'm REALLY spent and I'm going to bed. THANK YOU ALL for your advice and support. Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow...

 

You don't need new bolts. Measure them but highly unlikely they are stretched; since they sit in oil, youd never need to soak them before taking them off.
Why would impact wrench ruin them? That's what any shop would use.

Are you taking the head to a machine shop?

 

Thanks, I figured as much about the bolts, but I'll probably say a little prayer before I tighten each one anyways...
I don't think I'll be taking it to a machine shop unless it's obviously warped and re-using it as is would cause more problems than a new gasket would solve.

 

Oh boy, gasket off, and we have problems, I hope they're not major. I see a bit of rust scale that took a bit of a divot next to one edge, hopefully it's not enough to be a problem, and bits of the old gasket have stuck themselves pretty securely to the block surface right around where the old leak originated. I am going at it with a hard plastic tool, but they're pretty stuck. I'm going to fight off the temptation to get out a scraper and tell myself I'll be gentle...





I'm also seeing some minor rust scale in the water channels, I should do a flush after all is said and done.

EDIT: The rust spot that flaked off corresponds roughly to a space in the head, so I'm not so worried about that. What I am worried about now is all the gasket leftovers on the head surface. There is quite a bit, though the plastic tool seems to deal with it if I apply enough elbow grease. I don't want to measure for flatness until I get that clean.

 

You can scrape. Use common sense but a razor pass won't hurt it--those surfaces have to be smooth and clean!
Don't worry about those bolts, they are pretty tough!

 

I measured warpage on the head with two steel rulers using both sides so to eliminate if one edge was not as straight. 0.0015" feeler gauge would slip under with a bit of friction, 0.0020 would not. Bentley says it's warped if there's 0.010 gap the short way, and 0.020 gap the long way diagonally, so I got it beat by at least a decimal!
Finished cleaning and a final wipedown with degreaser and a clean cloth, dropped the new gasket on and went about getting it all buttoned back up. No bolts broke, but I seem to have lost an exhaust manifold washer. I had a spare, so that's good. Intake manifold was as much of a bear to get back on as it was to take off. I never ever want to do that again. So now it's all together but for a few things. Tomorrow I'll tension the belts back up, and put the valve cover back on. After that comes the "smoke test". Hopefully she comes through without a hitch.

 

Buttoned up the remaining steps this morning, topped up the fluids, and fired it up. I was mildly surprised that it started right away without a hiccup. Then took it for a test drive with my wife. It surged a bit sitting idle at the first stop sign, and it got slightly hotter than midway on the short bit of freeway we went on, but a few more stops and driving uphill mellowed it out; heat went to midway, and the surging stopped at the third light. The car sounds quieter, though, and no obvious leaks anywhere. We'll see how it goes after a week or two.

 

if this is an 89+ with LH 2.4, there's a limited learning capability in the ECU, where it improves running efficiency over the first 10-15 minutes of driving after an extended complete power down (battery disconnect)....

but surging idle usually suggests a sticky idle air controller.

the temperature gauge on the dashboard has a hysteresis 'compensator' circuit on it, so if the car is anywhere near normal operating temperatures, the needle sits flat in the middle' without any variations, it only goes above the middle when the engine is approaching overheating, and then it goes right up to the top.

 

That would explain why it stopped surging after driving for our approximately 10 minute jaunt. I figured as much, but wasn't entirely sure. It's a 1990.

If It acts up again tomorrow, I'll check this out.

My "temp faker" board was burned out, and a replacement I bought lasted all of a month (it was used, so not too surprised). Someday I'll get around to refurbishing them; apparently it comes down to replacing the LM2902N chip on the board. For now, I've jumpered the temp connection, so it behaves like a "normal" temp gauge and I actually like it better; see here: 240 Temp Faker. Normally, it's nailed dead center by the time I get down the on-ramp on my way to work, but if the coolant is low, it'll nudge upwards a tad. This time, it went up to about 3/4 on the dial when we came down the on-ramp, but settled back down to halfway once we got off on the next exit and turned back towards home. I'll keep my eye on things especially since this is my only car at the moment.