On my '88 245....I go to take it to town the other day (It is my daughter's car) and in about a mile the temp is a 3/4 of the way up the gage. I turn around and it takes 2-3 qts of antifreeze and it still runs hot.

I limp it to town by coasting and shutting the motor off when going downhill.

After the alignment (the whole purpose of the trip), it runs hot, then it starts running normal, w/the needle in the center.

The antifreeze is a muddy/murky brown. I changed the timing belt 1,000 miles ago and it was green.

It has no water in the oil, or water in the ATF (my mechanic suggested that).

I think that it is a no brainer, water in the coolant and running hot equals a blown headgasket. But, why did it start running normal?

My mechanic says about 1,500 bucks to do the change. That sounds high, way high. He also says that he rarely sees a blown head gasket.

I am gonna do a compression test, and a leakdown test and go from there.

How hard is the job?

Is a blown HG common?

 

Take that compression test. HG are common related to overheating. Car needed 2-3 qts of coolant, not good. Murky brown, not good. May be the low/bad coolant made it run hot? $1,500 these days is not expensive for a HG job which is easy on a B230 as long as the head is undamaged due to overheating.

Change the coolant, run the motor, see what the temp does using a good thermometer, go from there.
(Water in the ATF causes transmission problems, not overheating!)

 

Keep in mind the 86+ 240 temp gauges are notoriously inaccurate due to the temperature compensation board - If it runs hot turn the heater on full blast to see if it cools down. What's the condition of the thermostat? A broken thermostat can certainly make the car run hot. A compression test may not detect a damaged head gasket - but sniffing the coolant bottle with a combustion head gasket test will tell for sure.

https://www.harborfreight.com/combus...xoCsNMQAvD_BwE

 

Well, I just did a Compression & Leakdown test and twernt good. They all have 55-60# on the 1st stroke. #1 has 105, 2&3 have115# and 4 has 130#. It gets better....on #1, when I put air into the sparkplug hole....I saw a wisp of smoke coming out of the oil cap. I could hear it leaking in there on several cylinders. When I put my hand over the hole for 5 secs or so, and then pulled it off...I could tell that I was holding back pressure and it would release a puff of air.

There was no air leakage anywhere else...but possibly between 1 & 2 cylinders.

It gets better....#4 plug (BTW, all the plugs were uniform in appearance) had AL around the threads....the top 5 or so and I couldn't get it tight, when I put it back.

The reason that he wanted me to check all the other places was because he didn't believe that it was a HG. He thought that maybe the ATF cooler was leaking.

Thermostat is good.

 

So, 105, 115, 115, 130?
I don't get any of the rest, the ATF cooler leaking?
"Top 5 or so"? Hand over the hole? Puff of air...
These are some tests I am not familiar with.

 

Sorry, I am extremely short winded and tend to give the REader's Digest version too much and not explain myself.

So, 105, 115, 115, 130? These were the results of the compression test.

The rest of the info, some of it pertains to the leakdown test. On a leakdown test, you set each cylinder at TDC and then put compressed air into the cylinder. The amounts of ring leakage is checked (you know how much air is put in, by PSI, and then you also measure how much air is retained ) and also you listen for leakage in the radiator (indicates blown HG leaking in to a water/cooling passage), valve cover (indicates blown HG leaking in to the crankcase...which is where my oil in the water is coming from), intake manifold and exhaust pipe (these last 2 would tend to indicate problems w/the valves...I had none).

You said...I don't get any of the rest, the ATF cooler leaking? I said...it has no water in the oil, or water in the ATF (my mechanic suggested that). I didn't expound...he didn't think that it was the HG, but that possibly the atf cooler was leaking (which they do, on old radiators). The ATF cooler is in the radiator, and if that happens, you'll have ATF in the coolant and coolant in the ATF.

"Top 5 or so"? Top 5 threads on the sparkplug had AL on them, from the head...it was stripped.

You said...Hand over the hole? Puff of air...I went back and edited that. When I put air in to #1, air came out the oil-fill cap's hole. When I put my hand over the hole, to listen for leakage in other places...I noticed that I didn't feel any pressure buildup, but when I removed my hand, I could tell that air pressure escaped. IOW, air is leaking past the headgasket, in to the crankcase/valve cover, I can hear it and feel it.

 

OK, I get most of it.
The ATF is unrelated to the engine overheating, no way, no how! Coolant in the tranny will kill the tranny, the car still won't overheat. I don't see how half a competent mechanic would be going there...

The compression readings are not horrible but not optimal either. You may have bad HG based on all what you see...
I'd run the car again, get it to overheat by the gauge, AND make sure the gauge is accurate if it shows hot--use a reliable external thermometer.

Whatever you do, make sure you don't overheat it too much where you damage the head, that takes some attention and finesse. If you need a head gasket now is OK as the head is probably still undamaged due to heat and you can get away with simple HG change.

 

105 psi - that's just enough for that cylinder to run, and all are really too low - are you sure that's accurate?

Hand over the hole? Puff of air./air is leaking past the head gasket, in to the crankcase/valve cover, I can hear it and feel it -

No, your puff of air is not coming from a head gasket problem. If you look at a volvo head gasket there are water jacket holes all around the cylinders - the oil drain back holes in the head/block (which would be the only place your "puff of air" could leak to) are past the coolant passages, and past the head bolt holes - so if your "puff of air" is breaching the head gasket - it would be pumping air into the cooling system also - and the compression/combustion gasses would be pumping into the cooling system - and if that bad - there would be a geyser out of the coolant bottle simply spinning the engine over. (it's really fun to see, everybody in the shop has to come look!)

So - if you really want to replace the head gasket go ahead - sounds like you are talking yourself into that job. That won't fix the 105 psi in #1 cyl. #1 may be where your "puff of air" in coming from - past the piston rings. Do a cylinder leak down test as others have suggested, do a wet compression test, test for combustion gasses in the coolant bottle - brown stuff in the coolant could be transmission fluid, but that always floats to the top first and is usually red (unless you have nasty brown fluid, which is entirely possible on a xx year old Volvo)

For overheating, make sure the thermostat is not broken, make sure the temp gauge is accurate, make sure there isn't an aftermarket water pump with a broken plastic impeller. If still overheating in traffic on very hot days - turn the heater on full blast to see if it cools down. Clogged radiators prevent heat transfer (every 10-15 years) and require replacement to solve the heat transfer problem. Sometimes fan clutches won't turn on (misdiagnosed many times by my techs) because the radiator is partially clogged and is not transferring heat to the fan clutch. When they would tell me one was bad I would take the one off my car - they would try it and then find the real problem.