So my head gasket has 238k on it. It's an 89 740 turbo. I thinking about a 4 hour drive coming in December. I don't want to loose the head gasket in the middle of winter in the middle of the desert. Should I worry about it? Can I expect to get 300k out of it, or should I replace it. I was thinking about an engine rebuild, but haven't gotten around to it. It may be next summer or a few years from now. I don't have any reason to suspect that it's blown, but it's getting old. Also, are the gasket set from FCP good? Or should I get from Volvo for twice the price?

 

It's lasted this long, what makes you think it will let go now? The biggest reason by far for a HG failure is overheating, so this being winter I'd worry a lot less than if it was summer. I wouldn't worry, just keep an eye on it which goes for any time you have an enthusiast car with miles...

As far as expectations, that's an unknown--it may go for a long, long time or go tomorrow. But that's true for any mechanical component... Just don't overheat it!

 

our 240 is on its original HG, and has at least 400K miles, and we've never babied it. its survived my wife's commuting, several teenage babysitters when our kids were little, both of our kids learned to drive in it, a year at my son's college, and now my daughter's regular use. oh, somewhere in the middle, I used it as my daily driver for a couple years while I fixed it back up a bit.

 

So the car has only over heated once maybe 10 years ago. That's because the plastic side of the radiator blew out at speed on the interstate. It probably never too hot. I am considering an engine rebuild. Are victor reinez just junk. Its the only gasket sets that FCP sells.

 

me, considering the amount of work involved, I'd probably get the volvo gasket set as I've seen enough non-volvo seals and gaskets fail. no experience specifically with the Reinez.

 

Okay, I was on the phone with FCP. According to the guy I talked to Elring is OEM for Volvo, but Reinez is OEM for BMW. He said that they are excellent. We'll see if there are anymore comments. I have a Carquest valve cover gasket on my car from when I checked valve lash and it's never sealed.

 

Man, I put over 400,000 miles on my Volvo 740, I wouldn't touch that thing. What I suggest that you do is replace any water hose that's over 10 years old and keep driving. You can do a compression test and that will tell you about the health of the motor. I'm serious, don't fix what aint broke.