Did full engine block gasket replacement
cyl head
valve oil seals
cam seal
crank seal
intermediate cam seal
front block gaskets hell all dam gaskets....even injector seals...ALL OF THEM
ALL THE GASKETS YOU CAN THINK OF...
Clutch job
ujoints
motor mounts
trans mount
diff gear oil
both fuel pumps
fuel filter
alternator
radiator
hoses
tune up & wires, cap, rotor
timing belt
and many other repairs


Why?

coolant in oil due to original cyl head corrosion beyond repair...when I took off the Original heads the gasket was fine but all the ports on the head were giant holes....heater hoses were slit at local junk yard by thugs and slightly over heated. came out of the junk yard and hood was open...overheated a little until I got to my house some 20 miles away.

1) ordered gaskets and bought a used cyl head....
installed everything and about 10 minutes of driving temp surged to red line in a bout half a second....CLOGGED RADIATOR...COLD TO HAND TOUCH...
WHITE SMOKE AND WATER DROPS...
took heads off and noticed head gasket was intact???????????

2) bought new radiator and new cyl head and new gasket.....installed them about 2 hours ago and ran fine for the first 10 minutes NO OVER HEATING AT ALL...AGAIN NO OVERHEATING...BUT WHITE SMOKE AND WATER DROPS....
TOOK IT ON THE FREEWAY AND YOU CAN'T SEE SMOKE (because of speed)
AND HALLS A$$ NO HESITATION AND IT FEELS STRONG....PARKED IT AND DETERMINED THAT THE FIRST USED HEAD IS FINE AND THERE MUST BE A CRACK IN THE BLOCK......

YOUR OPINIONS PLEASE.

 

"coolant in oil due to original cyl head corrosion beyond repair...when I took off the Original heads the gasket was fine but all the ports on the head were giant holes....heater hoses were slit at local junk yard by thugs and slightly over heated. came out of the junk yard and hood was open...overheated a little until I got to my house some 20 miles away."

I am sorry but I read this passage may be ten times and I have no idea what it is saying... Ports in the head were giant holes? And the car was running? The car overheated. When? Thugs opened your hood at a junkyard and slit the hoses? So, you drove 20 mikes with the slit hoses? Overheated again?

 

 

I was at a local junk yard
two guys drove off fast away from my car...hood was open..police did not catch them.
I inspected the car...and found nothing.....UNTIL LATTER...RAZOR SLITS ON HEATER HOSES...THE TWO PUNKS WERE 2 50 year old mechanics driving a Volvo s70 convertible...THEY FIGURED I WOULD BREAK DOWN TWO BLOCKS AWAY AND JUNK THE CAR SO THEY COULD BUY PARTS THEY NEEDED...while at the junk yard taking off parts from an 82 242 Wagon they walked by pissed off that I had gotten to the car before them....THAT'S MY PERRY MASON CRAP.
drove home and noticed temp went up a little past middle....
second day driving
temp climbed almost to red...parked immediately
third day driving
went to start it and drove off one block...temp went up (no red line) engine started to sputter...and sputter....turned around and parked...a day went by and when I did a good all around check and unscrewed the oil cap...I had chocolate milk.....BADDDD...!

Took off cyl head
old cyl head ports were not tear drop shape or normal shape...but giant holes...edges disintegrated to giant holes...IN THE PAST I FEEL THAT THE ENGINE HAD OVERHEATED AND OWNERS JUST SLAPPED A NEW HEAD GASKET...AS THE HEAD GASKET WAS FINE...from previous experience with Aluminum cyl heads...the aluminum becomes brittle when over heated...

New used cyl head on
New gaskets
drove about one block and temp went to red line in one freaking second..NOT A LIE...
all fresh fluids....immediately white smoke came out as I pulled over...
STUCK THERMOSTAT....cooled off...drove one block back NO AAA...took everything off again...

bought second cyl head
New cyl gasket
left thermostat off....NO OVERHEATING..
Started right away...strong....took for a spin...and about 10 minutes just before getting into the freeway it started smoking, white with water drops, can't go right or left but right into the freeway...so went through all gears fine,(no overheating) hit 75mph...just fine....did't skip a beat.....

parked in driveway and CONTEMPLATED MANY THINGS....old cyl head bolts stretched out too much due to age and over heating...crack in block that only opens after engine gets up to temp....NO OIL MIXED WITH COOLANT VISIBLY ANYWAYS...I KNOW YOU CAN DO A TEST ON THE COOLANT TO SEE IF THERE IS OIL OR VISE VERSA????????

 

Well, OK.

You can measure the bolts for stretch, overstretched bolts will make the head not sit right and let the new HG do its job.

A cracked block is hard to diagnose without some pricey equipment... But you have tried two heads already, so the block being bad looks like the only answer. A minute crack may not even be visible but may be big enough to let gases or fluid seep through under pressure.

 

I was yesterday reading Tech Spec's for various long life coolant anti freeze products and it was stated that it was critical to avoid any air locks in the engine block and heater core when refilling as these can result in the outer wall of the block cracking at points where the water jacket cavity and the outer wall is lessor in thickness, perhaps as yours has done.
Aluminium blocks would be especially more susceptible to this risk.
The head job you did may have been okay overall but if you did in fact have an air lock and not realised it, the damage may possibly be a result of exactly that???

 

time to find a 90s b230f and transplant it?

 

Air lock answer sounds good....first time hearing about it.

90's B230F...I wish...I moved and don't have a damn place to work on my car....I'll have to convince my Aunt to let me use her house garage...But knowing her, she will ask me to shave her back for her...........................naked..............s he's 66.....

I'll try some new bolts and see what that gets me....I'll post it immediately if I get a good result.

Thanks for your replies

 

Measure the bolts first, they are overstretched or they are not! If they are not, don't waste time and money on new bolts, HG, etc.

Air pockets are not that common, some cars are more prone to getting them than others... Volvo motors are not that known for that as the cooling system is pretty straightforward: I guess it can always happen. Whenever I do the cooling system I always "burp" the hoses, the radiator, whatever is available and make sure there is flow by running the heater and assuring that it gets hot. I also will fill the engine through the top radiator hose, and slowly. Usually an air pocket will develop if the block was totally empty, just doing a head swap should not empty the entire system.

BTW, the b230 blocks are not aluminum... They are iron with an aluminum head.

 

I empty the block of coolant as well because when you pull off the heads there is always oil/coolant going everywhere.....

I used the block drain plug on exhaust side....

by burping the hoses do you mean squeezing them until they have fluid?

I know, red blocks are cast iron...

I'll measure the bolts....let you know what I gather....Thanks again

 

Was aware that your 242 has a red block(iron) as opposed to a blue(alum') but it appears it can occur in either.
Is true that alum' blocks wold be more susceptible.
Given you have gone to considerable effort and expense thus far without success my earlier post was simply to offer an alternative, if less likely reason for this having happened.

 

???

I Concur with your final analysis...after all done...I come to the conclusion that the block is my problem....thanks again for the input.

 

POURED IN HALF A BOTTLE OF BAR'S LEAK....Block Seal.......copper stuff

1) undid top rad hose from rad and poured some down the hose towards the block
2) poured a little(TOTAL HALF OF BOTTLE AND NOT HALF HERE HALF THERE) on the pressurized tank....
3) turned on for 5 minutes.....no smoke
4) running for 10 minutes ...a little smoke as it had happened before..but way less
5) running for 15 minutes now....no visible smoke......a little water droplets.
6) running or 20 minutes now....no smoke and no water

7) drove around up to 40 mph and no smoke!!!!!!!!!!!
WATER IS CIRCULATING AND RADIATOR IS NOT CLOGGED...MY FEAR...BUT HAD NEW COOLANT WHEN I DID THE HEAD....SO IT DOES NOT INDICATE TO FLUSH BUT COOLANT TO BE CLEAN.

I will test drive it on the freeway tonight or tomorrow morning at 65 mph to see if it blows up....

Cost me $9.25 dollars...with tax...but the one I got was only for rads and block seal and not for a head gasket as mine is new...and I most likely have a block leak...

 

These additives sometimes do work quite well, may be even for the life of the car... Back in the day we used that Alumaseal little vial to seal whatever was leaking, with mixed success. Now I like Blue Devil for head gaskets which I have used several times with 100% success so far. I wouldn't use it in my favorite Volvos since the HGs are so easy on a b230 but with other cars that I don't quite plan to keep long, that's the way to go. Had a SAAB that was literally pouring both oil and coolant out of the head and barely running. Put the Blue Devil and the thing was purring after an hour of idle. I don't know if the BD have some block stuff but since you got it done with Bar's, it doesn't matter... Hope your block fix holds.

 

I hope it holds for at least 5 months...get a couple of gigs and swing by the junk yard and pick me up a block.....

An Aussie 70 year old guy was painting my complex and started to talk about the copper block seal from Bar's Leak and how it saved a submarine doing a North Pole expedition and developed a leak somewhere and with miles of pipe pin pointing would be impossible....docked on the East Coast...Marines went to town buying as many Bar's Leak as they could find (70 bottles) poured the stuff in and fixed it...........the rest is history..

I was just trying to understand what he was saying most of the time until I ate a kiwifruit and it all made sense... any who I was won over by his enthusiasm and hand gestures and his Magnum PI shorts...that I went ahead and bought it...

 

kiwifruit has nothing to do with New Zealand or Australia, its a native of China, originally known as a Chinese Gooseberry.

 

Well, yes it is native to China but was going for the humor part of my reply. Did not mean to offend....or you were just pointing some facts, and it can be difficult to determine when an answer is condescending or rude or racist as we can't read the other person's facial expressions. I was simply happy to get good advice from a guy who sounded funny and I took his advice.....I AM JUST HAPPY THE BARS LEAK WORKED...

 

that was supposed to be mildly amusing, too. fell flat, didn't it? sigh.

 

It actually was....Gooseberry....but I wrote something extra just in case I did offend someone....The word Gooseberry will pop up every time I come across a kiwi now...

 

Update on my Bar's Leak Block Seal

Runs fine on street and on freeway....no smoke or loss of compression....No consumption of coolant either....