Well the engine my daughter's '91 240 is starting to leak oil around the rear main. It also has a developed a loud ticking noise that doesn't sound good at all. I have an engine from my wife's '89 wagon that I thought that I would get ready for dropping in. The '89 engine came from a car that was totalled at 173k miles on. It was a good runner until then and I know the history of it. The engine has been sitting for 5 years and I was looking for advice as to what I should do to refresh it prior to transplanting it in my daughters car. I was going to replace all the seals on, new hoses, belts, etc.

Other than that, any other suggestions as to what I should do to refresh it?

 

use real volvo seals, the aftermarket stuff just leaks again in short order. I'd get a new oil trap/flame-trap box.... renew all the rubber around the engine, like the idle air valve hoses. probably a good idea to put a new water pump, and thermostat on it.

both of those engines should be LH2.4, so that should be a straight drop in replacement.

 

If it was a real good runner before, I would give it a good bath on the outside, get out your tools and double check all fasteners, especially the hard to get at ones, check real good for any obvious leaks and if you think it's tight drop it in and replace everything you mentioned. Good luck.

 

The one thing I wasn't sure of is whether I should pull the head and replace the head gasket. The head has never been removed from this engine and while I have never had a head gasket fail on me, I read on the forum here that they eventually fail. Also, is there anything in the lower end I should check (like the o-rings on the oil pump)?

Thanks for the input

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! There is a certain tendency with owners who like their cars to do too much, and in the end things sometimes turn out poorly. Why mess with a perfectly good HG? Sure, everything will eventually fail, THEN you fix it!

I'd make sure the motor is not frozen, put some oil in the cylinders and turn it by hand.
I'd only do the oil separator/flame trap as it is a pain to do in the car.

 

yeah. our 240 has about 400K miles on it, headgasket is fine. had to replace the camshaft seals last year, but the valve cover *STILL* hasn't been off this car..

HG's typically only fail on a redblock if the engine was overheated, typically by a coolant loss mishap, or similar catastrophic failure.

 

I agree with everyone else, if it ain't broke don't fix it, but the timing belts and hoses are a good way to eliminate any question of age and wear....bummer if the timing belt goes the you have 2 bad motors.

 

Well I'd like to thank everyone for their responses. Looks to me that all I am going to do is:

New seals: both front & rear crankshft, camshaft & halfshaft
New hoses
New belts - including the timing belt.
New intake, exhaust & valve cover gaskets

I'll also pull the oil separator and take a look and replace if it is gunked up.

Thanks again