Ok here is the story: went about 65 mph in 3rd gear uphill on 101 freeway in CA; check engine light came on, exited the freeway to a gas station. Did not overheat but began to run very rough at lower speeds. Decided to drive it home. Performed decently at higher speeds but brakes created rougher driving/idling.

Took it into a volvo specialist shop. Compression test revealed no compression on 1 valve/cylinder. Car misfiring now and a ticking occurs under the hood. Was told fixing this would run me about 3-4K and that I could tryusing a carbon choke cleanerto see ifthe problem is related to something else,which I did today followed by a little WD40. Spark plugs were also replaced. Not sure if I did the greatest job of getting the choke cleaner past the butterfly trap door (someone else stepped on the gas to about 2.5-3 rpm)but did two rounds with about 10 minutes between. Took it for a drive afterward and revved the engine, etc. Car still drives rough at lower speeds and even acted odd at higher speeds part of the time. Does not seem to be related to a clog. Also thought about using fuel injector cleaner but I am beginning to think it is more serious.

Questions: Should I try the carbon choke cleaner again just in case it is clogged or should I sum it up to a costly valve replacement? Will doing this type of thing damage the engine if I do it again? Should I wait for acertain period of time before trying again? Is there any way to be certain that it is the actual valve rather than some other cheaper part? If it is the valve, the car is going to have to be sold because I cannot afford to fix it. The car has between 200K and 300K miles by the way (odometer broken as of about 2-3 years ago).

Any advice?? Thank you good people!

 

Most likely it is already to late.
I would bet the valve is half burned up.

 

Sorry about the problem.

Your best bet would be to find a cheaper motor, preferably a rebuilt or one out of a junkyard with relatively low mileage. If you cannot afford this replacement, the car may have to be gone. If it were my car, I would of course do the repair myself.


JPN

 

With that many miles on it, I would not repair it unless the car in excellent condition other than the engine. If that were the case I would find a used engine at a junk yard, then find a shop willing to replace the engine. I would not repair that engine.

Replacing the engine should not cost you more than about $1500 total, possible even less. Can you get a better car than that for $1500? That's something you will need to answer yourself, but it's hard to get much of a car for $1500.

I had a very similar situation on a 94 850 Turbo with 206K on it that I had since almost brand new (only had 9800 miles on it when I got it in 94). I sold it for $800 when the engine went. In hindsight I should have replaced the engine and sorry I didn't. But I was afraid that I would have nothing but problems with the car if I changed the engine. Which might have been the case, but I'll never know.

I will say this, if the engine goes in either one of my R's, it's new engine time, but both those cars are in excellent condition. I did do a valve job on the white 97 R, and it wasn't really that bad, but an engine replacement would probably been about the same cost. My son in law and I did the work ourselves and it still cost close to $1500 two years ago.

 

Ditto on the above. Swap out the motor, or sell it for parts and find another one