You will have to remove the head to see the Valves good. That will be the best thing to do.

That is the only way you will be able to see if the Valves are burnt.

 

Do you think it would be possible to have an exhaust valve stuck open w/o having extreme tapping? Do you happen to if the is a kit for doing the head gasket up.?

 

You should be able to buy a headgasket kit that comes with everything. Make sure that the kit includes the O-rings that go on top of the spark plug holes between the cam cover and the Head.

Possible but I doubt it. The only problems I have ever seen on these cars is a bad lifter or Burnt valves.The cam cover has no gasket it uses Liquid Gasket that gets rolled on with a Small paint roller.

 

Looked like mine was held on with small beads of liguid gasket going all around all the openings. You can see dark brown lines all over the top of the head. From what you are saying it sound like that should be rolled to cover the entire head. We will be trying to get the head off tonight. Probably be looking to ask you more questions then.


You sure are a big help, and I appreciate it!

 

Yes it gets rolled onto all flat surfaces. It will only need to be on one side when you roll it on.
You need to make sure you clean both sides VERY well before putting it on. I always use a special Pad in my diegrinder that is made for cleaning the aluminum.

I will check back from time to time to see if you need anymore help.

 

Hey Tech we got the cams out. Does the intake manifold needs to be removed or will it pull back far enough to lift the head up? Won't be working on it tomorrow, so probably won't get back to it until Thursday. It's rough working 8-10 hours a day and the coming home and doing this too. We seem to be getting it though. Got cold on us tonight though.

 

It would just be easier to remove it. TIP: there is a screw from the bottom of the intake that secures it to the block.

It will only take about 15 minutes to finish disconnecting it to remove it. Better that way so nothing gets broke.

I will keep checking in for the quiestions. Good luck getting it all apart.

Make sure you drain all the coolant from the engine. There is a drain in the back of the block to help get the coolant out before you remove the head. LESS MESS!! LOL

For the exhaust it should just slide off and sit off the side.

 

Got the head off and good news. The valves in cylinder one look like crap. One of them has a hole big enough to stick the tip of small phillips head screw driver into. Cylinder five looks like one of them is ready to burn through also. Check out the pictures:

Top one is the #1 cylinder and bottom is #5.

[IMG]local://upfiles/1637/EC0DF52C06594D05B0994AC5DAACDCF2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1637/ADC3880B33A24694B938FBBBB335CE19.jpg[/IMG]

Also we noticed that the #1 piston has some movement. It is the one at TDC so that might be why it moves and the others don't as much. How much more effort would it be to put rings in it from this point? Also, should we do anything to the turbo? It has quite a bit of oil on it, and are there any performance enhancements that I might want to do at this point that are not way too expensive?

 

OUCH

Sorry to hear that I was right about this one.

Try spinning the turbo and see how it feels. If it feels pretty loose then it might still be good. But if it feels tight then it is most likely going bad. There will always be a small amount of oil in the turbo. You can try looking for another turbo just incase. You might also want to try to find a set if Cams and see how much they are. That would give a little more of a kick to it.

Keep us posted on the progress.

 

Do you have a link to all the specs for putting it back together? Put the head in the shop today and should have it back by the weekend if they can get all the parts they need.

 

There is a reason only one valve burned! Better look for a lean situation..........perhaps the injector is bad. I would think that that cylinder ran hot because of fuel starvation.
Reg

 

I don't have a link but let me know when you are ready and I can post the specs.

Make sure your Son-inlaw has an Angle Guage.

 

Just got word back from the machine shop that everything except that one valve looks fine. The rest just need cleaned up. Now I guess the question is why did the head gasket need to be replaced six/8,000 miles ago and now I have a burnt valve? I know reg said it could be a bad injector and that cylinder was probably running too lean. How can I find out if there is something causing problems that should be fixed? I don't want to have to do this again in another six months.

 

You can try to test the injectors.

All the cars we had it happen to have never had anything wrong that we could find.

 

If you decide to clean your injectors with carb cleaner, never use straight 12V power to open them. Use a 9V transistor battery instead.

Some folks send their injectors out to have them cleaned...
http://www.rceng.com/

They provide numbers on flow rate, so you know whether an injector has a different flow rate than the rest.

 

Jim, I'll bet that the prior owner had an issue with his auto and took it to the shop. I'll also bet that the shop did exactly as you did, ie: pulled the head and saw a problem. The shop probably quoted the owner a repair estimate. After the owner raised himself up from the floor he probably said: " patch it up so it runs and I will sell it". You truly enjoy that auto as I recall your excitement when 'tracking' it down and so why not repair it the right way? I would have your injectors professionaly flowed and then you will know that the top end is good for another 100,000 miles. Somehow that cylinder ran hot. Is it an injector or is there a cooling gallery that is plugged? That would also cause a head gasket failure. My guess is that the injector is running lean causing a temperature problem. At any rate, with TECH's help you will get "R" back together and you will be back in 7th heaven once again.
Reg.

 

Actually I bought it from an Independent Volvo Dealer that had been servicing the car for five years. The owner of the dealership told me he had changed the head gasket because the car had run hot. I’m thinking that he told the lady who owned the car that it needed more work that she was willing to have done, took the car in on trade and then just put a head gasket on it w/o doing anything to the head.

If that’s the case could the problem with the valve be caused by the fact that they did not have the head sent out to a machine shop? I priced new fuel injectors and they are around $150 each. Is there any way to check to see if one is not working properly?

 

I called around and found a local shop that does injectors. I'm taking them in on Monday. Should have them back on Tuesday. The name of the place is Hite Parts and it was recommended by the machine shop Columbus Cold-Weld. It can't hurt to have the done that's for sure and he will tell me if any of them need to be replaced.

 

Great idea, Jim. Only one cylinder that fries a valve is indicative of an issue with just that cylinder and not, for instance, with using the wrong fuel for that would affect ALL the cylinders. Something is/was wrong at cylinder , I believe, #1 that caused the valve to fry. A little money spent now, since you have the engine torn down is money well spent so you have peace of mind. Merry Christmas!
Reg

 

hello i have read your post and i to have this same problem, code p0300/p0301 p0302 mis-fireing cylinder and was told that i should replace engine can you please explain to me what you did to solve this problem ,, ive replace plug/cap/rotor/wire,s /02 sensor /clean the mass/air/sensor and still get these same code,s and now p0172 running rich ,any advice beside geting a new engine thank,s inadvance,,,, melymel