Hi,

New to the forum and new to Volvos but worked on lots of cars in the past. So...

My buddy has a 96 850 turbo wagon with 196k miles on it. The thing was leaking or losing coolant somewhere for a while now. Well, the thing overheated bad on the way home from out of town. It finally quit and he had to be towed home. Now this thing is in my garage and this is what I see:

The head got hot enough it melted the plug wires in the plug holes, nice little puddles of hardened grey plastic on top of each spark plug. The upper timing cover was partially melted to the head. Lots of oil and burnt smell. Upon removal of the cylinder head and turbo I don't see any obvious damage. The pistons and cylinders look decent, can't find any cracks or damage there or on the cylinder head. What would you recommend I do with this cylinder head if I were to try and fix it?

There looks to be some coolant in the intercooler hose, not sure where it's coming from but may be the source of the coolant leak.

The turbo looks like there is a bit of oil in the exhaust side. Also, not sure how it's supposed to be but trying to spin the turbo with my finger it turns but doesn't spin loosely and freely. Is this normal?

I've been reading a lot on this forum tonight. How does a bad radiator get water in the oil? Is there oil running through the thing?

How does the intercooler work? Does it have coolant running through it?

Thanks

 

My suggestion would the same as I got when I ran a 74 Cutlass hot enough that it quit running.

Replace the engine!

It probably got hot enough to warp the head and the block if it melted all the platic parts. Just having the head machined and any bad valves replaced will cost you just about as much as a used engine.

 

I agree with Jim. Although it may not have cracked the block or anything that you can visibly see there is a good chance that there are weakened areas that will not last. I vote for used engine. You'll have less headaches with the same expense.

 

NEW ENGINE.
That one has a fork hanging out of it.

 

+1.


JPN

 

LOL, that's been the general concensus on 2 different forums. I think I'm convinced!