You can find a used cylinder head on Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market. It looks like the going rate is in the $200 to $300 range. Post or PM your Paypal ID and I'll send you a contribution towards the repair.

Many men are in your position, victimized by the family court system. I'll PM some links to some relevant web sites.

You are all heroes. Thanks so much.

The Volvo gods were on my side today. After I lifted the head I only found minor scuffs on the pistons. All on the exhaust side mind you so I expect (Ed?) all the exhaust valves to have some damage. Started looking around and found an 850 station on a local yard. Pulled the entire top end (cam cover, cams and head) for less than 100. Only difficulty I expect is that this station has some sort of pressure thing on the right side of the head that my glt doesn't, but I do think all the bolt holes match up. Picking them up tomorrow because I pee'd off the yardmen by staying an hour over the time they closed, but they turned out to be heroes too. They helped me get the last bolts out of the way and load the whole thing in a wheelbarrel. Pickup during lunch tomorrow and I'll keep y'all posted.

One more thing. This engine, again, has little to no marks on the cam sprockets. Is there no way to tell where the cams are supposed to be with the cam cover off when setting it up for the right timing?

By the way. Despite what happened to my car, my next car will say Volvo on the sides. The support and appreciation I've felt on this forum are like nothing I've ever experienced. Everyone who read my thread went out of his or her way to help and you have all left a lasting impression on me. If it wouldn't have been for the true Volvoheads, I would have probably tried and sell this beautiful car for scrap. But I've gained energy from your encouragement and you've given me the conviction that I can do this. Much love to my Volvo brothers and sisters.

Hey man, here are a few pics (thumbnails below) of some NA cams that I have sitting in my closet (I pulled them this past Saturday). If you look close at them, the exhaust cam (one on the left), the first set of lobes point to about 12:15 on the clock (3 seconds). The intake cam (one on the right), the first set of lobes point to about 11:00 (50 seconds).

Lifter Replacement, Volvo 850 / S70 Turbo

The big thing, which may be more important is that the rear of the cams make a straight line at the rear. So, you can set them in the head, aligned as best you can, install the cover, then move the cam sprockets just a little so that they make a straight line in the back end of the motor like the picture on Tracy's instructions.

Replacing The Head Gasket On A Volvo 850

Replacing The Head Gasket On A Volvo 850

http://www.tracystruesoaps.com/tutor...pplication.jpg

It is ok to move the cams a little once you have the cover installed. I would not try to turn them to much but a little to tweek timing before you install the belt should be fine.

WARNING: Then of course, once you have the timing belt installed and finished, you turn the motor by had over 2 full times to make sure you don't have any valve/piston contact. It's best to turn the motor with the spark plugs out, it's a lot easier. You should also know that it will be a little harder to turn the motor by hand due to the fact that all of the oil as been cleaned out of the head and it's just about dry up there.

Oh, and once you get the timing lined up, file a mark in the cam sprockets.

You know I will. I will engrave an arrow and the words "notch is right here!!"

Update. Finished putting new (used) top end on car last night following rspi's instructions. Car ran. But real rough. Seemed to be running slightly better when pulling either #2 or #4 plug. Shut down motor and checked marks on cams again. Way off. Set #1 cylinder tdc, lined up marks and motor wouldn't run at all. Instead made a "bonk" noise leading me to believe I have hit another valve. I know I did something stupid, but I can't figure out what it is. I managed to score the last cylinderhead on my local jy, and just want to make absolutely sure I'm not destroying this one as well..

Does it have to do with used cam's timing lines not being in the right spot? I thought these were factory marks?

You're best bet would have been to post a picture(s) of what you had for timing mark locations of crank and cams when it was running but running rough ....
More than anything else, if you have a problem and you think it's the camshaft to crankshaft timing that's in error ask a lot of questions before you adjust it.
If you can, please post photos so we can "see" what you are doing.

When you said it was "way" off, what did you find ?? Are we talking a tooth or two or something else ??

You should do a compression test now to see where you are at. If you spun the engine with the starter you've done the damage so running compression tests shouldn't do it any additional harm. Run a compression test to find out if you've lost a valve. If so, well you already know you need to pull the head. If the cylinders are fairly even but low it might just be timing is off. I just hope you don't have a cylinder with no compression.:(

I learned the hard way on a GM that the pushrods on that particular engine on exhaust and intake were different lengths. It isn't much and if you aren't looking for it or know they're different it can easily slip by you. I ended up doing a head job and a half as I had to redo one head due to my error. You tackled a big job with a lot of steps and maybe somewhere in there one was missed or misunderstood or something "moved" ... don't know at this point but I do fully know how it feels to screw it up.
Sometimes I'm a little too basic and I upset people but sometimes you're talking to someone who doesn't know jack and the step you take for granted is the one that bites them in the butt.

Yea, I'm a basic step-by-step with pictures kind of guy. I like to believe that a 14 year old that has never worked on a car, but does know how to use tools, can take my instructions and do the job. I'm not going to say, "unscrew the screw counter clockwise" but I will point you to the screws with a picture.

Alright. Rspi and myself did a Volvo storming session last night and we think to have found the problem. Sending pictures back and forth to check and double check timing, revealed that my top timing cover with which the cams are supposed to line up, is missing most of its bottom part. Mine has notches, but considering the fact that pretty much the entire bottom flap is missing, the marks were pointing way too high. Getting a new cover and start over. No compression on five now and motor will not fire on the other four, so it's a good thing I snatched up the last head on my now favorite junkyard yesterday. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow. :cool:

Well, I've been there. :(

ITS ALIVE... MOOWAHAHA (evil genius laugh)

Much love to migbro and rspi who's still helping me working the kinks out. One bolt and a stupid piece of plastic kept me busy and sore for two weeks straight, but she's back to flying. Now to figure out how to keep the water out of the distributor and have it start a little easier and I'm golden.

My Volvo sisters and brothers came through like heroes. Thanks to everyone..

The Dutchman had a bad timing belt top cover. It has a piece of the plastic cut off of it and it didn't have the marks in it to line up the cam sprockets. A serious shame for someone that didn't know what it's suppose to look like.

The top cover is the one he got from the jy, the lower one was on the car. SMH

Victory dance too soon. Head gasket bad. Get to start over..

Hang in there man. Take your time and do it right.

I will. New gasket is underway and have called around and found a shop that will make sure the head is still flat and if not, they will flatten it for not much if it still meets tolerances. Nah. I won't quit. The 20 minute drive did renew my confidence. And I am becoming quite handy at taking this block apart and, thanks to you, put it back together as to where it will run..;)

Just think, get your's right and maybe you can run a craigslist ad to help other's do their timing belt or head and make some extra money. :)

You know? I thought about applying at the Volvo dealer as a mechanic saying that I can take an 850 motor apart and put it back together almost right. But I like the craigslist thing too :)

I am a bit too late to join the party.

When you finish the head gasket & all timing components, be sure to triple-check the timing and slowly hand-crank the engine for two full revolutions to make sure there is no interference.

Also, I believe Volvo calls for paste-type valve cover gasket, which is available only at the dealer (so they say) but I believe vendors like FCP Groton would have them.

Also, should you wish to get your 850 in an optimum condition, the following thread may be of a good reference:

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...s-s-v70s-9266/

With a service manual & good tools like Craftsman, you can do quite a bit of maintenance by yourself.

Happy Holidays,

JPN

Dont know if this will work for you, but i did this based off what a friend of mine did. When I went in to buy the liquid gasket, I told them I worked for Advance auto parts and asked if i could buy it at our discount. It wound up being less than half what retail price was.

Wow, that's nuts. I used the stuff from NAPA for about $15. I simply could not afford the $65 Volvo stuff. No problems after 6 months and 5,000 miles.

http://www.atthetipwebs.com/technolo...cs/permtex.jpg

$65 for a tube of gasket is indeed ridiculous (this reminds me of Toyota's genuine coolant), but I wonder if over-the-counter gasket stands up as long as the original gasket used at the assembly line. I'd like to compare the ingredients.

JPN

If it fails I'll let you know.

Will look forward to your analysis:)

JPN

So far it's good at 6 months and 5,000 miles.

Alright. Turns out I'm a certifyable moron. Was in such a hurry to get new head on that I failed to check it for leftover gasket crap. Got it back off and spent the afternoon wondering where one finds this much stupidity in one place. Straight bladed the head and it's nice and flat now. Sometimes I wonder about myself. New gasket underway. Should be here monday. Pretty sure nothing will weep through this time. Really. Really? Really.

That's good, I guess. Not sure how you could miss scraping the old gasket but, oh well. Keeping my fingers crossed for this go-around. Third time's the charm, they say. Good luck!

Youknow? Just got excited about finally knowing how to set the time right and having figured out why it went wrong twice before. Got ahead of myself. Hey. I know one thing for sure. Car will be back to running like a Swiss watch when put back together...;) one thing. What makes it start hard when it's warm? Fires right up when it is cold but complete &$@!? To start after it's warmed up?

1) Idle Air Control (IAC) Valve? Can be fixed by cleaning.
2) Bad coolant temperature sensor?
3) Flaky fuel pump relay?

I vote for #1 and #2 above.

Where's the iac?

Forgetting to scrape off the old gasket is probably due to human factor.

JPN

Idle air control motor is between the throttle body and the radiator. I think you need to pull the black plastic cover off the throttle cable to see it.


Instructions and pictures on how to clean:
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...ic.php?t=47533

When you say "hard to start" what does it do?? Is it excessive cranking, do you need to give it gas to get it going??

Rspi's guess of the IAC or coolant temp sensor sound good. Cheaning the IAC is free just remember when you're spraying it with cleaner hold it so the motors body is UP. You don't want the cleaning fluid running down into the motor or you'll cause more problems than you cure.

The coolant temp sensor can easily cause this and will either lean the engine out or cause it to be too rich. Either way you end up doing a lot of cranking but if it's reading low and sending in too much fuel you'd need to floor it to unload the extra fuel.

#4 is not as likely but you might have a leaking/seeping injector(s) that is dumping fuel into the engine after shut down and when you go to start it up it's too rich. Just a thought.

Worn and poorly gaped spark plugs can cause hard starts but I think it would be hard cold or hot.

Wow. Thanks again for all the replies guys. Will check into it. I even think that control motor may be on it's way out because every now and then the car is singing to me. That's what my friend Melinda calls it anyway. High pitched motor noise. Like motor losing it's bearings. Weather permitted, head goes back on this evening. Hopefully for the last time. Clean as a whistle and sharp as a thistle. New gasket and all. One more question. Is there any way to get all the bad oil out? Besides draining it (duh) I mean some sort of method to flush it? Vinegar? Gardenhose? Chardonnay? Anything? Or just drain it, refill it and drain / refill it again after a few days?

You got it. Nothing but oil. I run full synthetic in my cars. When I did that head gasket, I put in some good dyno that was on sale, drove it for 50 miles, then changes the oil and filter. Find the cheapest 10W-30 you can find.

As for the singing, they may have been the bearing that failed in the first place. Unless you mean it's making the noise now.

Thanks rspi. No. It only makes the sound every now and then and when driving, it seems to come from the passenger side of the engine. Once it did it when we had the hood open and it almost seemed to come from under the passenger side headlight?? It is the distinct sound of an electric motor failing. You know? High pitched motor whine. I kinda think to recognize that sound because I've been in electrics/electronics all my life.

If/when it starts to do it daily, you can take the serpentine belt loose and see if it stops. It's probably the alternator or ac compressor.