Hi. When I was Volvo shopping on Craigslist, it seemed like one out of three Volvos had blown head gaskets. Is this a common problem, or does it just look like that because it's a big reason for selling?

 

People don't take care of them since they're old cars. The white blocks are higher performance engines than the old red blocks (those things are basically tractor engines..).

On these cars if you let it overheat (water leak, low on oil, bad therm, etc.) it can very likely break your head gasket and/or warp or crack the head. But if you maintain them, these things are rock solid (and fun).

 

people are just careless when it comes to cars. period. l do not understand why cars take care of them but dont do the same in return to their cars. having a car is a privilege they should respect that. volvo engines are solid rock running alot of heat. if there is a coolant leak, ppl ignore them and causes the gasket to break.

 

I have replaced about 11 head gaskets and the common theme I have seen is that age has simply deteriorated the gasket. Each one has been brittle and hard. Same with the valve stem seals fyi.

 

When I bought my 855R four years ago, it had a blown headgasket. Upon complete diagnosis, I had found the previous owner tried to "patch" the hose from the overflow going back to the block with duct tape. needless to say, this leaked and caused it to overheat, thus blowing the headgasket allowing me to get this otherwise perfect car for next to nothing! A days labor, couple trips to my machinist, and another days labor, the thing ran (and still does...but better) awesome!

Boxpin, and now that I think about it, my original headgasket was quite brittle when I removed it, so the duct thing was the last straw.

 

And the previous owner was an idiot. Duct Tape? Really?

 

Not sure if Volvos are necessarily bad when it comes to head gaskets. Many cars have head gasket issues, some worse then others but I don't think Volvo is famous for them. Some cars have weaker head designs and are more prone to fail. I love the Subaru 2.5 Boxer engine. VERY solid and well designed- head gaskets go at 100k without fail. Replace them and you're good to go for another 100k.

Every car has its own pet issues. With Volvos, for example, the ODO gears break. Seems to be a very common problem. VW's can't seem to make a door handle that works.

It would be interesting to make a post with the most common Volvo 850 problems and fixes, what to look for, etc.

 

Matthews Volvo site has that list.

The main reason a car will loose it's head gasket is due to overheating from lose of coolant leak. I have told people over and over again to stop playing Russian roulette with the motor trying to pamper a coolant leak (it's not a water leak). Once a car get to be over 10 years old, hoses, radiator, heater core, etc, are all subject to leaking and failure, which will likely cause overheating.

Most old cars get towed straight to the bone yard or every corner mechanic will fix them. Volvo's on the other hand will be shunned by mechanic and the owners love them so much they park them at home for months wishing they could have them fixed cheaper until they finally decide to sell them. When the sale doesn't happen, a couple of months later they junk them.

It's just an old car thing.

Death of an old car...
1. Over heating/blown head gasket.
2. Failed timing belt.
3. Accident.

 

 

As I am new, my question is in age range do they go? Just had the timing belt, all related part including the water pump replaced at 171k km. pump was ok but they were in there anyhow.

 

I think they are event triggered like mentioned by others. All the cars have years on them now and most are high mileage so I think they all fall under that category. If you have a cooling issue, fix it immediately.

 

What I love is when I see a car roll in with duct tape on the power steering hose. DUDE !! do you have any idea what pressure that hose carries ??
Power steering systems can reach a working pressure of over 1,000 pounds per square inch or 6,700Kpa during operation. I like duct tape, it's saved me but it doesn't work for everything.

As for head gaskets the other item next to overheating is likely the lack of fresh antifreeze. If you don't change it out every few years it builds up acids that eat away at all the components and the head gasket material. As has been said, it's an old car why bother ...

I don't put a lot of miles on my cars so mileage isn't a good service interval for me. For cooling systems I try to drop in a bottle of what used to be called "water pump lube" (Robert knows). Now it's anti rust but the idea and chemicals are the same. It's basically replacing the additive package in the antifreeze that wears out over time.

IMHO The antifreeze itself will not wear out and will always continue to give you freeze protection but the anti-rust, anti-wear additives do break down and that's what corrodes the components from the inside out.

The way to keep an old car running reliably is to do the maintenance just like it was new. I haven't checked lately but I think I'm 300K + now. But you have to make a choice, drive it into the ground and move on or take care of it so it will take care of you.