Ok I'm new here so apologies for jumping right in with a huge problem. Over the past several weeks, my 2003 Volvo s40 has had many overheating issues and has since become undriveable. My only hope is to get it fixed or I'm gonna continue to walk everywhere I need to go. So here's the details:

When it first started overheating, we changed the thermostat. That didn't help. Turned out the water pump needed to be replaced. We did that. Then, the radiator was just pouring out water. Although the ultimate plan was to drop in a new radiator, we used epoxy and stop leak. And it was drivable again... for about 8 miles.

Then, smoke. I'm doing 70mph on the Interstate and it begins smoking from the engine bay, no overheating, no distinctive sounds. It just died. Had to have it towed.

Turns out the tensioner pulley around the timing belt needed to be replaced. So, we replaced last night and it still won't start. It def sounds better, like it's trying... you can smell fuel, but it's almost like it's killing the battery and can't turn over. It has spark. No indication that the engine is blown or anything, but we cannot figure out why it won't start!! Even hooked up jumper cables to another vehicle and that didn't help...

Any ideas?? I have a video if I can find a way to share it, I will... any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Did you replace the timing belt kit when you did the water pump? You should have. Sounds like you probably bent valves.

 

No, we did not. In hindsight, yes probably should have replaced the whole kit, but the timing belt looked fine at the time. As for bent valves, wouldn't you hear some kind of ticking??

This is a video of what it was doing after the tensioner pulley was replaced last night. As youll hear, no ticking it just won't quite get over the hump:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0L...w?usp=drivesdk

Ideas?? Thanks

 

Maybe you got lucky and its out of time without bending valves. But if the tensioner goes, that's usually bad news.

 

Get a compression tester and give it a go. I'm with ES6T and think you bent some valves. My 2001 had the timing belt jump due to a severe oil leak from the VVT gear. It bent all 8 exhaust valves. You won't hear any ticking if the valves are bent as they are now out of the way of the pistons. They hard way.....

 

Does it not have to be running to test compression? Never done that, and someone had said it would need to be on to test compression?

 

A compression test is done on a non-running engine. Best to remove all 4 spark plugs and the fuel pump fuse so there is no chance of ignition. Then hold the throttle wide open and crank the engine with the tester screwed into one cylinder. If it's zero psi then stop there as your engine is toast until repaired. If you get something in the 150+ psi range then move to the next cylinder and repeat.

Repair is not overly difficult. It cost me maybe $500 in parts and 4 days of my time going easy as I've never done this before. Paying someone else to do it is cost prohibitive. Lowest cost option would be a junkyard engine replacement.

 

ok, will give that a shot. Thanks for the advice!

 

Haven't had a chance to check compression, but had someone suggest that possibly the coil pack(s) or camshaft positing sensor could be what's preventing it from starting. Thoughts?

 

It would be a mighty big coincidence if your tensioner failed, you didn't wreck the valves and your coils went bad at the same time.