I recently purchased my daughter a use 2007 S40 with 134K miles. She drove it without issue for a month, then started having some issues. I believe it had a coolant leak, and just like you'd expect, she drove it until it died several times. She says it never showed to be hot, but I know the coolant was basically empty and she noticed a "smell".


Anyway, I have the car now. I think I confirmed a head gasket or warped head by noticing exhaust gases blowing out the coolant reservoir. So, I've pulled the head and was surprised to see water in all 5 cylinders. I have sent the head to the machine shop to pressure test, and hopefully, the head is OK. I should know something today. Typically, if the head was OK, I'd just have it resurfaced and reinstalled with the next gaskets. But, I'm wondering if there could be something else going on here as all 5 cylinders had water in them??


What do you guys think?? Is this typical?? Thanks for your help.


Greg

 

Make sure the cylinder sleeves aren't cracked. Common to happen when overheating.

 

Thanks for the reply!!


Is this something that should be noticeable with the naked eye??

 

Yep. Its usually at the top of the cylinder at the thinnest points (between cylinders). The crack may be small, only 1/4" or so long. You may also see some discoloration around the crack.

 

Well, I heard back from the machine shop. They say the head is warped 20 thousandths. They say that when the head warps on these motors, the whole thing warps, meaning the cam journals are off also. If they mill the head, the head will seat but the rest will be off. He says I can risk it and just replace the head gasket and torque everything back down and hope pulls the head back flat, or just buy a new head.


Have any of you guys ran into this? heard of this?

 

Haven't run into that. Make sure the block isn't warped too. I've seen more cracked blocks than warped heads actually. Got two P1s with cracked blocks in the lot right now actually. Of course the heads on then could also be warped but there isn't use checking. Both were traded in and will likely be scrapped.