I'm currently looking at a 2007 Volvo S40 T5 AWD model and it has a blown headgasket. The guy lowered his price from 1200 to 800 for me because I'm about 3 hours away. He says he hasn't ran it since the exact moment the headgasket blew. How bad is a headgasket to do on this car, what other service should I do at 165,000 miles, and is this T5 equipped with an RN motor?

 

If it is just a head gasket, sure not a huge deal. But most likely the head is warped and needs to be machined. They are aluminum after all. I personally never trust cars, especially volvos, that have overheated and "just need a headgasket"

That is my personal 2 cents at least, but I also don't like to buy broken cars.

 

I normally don't buy broken cars either but I'm looking for a decent winter car and awd would be a blessing we're probably getting a ton of snow here this year, so you're saying remachine the head and a new gasket and it should be fine? The guy said his mechanic checked and there's no coolant everywhere.

 

I can't say for sure to be honest.

 

He told me the mechanic told him "it's still saveable in current state" so I was thinking it can't be too bad. I've only done one head gasket job and from what I've heard volvos are notoriously bad to work on. I have no idea whether that's true or not though.

 

There is always a risk when trusting the seller. I talked to a guy on the phone telling me the car needed a new turbo and I go to check out the car and it was an NA S60. I take sellers words with a grain of salt. I tend to have a negative outlook when looking at cars to try and not be blind to something obvious.

 

The guy seems pretty honest about it, the headgasket went on a drive back from the dmv after he got it in his name, he got it towed home from that and it's been sitting for the past month. He said he bought it for his mom but now he wants to get rid of it.

 

I've never had to do a head gasket on a Volvo so I can't speak on that repair, maybe one of the more experienced guys here can chip in.

 

That's what I'm hoping for haha, thanks for your help!

 

A "blown head gasket" came from running the car out of coolant. Unfortunately that car is one of the few Volvos that does not have a low coolant warning system. A typical warped head repair is several thousand dollars retail plus the cost of whatever made the coolant disappear. Kelly blue book thinks a 07 with 165k is worth about $3000 if almost perfect. But you have no history, or knowledge of the car. I have purchased several cars like that that have had large failures from my customers - but I knew the car and it's history and would only purchase them if the body and interior were perfect. I usually pay $500 to $750. I would not touch that car - it's not economically reasonable to purchase and fix it. And that's the reason he does not want to fix it. He won't have to worry - there's someone out there foolish enough to think they can fix it for cheap.

 

As with any "mechanics special", the price of the car should be discounted to cover the cost of the repair at a pro shop. A check on KBB.com suggests the fair market value for that model/mileage in "good" condition is about $4000 maybe $5000 if in very good. The cost to do a head gasket including machine shop time to straighten a warped head is probably $3000 so $800 seems to be an honest offer.

Have you seen the car to know its general condition other than the head gasket issue? a T5 with AWD is a fairly desireable model so that's a plus.

If you can do the work yourself, assume you will spend $1000 for the machine shop (or a used replacement head) then another $500 for other parts. If you do the labor on your own, you can have $2500 into a car that is worth $4000 so it sounds like the question comes down to your skills and time to do the work.

I'd say the next step is to do some homework - call your local machine shops regarding straigtening a warped head, call some local volvo friendly indy shops about their cost to do a head swap, go to car-part.com to price out a used replacement head and then crunch the numbers.

PS - I did some spot checks on Autotrader and you can find similar year/models in the $5000 range (that's the dealer asking price, not the final price) so that's also part of doing your homework.