i recently purchased a 00 s40 that the previous owner had let the car overheat, blowing the head gasket. I am in the process of tearing down the engine and cannot seam to get the valve cover off. All of the bolts have been removed and the belt is off. The cover can lift about an inch at the tranny side of the engine but only about a half inch at the cam side. i cant seem to get the exhaust cam out of the head or just be able to lift the valve cover off because it is hitting the screws at the back of the exhaust cam. Is there a special way of getting off the cover? Is there a special tool that i need? Thanks for your help

 

You have to remove the exhaust pulley from the cam so the cam cover will lift off.

 

this engine has the variable timing on the exhaust cam. i dont think i should pull the pulley from the cam because that would mess up the timing on that cam. i dont even know what type of bolt is used to secure the pulley. its some weird kind of bolt.

 

It is a torxes bolt. The pulley should have locked solid when you removed the timing belt.
It will not come apart unless you remove the pulley.
In the general section there is a post about making the tool to lock the back of the cams. If you make then and install it when putting it back together then just line the mark on the pulley with the timing mark and tighten and you should be fine.

 

ok thanks, you are talking about the single bolt in the middle of the cam once you screw off the small metal cover and not the small bolts around the outside of the cam, Right?

 

i just looked at the section about the cam locking fabrication tool. this tool will be able to help when reassembling the head. Right now i need to get it disassembled. i dont under stand why i cannot lift the exhaust cam and the cover straight up as one unit. the cam does not seem to want to lift up, like something is holding it down. if i cant lift the cam out then i need to get the exhaust cam pulley off so i can lift off the top part of the engine. thanks

 

The smaller screws in the cam pulley are long enough to catch on the head and not allow it to pull off. That is why you need to remove the pulley.

 

ok thanks.