Hey guys. I'm having a heck of a time with this car. It's a '00 S40, only has 78k on the clock, but I'm not sure that even matters in this position.

We bought this last May. After we had it for a while, it was clear someone unqualified did a lot of work on it. Then the head gasket exploded on us.

Using the help and tools of a professional friend, we changed it in my garage. Ended up sourcing a used head on eBay, put on a new gasket put it all back together. Took a very long time. First got it running 2 weeks ago. It's been going for about 500 miles now.

We still had an oil drip, and it started running a little rough. Threw a p0101 MAF code, I took the MAF off today and cleaned it. I also removed the cam adjust solenoid and retorqued the bolts under it and around it to try to seal up the leak. Seemed to do the trick, the drip stopped from that location.

However, when I was driving it just afterward I gave it some gas about a mile from home to put it through the paces. There was a muffled thud as the engine stopped dead. I pulled off and checked a few things. First of all the timing belt is 100% intact. The tension seems fine, same as it was before this. It sounds totally normal when I run the starter but it will not run. It also throws a P0335b "Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Malfunction" every time I try to start it.

Does anyone have a clue what's going on here? I cannot imagine I slammed valves after the belt's fine and it sounds normal while the starter runs.

Thank you so much if you can provide any help. I'm feeling very fed up and just plain distraught about this car.

 

You really need to get a compression check. It will tell you very quick if there is internal damage. Having bent 8 exhaust valves when my timing belt slipped I can tell you how bad it feels when you get no compression. I'm guessing the crankshaft sensor code is because the cam is no longer in alignment with the crank. I hope not, but fear it's so.

Something to watch out for also. Those 4 little bolts on the CVVT solenoid will stretch and break if you are not careful. Finicky little buggers. I replaced them with higher grade bolts.

Last, did you replace the head bolts with new ones when you replaced the head? Those are torque-to-yield head bolts. They stretch when installed so you only use them once.

 

Thanks for the reply! I'll see if my buddy has the tools for the compression check. We can probably just test it in the garage if he does. First thing I'll do is pull that wheel off and the timing cover and move the crankshaft by hand and see if all the timing marks line up. If I bent eight valves the car is going away. I'm literally starting to hate it.

I had a different problem with that CVVT solenoid. These heads are like butter, and when I tried putting the bolts back in properly they holes were stripped. Ended up tapping the holes for larger bolts, so that part's already done.

Most definately installed new head bolts, and we did the proper torque down procedure. The oil is not getting water in it and vice-a-versa. When the gasket first blew the first hints were that the radiator cap would blow pressure out of it from exhaust gas whenever you hit the gas. It sounded like a blow-off valve.

Small update on the problem. After trying to crank again I got another code for the camshaft sensor. Stupidly I didn't write down the number, but kept playing around. Also, I do have spark. I hooked an old timing light up to the boots going into both cylinders 1 and 2 and definitely got flashing.

I'm not sure how I could have really thrown the timing out of whack, because the belt's condition and tightness didn't change a bit. Also, when I try to start it, it sounds totally normal. I really hope it hasn't bent valves, that's not a problem I'm even going to try to solve.

 

I sure wish they made these engines non-interference like the old 240's. I broke a timing belt on a 1977 240 and simply towed it home, changed it out, and off it went. My neighbor had an oil pump issue that caused the cam to seize. We took it apart, cleaned up the cam, new oil pump and timing belt and the thing still runs today. Not these 1.9L or 2.4L or 2.5L engines though. They are not built to Volvo's truck standard. Now imagine how the 2012 Chinese versions are going to do?

Do not want this.

 

Alright, here's the deal. Got it figured out somewhat.

I took off the wheel and turned the crank to line up the timing marks by hand. The intake camshaft was perfect at 12 o'clock. The exhaust was pointed at about 10:30! Bad friggin' juju.

You're right, dude. Interference engines are really unnerving to say the least. I broke the sprocket for the timing chain on my '87 Town Car some years back. Got it fixed and it was back in business. No problem. Interference engines scare the crap out of me.

It's probably that the damned oil was getting on the timing belt, it caused it to slip a bit. Now the question is this, fellas: How likely am I to be royally screwed here?

I know that there is only one way to know and I'll get there. This car has eaten up too much time as it is, and I'm spending the day with my wife.

Right now I have the intake camshaft secured with a wire hanger going through the sprocket twice and wrapped around a couple of bolts that I put into the non-existant VVT valve's mounting holes on that side. They're spare holes, so why not? I got it tight then put some vice grips on the middle between the two sides. Pinching it into complete immobilization. Once I get a friend over here we'll put the pry bar into the slot on the exhaust camshaft, release the belt. Then turn the exhaust camshaft into position and reinstall the belt. Any advice on this procedure?

I think after we do that it's compression test time.

Hudini, are those strike marks at about 6:00-6:30?

 

It's the clean oval marks on top left and bottom left. Roughly shaped like the edge of the valve. The intake valves never touched. With only a very small cutout the exhaust valves would not touch. Too bad Volvo did not do that.

 

Oh wow, it's super obvious now! Doy!

I'm actually glad to hear you say it like that though. I think I only slipped back a small number of teeth. If they only contact at the very max I may be okay. I don't know though. This car has been somewhat of a nightmare so far.

 

My engine has these "cutouts" you speak of. I was thinking about this and remembered my pistons. Each one has cutouts like that, maybe from a previous impact.

The old head's valves weren't bent (or didn't seem to be). I'm wondering if the crappy work they did was from a previous timing accident. However, all the pistons had these notches. I don't see how someone could have impacted every single valve. To be a fly on the wall of this car's history.

I've enclosed a picture of the engine without the head on to illustrate this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16180508/PICT6144.JPG

Did they ever manufacture engines with these cutouts?

 

2000 was a strange year so anything is possible. It was the first year for the North American version and had many differences with the European version. It has unique struts, engine mounts, plus issues like peeling paint.

Who knows, maybe the 2000 version was non-interference.

 

nope they are all interference. Sorry.

you are talking about realigning the exhaust cam correct. DO NOT LOOSEN THE CVVT PULLEY. I Replaced one before and carelessly didn't mark the pulley right or had the locking tool for the cam. took 4 hours to get it back on right.

You are lining the marks up with the notches on the cover right? Use white out, or white touch up paint and highlight the marks on the cam. I assume you are lining the crank up correctly (2 notches on the teeth, line up with mark on block to be dead in the middle of those 2 marks)

I use office clips to hole the belt on.

12 MM box wrench and a 6 MM allen wrench. Work belt counter clock wise over the intake cam, secure. clock wise around the water pump up over the exhaust cam. You can turn the cams by hand is you are having trouble use a wrench and use the leverage of turning the big torx (T50 or 55 forgot at the moment) Don't worry you won't loosen it, its on tight.

you don't know the valves hit or not. Retime it first and go from there. Also make sure the connector for the CPS is fully connected, and inspect the CPS itself for physical damage, if you keep getting a code for it. If you were idling the engine when it "stopped cold" you may not have bent the valves.

 

Thanks for all the advice Hudini and Lifesgoodhere! Following up on what's going on. I finally got my buddies over and we got it timed back up, ran a compression test, and started her up.

We got the belt on the tensioner nice and tight (I think its really tighter than it was before, that might have been an error on our part). The compression is 100% on cylinders 1 and 3 (150-160) but is running about 100 on Cylinders 2 and 4. It does get compression though, and it does run. I'm inclined to repeat the test since I just ran it for 5 strokes as advised and later checked the manual and read "until it stops rising." It's easy enough to re-run, so that'll be on the agenda.

It started up and ran exactly as before, but I haven't driven it yet since I started it with the engine held up on one side by a jack (had to remove that engine mount on the front of the engine).

The oil is coming from the bottom of the exhaust camshaft pulley. We replaced the head so it's been off before. We suspect its the seals on the camshaft. I'm going to replace the set once we get some cash to play with.

The strange thing is this. After starting the engine the timing belt tends to wander toward the edge of the sprockets. It stays securely on, but I'm not comfortable with how far it wants to get off the tensioner and idlers.

Our timing method was accurate but very improvised. The crank shaft is aligned exactly as Lifesgoodhere specified. The camshafts are being timed by ensuring the other side is held horizontal with one notch below the seam between the head and valve cover, and the other above (the exact ones are highlighted here). We had previously marked the top with white paint so we could tell if we were correct on the hemisphere. One man on a pry bar inserted into the exhaust cam notch (driver side) to hold it steady and another holding the intake camshaft using another pry bar held against the heads of the mounting bolts. Final man runs the belt, tensions it and tightens the tensioner. We then turn the crank by hand for two full rotations and insure that the timing on the camshafts comes back to where it should be. Worked twice now. Would have worked permanently before (didn't throw a code until the belt slipped) but the belt slipped.

 

Did you line up the timing marks on the cam gears when you put the belt on? If you did not remove the CVVT gear then simply line up the marks on the cam gears with the plastic cover.

 

i would look into why it jumped.

 

Hudini, we did have to take the gears off both cams when we did the cylinder head. I'm pretty sure the timing marks are invalid on the actual gears now. We should realign those when we retime it after replacing that seal.

Hickman123, I'm pretty sure it jumped because the seal failed. Oil was all over the place. It lubed up the belt something wicked.

 

I'd check the compression again to make sure. 2 at 150ish and 2 at 100ish = not good. I've always heard 10% difference between cylinders max.

 

So I got to thinking about this. The oil leaks from the exhaust pulley, it seems clear now. Obviously the VVT pulley is not sealing properly. We changed the head and including camshafts and all that jazz. Put the old pulley back on. Hudini? Is that what you're referring to?

Forgive my appearing dense (I appear dense to myself here). I'm still getting a feel for engine work beyond replacing stuff on the outside of the motor.

If anyone here knows, could I implore a soul to describe how the oil gets into the VVT gear? I'll start up by reading how the entire system works now.

Thanks guys! It's been a journey. I will rerun that compression test after all this is figured out.

 

Oil gets in through the CVVT solenoid located very close to the CVVT gear. It's under the plastic cover with the timing marks. It's the rectangular thing with 4 bolts and an electric solenoid on top. The solenoid regulates the amount of oil pressure acting on the CVVT gear center hub. I don't have a picture of it though.

 

Do any of you guys know what the part number for each of the seals is? I'm not sure which are different and which are the same. I've looked up the parts, or tried to, and am confused.

Is the one on the VVT pulley the "exhaust front" seal? I'd like to just get all four.

Also, anyone have any advice on building a camshaft locker? I've seen them online but I'm not sure what to actually buy to manufacture one. I know I just have to put the camshafts into time and put something into the grooves to make them immobile.

 

There is a tool that wedges between the cam gears that works. I don't have a webpage at the moment.

Also, there are 3 seals for the cams. The intake (front cam) has no seal behind the plug on the drivers side. The exhaust (rear cam) has a seal on each end. Not sure of the part numbers off hand.

 

Thanks! Good to know about the intake cam. I know about the other seals. Are the ones on the non-gear side of the cam identical for exhaust and intake?

I know about this tool, but the official one is really pricey, and I know some people have made one before.

For example.

Just looking for advice on making one. We'll do it again with the prybars and the like, but I'm going to have to realign the gears too and its starting to become a really big pain in the but to constantly retime this thing.