Hello All,
I used to frequent this forum back when I had my '96 850.(formerly known here as Nonsense619). Its cool to see that my power antenna switch write-up is still up!

I have recently purchased a '01 S40 with 157k.

ISSUES!!

-Car was leaking oil around timing belt area and one cylinder was completely filled with oil. Shop replaced seals, plugs, and full timing belt kit. [fixed]

- Began to misfire and no power on initial accel. Died twice on me. Took it to the shop and the mechanic said the head gasket was leaking in between the two middle cylinders when doing a compression check. He told me i need a head gasket and piston rings replaced. Another mechanic said it couldn't be the rings because the car is not smoking at the tail. Small amount of oil came out from the dipstick and I thought maybe it also needs the pvc system done but there is no frothy oil or smoke/vapors.

Suggestions from the pro's?

 

Personally I'd like to see the compression numbers. All 4 cylinders should be within about 10% of each other. And the 2nd mechanic is right on. Worn rings will cause excessive oil burning that you can see and smell.

Has the car ever had new coils and spark plug wires? 150k is allot on old coils. Mine went at about 100k miles. Seems like every misfire I've read about here was fixed with a tune up.

Never had the clogged PCV problem so no help there. Just read about the whistling from the dip stick.

 

I do not know much on the service history of the car. I will call the mechanic tomorrow and ask about the numbers he got on the compression check. I might as well go ahead and do a full tune-up. Thanks

 

I have had a several problems with the car. I changed the braking system and rotors when i purchased it, but that was my option. The examine motor mild is almost always on, but I just neglect it as the car still operates excellent and gets excellent gas mileage without it.