I am very familiar with volvo but I wanted to reach out to you guys and see what you thought. I am very familiar with the old red redblocks but the s60s not so much. What I am looking at locally is a 2002 volvo s60 2.4t and with Only 42k. The interior and exterior are in near mint condition and I see no rust on the car at all which is a huge plus. He is selling it for 1000 saying that it was run low on coolant overheated and blew a head gasket and is now blowing smoke like crazy. I was going to go back and run a compression test check all the fluids see if there was any "mayo" in the oil or crank case and pressureize the coolant system to see if I can get any leaks into the cylinders. There is no visible leaks on the block.

Before I went back wanted to see if you guys recommended any testing I have access to most tools pretty easily so that shouldnt be an issue. Should I take a look into the cylinders with a scope? Is there any clear and easy way to see if the turbocharger isnt the one smoking? Would clogged pcv/flametrap cause these issues?

Thanks for all the help in advance. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

I have the same exact vehicle with 256k miles, original owner. ive done the head gasket on mine and i can tell you that I didnt get a TON of smoke. Like u said above, the turbo is usually the culprit when u see a ton of smoke. If they let u, I would do a compression check and then a leak down test. You can also pull all the plugs and look for the clean one lol. Steam from a blown HG never lies. Great car though and the HG is a fairly straight forward job with only a few frustrating bolt locations to speak of . Id be glad to give u my input should u need it. Good Luck!!

 

Awesome thanks for the help! Will be looking at the car today and will keep you guys posted on what i find. Thanks again!!