Of course, a week before I planned on replacing it. The previous owner told me the timing belt was done "not too long ago" but didn't have a receipt for it being done, whereas he had receipts for all the other work.

Anyways since its an interference motor, I'm guessing most likely it damaged the pistons and valves. But I have nothing to lose for checking it out since it'd need a new motor anyways...

My question is would I be able to see any damage by just pulling the valve cover off since I should be able to see the rocker arms from there, or do I have to tear down the head? Any other ways I can scope out the damage?

If it does turn out that it needs a new motor, I heard from a friend who is a Volvo tech at a local dealership, that it's easier to pull the motor out through the top. That's what I was hoping, since I have the equipment in my garage to do this, but don't have a lift if it needed to come out with the subframe through the bottom. So is it true that I can pull the motor up out of the car?

 

Wow! Sorry to read of your timing belt sorrow.

You have a 99% chance that you have valve damage, how many, only pulling the head will tell. You have about a 15% chance that you have piston damage. It's rare for these valves to cut into the pistons.

These motors do NOT have rocker arms. Cams with lobes. No the cover will not show you valve / piston damage, you have to pull the head off.

Never heard of anyone pulling a motor from under the car. The hood opens 90° to get it out the top.

I would fix the head unless the lower end had low compression prior to the belt failure.

Question, what tossed the belt? Did the belt break or did it loose a roller?

 

http://atthetipwebs.com/technologyin...ead_gasket.htm

 

Thanks for the info on the rocker arms - never opened up one of these engines but any car I have pulled the valve cover off of does have them. Also on any other FWD car I've owned, the motor comes out through the bottom. Thankfully I've never had the experience of having to swap one like that. Glad to hear this comes out from the top!

I can get a motor from the junk yard for $350. Would a head rebuild be cheaper than that? This car ran great and never skipped a beat, but it has 207,000 miles on it. I've never done a compression test, and you can't really do one if you can't turn the motor over =/

No idea why the belt tossed. I was literally going to replace it the next week. I've been working full-time and going to school full-time so I had NO free time to work on the car. My plan was right after graduation I would replace the belt... well, the belt let go exactly one week prior.

I was going to a friend's house and just got off the highway onto a secondary road, just got done accelerating and was around 1600 RPMs and suddenly the car did nothing. Nothing when I hit the gas... RPMs stayed steady around 1600. So I figured I'd try coasting it about 1/4 mile to an abandoned gas station where I could get off the road. Put it in neutral, RPMs dropped to 0. At that point it dawned on me what happened, since the wheels were still turning, transmission was still turning, crank was still turning, it was still reading, but once I disengaged the transmission everything stopped so they dropped to 0. Pulled the top of the timing cover off and sure enough the belt was off the cogs on the gears and had a ton of slack in it.

 

These motors are built to last 500k so if you kept the oil changed you are likely good. You should be able to get the head for $125-$150.

 

Wow thanks for that idea... the junkyard right down the road has a head for $175. I wasn't thinking... I was looking at replacing everything (besides the head casting) with new, and was like, there's no way it'd be cheaper than buying a whole motor for $350.

I'll see about getting the car towed up the hill to my garage this week and start tearing it down. Lets hope for no damage to the pistons.

 

You'll be fine.

 

Am I really better off to just replace the head? Didn't dawn on me I'd need new gaskets...

Head - $175
Gasket Set - $96
Total - $271

I'd still have 207k on the bottom end and 200+ on the top end (junk yard doesn't report actual mileage, just over 200k). On the plus side it'd have a new head gasket and I see lots of S70s on craigslist that need them done...

Entire engine - $350. That would have 185k on it.

Either way I'd replace the timing belt so I didn't factor that into the cost.

Really depends what would take less time. Swapping the motor or swapping heads...

 

You have a known good engine - except for the head. I'd repair or replace the head before I'd do the work of swapping in a used engine in unknown condition.

 

+1 Also, you can do a head by yourself without a lift.

 

But I also can swap a motor without a lift, yes? In the ceiling in my garage I have a winch that we use to pull motors. Figured that's all I'd need.

 

Cool. But you have no idea if the other motor has ever had an oil change unless you can do a compression test. Also, how long has it been sitting? It may be all gumed up from old oil.

Besides that, the only reason these cars have BAD head gaskets is someone overheated it due to a failed water pump or some kind of coolant leak.

 

Not true.

 

I started working on it today. About 2.5 hours and I'm almost ready to pull the head. Don't think I'm making bad progress .

This has actually probably been the project I've done with the least amount of swearing involved - so far anyways. I found I was able to get at all the intake bolts without pulling the fuel rail or thermostat housing, contrary to what the link above says (thanks for that btw, great instructions!)

I think the only part I'm going to have trouble with is getting the timing right. I've never timed a DOHC engine before, and I don't see timing marks on the cam gears. Unless that's what the letter M is for on each one - but looking at this pic it doesn't appear that way for the front cam gear: http://atthetipwebs.com/technologyin...s/PICT8041.JPG

I wasn't able to "mark" the timing as they did, since obviously it was out of time to begin with from the belt breaking, so that wouldn't have done me any good.

So what should I do when I'm ready to put it back together to make sure the cam gears are aligned properly, and how do I time them with the crank?

 

Is that pic of your cams? If so, the timing marks are on the gears. If not, they're still on the gears, you just have to look closely.

 

No, that pic is from the tutorial I've been following that rspi posted earlier. Are those the marks right along the outer edge of the gear, pointed toward the square notches in the cover? Then what do I use to time the cam(s) with the crank?

 

Time the crank with the motor mark, then check Tracy's instructions and time it from the back of the motor. You can time them out of the motor like I did and brace them with cardboard or something like I did out of the motor. Just use the can cover & top timing belt cover. If you don't understand let me know, pm me.

 

I'll be PMing you when I'm ready to put it back together. I didn't bother bracing the cams because I figured they were already out of time from when the belt broke, so setting them where they were when I took it apart would have them be out of time when I put it back together.

May have a bigger problem though - I broke 3 bolts during the tear-down. Exhaust manifold heat shield - don't care about that one. Exhaust manifold stud, I should be able to get on with vice grips and get the broken piece out then just replace the stud. The killer - One of the head bolts snapped off in the block. That tutorial wasn't kidding when they said those things are TIGHT! I didn't expect to break a grade 10.9 13mm bolt! Not sure where to go from here...

 

Yes, those notches point to the square cutout in the cover. The proper way to time it is with the special tool holding the crank and locking the cams. But yes, if you broke a head bolt, you have bigger problems.

 

Yep. I'm holding off on purchasing anything until I can figure out what to do about the broken head bolt. But I started pulling valves until it started to downpour outside... got 7 intake valves out and 2 are obviously bent. What's a good way to test if the other ones that appear straight to the naked eye, are slightly bent and could cause problems?

Also what do I need for a tool to get the valve keepers back in when I go to put the head back together? To take them out, I took a socket and cut notches in it about 1" up, similar to an O2 sensor socket, and used a 12" C-Clamp with a piece of wood on the back side to distribute the force. Then I took a magnetic pick in through the notches I cut in the socket to pull the keepers out.