Car is a 1998 V70 AWD with 161,000 mi. I bought the car six months ago at 156,000 mi. Extant major service record: I had a roadside repair shop in Pennsylvania install a new OEM radiator a couple of hundred miles and a couple of weeks ago, before that the PO here in Wisconsin had a Wi. Volvo dealer install a new heater core, O-rings, heat exchanger, evaporator system, charcoal canister, fuel damper and timing belt at 137,000 mi. nearly two years ago. Before that the same dealer installed a new rear main seal, upper torque arm bushing and PCV system at 127,000 mi. over three years ago.

Recent history: this past winter I mistook a) slight foam on the motor oil dipstick this past winter for condensation from short driving trips around town, b) coolant seeping from the upper radiator hose to radiator upper neck fitting for a slow leak of no urgency, and c) discounted wet carpeting on the sole of the driver's footwell to be a remnant from an apparently much earlier coolant leak. The heater core on the car looks undamaged and is dry as is the transmission tunnel underneath it.

Then last month I embarked with the car on a road trip from Wisconsin to the southern New Jersey Atlantic coast to visit in-laws for a few days. The small amount of foam on the dipstick disappeared on the long drive from Wisconsin out to New Jersey. this confirmed in my mind that the small amounts of foam on the dipstick over the winter had been due to short trip condensation. But on the return trip from New Jersey to Wisconsin the temperature gauge needle climbed towards the red in Southeast Pennsylvania. Pulled over and stopped. Foam was now covering the dipstick. Radiator upper neck fitting also had broken clean off at its base on the radiator. Had the tow truck take me to the nearest Home Depot. Bought tools and supplies, jury rigged a temporary repair. Refilled coolant system with 50/50 mix, took along almost 5 gal. of tap water, continued driving. Jury rig lasted 200 or 250 mi. before it failed, temperature gauge climbed up towards the red again and I pulled over and stopped. Second Interstate highway tow. This time went to the turnpike tow facility repair shop. This shop replaced my original radiator with a new OEM radiator. Car then was running fine, gauge was showing normal temperature. Continued driving. After an hour or so of westward Interstate driving the temperature gauge needle started floating up towards the red again. Pulled over, stopped, refilled the reservoir with the tap water. Temperature gauge quickly settled back down to normal operating temperature. Resumed driving. A pattern developed: I was driving about 5 mi. on the Interstate with each fresh partial refill of water into the coolant system before the needle on the temperature gauge climbed up towards the red.

In mid Ohio this procedure no longer seemed practical especially in light of the looming prospect of having to drive through Metropolitan Chicago like this enroute the remaining approx. 500 miles to Wisconsin. So in Ohio rented a small U-Haul truck with an automobile trailer and carried, did not drive, my V70 back to Wisconsin from Ohio.

Took the car still on the trailer to a local leading commercial mechanic here in Wisconsin who determined combustion vapor was entering the coolant reservoir while the motor was running and found that starting the engine with the coolant reservoir cap off also produced a lot of bubbling in the coolant reservoir. Diagnosed a damaged head gasket, proposed repair. Gratefully paid for the diagnosis but respectfully declined the labor-intensive repair at his commercial shop.

Car now is sitting in my driveway. Engine starts, runs at idle. Have not run the engine more than a couple of times like this, a couple minutes at idle (i.e. at mechanic's shop, then at home to to drive the car off the U-Haul trailer and into the driveway and just now to see if the car would start. Starts but sounded like it started dry. Ran it just briefly in the driveway. Have scheduled the head gasket R&R work with my local shade tree mechanic per above in the subject line. I plan on draining the oil and refilling with fresh motor oil, then also topping off the coolant reservoir with water for the one-mile slow drive on residential streets over to my mechanic's garage in a few days. Maybe I should a little motor oil into the cylinders through the spark plug holes just before doing that?

Sound plausible? Would anyone please comment on that and if possible also on what else might best be done while the cylinder head is off? I painfully acknowledge having poorly stewarded the car in this cooling system regard. My intent is to keep this great car and make sure all its parts are well serviced for many years. I did change oil on this car this past winter couple of times with the engine warm each time and repeatedly rinsed the road salt off including underneath when weather permitted. Thank you all in advance for any comments.