Thanks for the response Earl.

From what I am hearing and reading, cracked blocks in the "white engines" are indeed rare.

However the block is really cracked im my case. I do my own mechanical work and I personally removed the inner timing housing cover and discovered the leak. I have been trying to track down this leak for about 40K miles. It started as my having to add coolant every month, then week, then every couple days. It finally let go completly so that the vehicle is not drivable.

I found what looked like a crack above and to the right of the water pump a couple inches. It is horizontal on both sides of a stiffening web on the left front side of the block. It had a milky white looking buildup around it. I pressurized the system and used soap to verify that air was coming out of the crack.

Volvo has quoted me $6,000 for a new engine or $2,500 for a bare block. I also got a price on a used motor from Erie motors, $1350.

I called Volvo customer relations to see if they could offer any assistance since this is so rare and could have been a casting flaw. They said to contact a service manager. I talked to Brian @ Dwyer and Sons Volvo in Commerce Township, MI and he said with 90K miles there was nothing he could do for me.

I could put a used motor in but somehow it just bothers me to go through the work of exchanging the motor and not having the new one be fresh.

What I would really like to find is a blown motor or a very high mileage motor from which I could get a used block. Then I would just completly rebuild what I have and put it back in.

Another possibility is to try to repait the crack, but I have had poor sucess with this in the past.

I would be grateful for any further advice.

-Kenric