I'm not as skilled as y'all, so please bear with me. You konw about Volvos and I drive one.

My 96 960 started leaking oil on the driveway a week ago. When I had my mechanic (pretty good mechanic) look into it, they determined that the problem is a crack in the upper portion of the two-piece head. He said that somebody had known about it before (I bought it used), and had done a topical application of some sort of sealant that has now given way. The oil is running through a chase, right past the exhaust manifold, which also holds the unprotected wiring harnesses for the plug coils. This sounds to me like an untenable state of affairs, a fire waiting to happen.

There is an anomally here. This is a mid-year 96 (production date Feb 1996) but the casting number on the current head is for a 95 engine. It does not appear to be a retrofit, and VolvoTech says that it is possible that it could be the original. Let's assume that it is. Although the head is a two-piece unit, the two pieces are apparently mated for boring and function as a single unit thereafter. When we checked for a new head through Volvo the word was that it was on "national backorder." Apparently there have not been enough cores going back to be refurbed.

Questions:

Does this all make sense? Anybody seen anything like this before?

This is not a minor expense in terms of repair cost, at about 3 grand. If it can't be fixed, I can't sell the car as a safe vehicle, so it's off to used parts. My mechanic says that as a parts car it is worth about $600 to sell. Even if I can fix it I will probably sell it. I will have paid 1 1/2 times what I paid FOR it in repairs in the year I have owned it. I'm tired of the hemorrage.

Is there anywhere I can get a reasonably good price for this selling it for parts?

Is there somewhere I can get a head that would be reasonably assured of being usable?

Think simple
you need to get things clean and see exacly where the leak is
my 960 leaked
at the seam between the two halfs
and through the oil return gallery that was porous
but both were fixable with sealents

First of all get a second opinion from an independent Volvo mechanic. I don't see how the engine could function with a cracked head in the first place. How long did you own the car before this problem was discovered? Can you post come pictures of the crack? If it really is cracked as your mechanic states, why not just patch it up again with some JBweld. I don't buy his story.

Uh, find a new mechanic?

I'd be curious to see where this chemical sealant was applied. Volvo specifies a chemical gasket for the two halves of the head, so to find this is not surprising.

Second, to find a casting date of before the production date isn't surprising either. I'm not quite sure what the fuss is about.

These two piece heads and the damn chemical gaskets aren't known for their sealing longevity. From reading the FAQ (take a look at the 960 section) oil leaking past the bolts holding the valve cover in is not an uncommon problem.

If your mechanic thinks your car is only worth $600 parted out, I suppose that's a good indication he doesn't know Volvos. If you're patient I suspect you could get a bunch more money.

I'm still not quite sure what is so anomalous about your 960.

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alex

If I were in your position, I would give strong consideration to finding and installing a low mileage used engine from a wreck.

I've searched a couple times out of curiosity and later style engines with 50K to 75K miles seem to be available for about $2000. By later style I mean with the 70K mile timing belt design from '95 to '98.

If your head is cracked, and has already been patched, there are a large number of scenarios as to what has happened to the engine in the past. If it lost coolant and overheated the whole engine block is now unstable and pistons and rings may be on their last legs. If it broke a timing belt and a piston hit hard there may be bent rods as well as damaged pistons.

If you get a used head, it would likely come from an engine with problems as most yards like to sell complete engines. Getting a good head from a good engine may be hard to do.

I you install an engine with low mileage from a wreck you can forget about the worries of what else could go wrong with the engine you have.
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'96 965, 16' wheels, Michelin Pilot Sports, rear 18mm bar + Koni, 201 HP cams, 129K. Put 200K on '85 745 TD.

It sounds as though the head might have been replaced after a timing belt failure, a common occurrence, although I am prepared to believe it might also be OEM. In any event, you will definitely need a new head and if one cannot be had, then the car is toast. And $3k for the repair is steep. Maybe it's time to say goodbye. Selling it for parts at $600 is not too bad.
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See the 700/900 FAQ under 'Select Link' button on the top right.

I never heard of a cracked cylinder head on that car. I would keep on researching, I trust ZERO mechanics. But, if at the end is true, get rid of the car. $3000 is to much money for that job and probably will never be the same unless the mechanic truly good.