Long story short... I bought a great looking v90 for a great price, only to find out it was a scam to sell a car with a known blown head gasket. I did my homework, and now the guy wants to make well. Here is my question to the board.

I've had the engine pulled apart, and the head is trash, is warped .028. Far above what my machinist is willing to try and heat and reshape and/or shave.

Now, the guy that sold me the car is willing to buy me a new engine with 90K on it. The car now has 150K.

My questions are this:

1. What would be safer bet; Installing a newly rmanufactured and warrantied (12 months/unlimited miles) head on the existing block or; Installing a 90K mile engine with a 90 day warranty.

The reason I ask, with the head being warped and the gasket being blown, what damage could there be to the existing engine block in the car?

Is there a way to test the block, while in the car? And more importantly, what kind of a guarantee would a regular mechanic give on an install?

thanks for reading!

Lucas

Based on my experience I would go with replacing the engine.

The head gasket went in my car a couple years ago at about 122K and developed a coolant leak that was partially inside and partially outside. With coolant in the oil the rings either stuck or wore quickly or both. With hindsight, I should have paid attention to the fact that most of the cross hatching pattern in the cylinders was already worn off!

I did the job myself and in the process had the head which wasn't warped, shaved just enough to get a clean gasket surface and tested for leaks and valve sealing.

After the repair the oil consmption has been running at about 1 qt every 500 to 700 miles. Now about 25K miles after the repair, the blow-by seems to be getting bad enough to push oil past a new filler cap gasket and also into the plug cavities which are sealed by "O" rings. The engine still runs perfect but I think it is doomed for lasting to 200K

So I did all that work and now I'm looking to replace the engine anyway.

I think the rings, pistons and cylinders in your engine need to be very carefully evaluated and "IF" judged OK I would go with the remanufactured & guranteed head. The bottom end of this engine is bullet proof as long as it hasn't lost oil.
--
'96 965, 16' wheels, Michelin Pilot Sports, rear 18mm bar + Koni, 201 HP cams, 142K. Put 200K on '85 745 TD.

There really is no good way to rule your bottom end out while it is disassembled like it is aside from a good visual inspection of the cylinder walls and checking the deck for flatness, which will only tell you so much.

Putting in a good used motor is definitely an option. As far as a warranty goes, what kind of warranty should you expect on a used part? Most wrecking yards will give you a 90 day warranty and on the rare ocassion that I do one in my shop I give the customer a 1 year warranty on the workmanship only. This means that if there is a failure that is related to the installation in any way I will take care of it but if your used part fails it is all you. Due to the unpredictable nature of used parts I do not supply them and let the customer source them themselves.

As far as your head goes, it is warped quite a bit but by the numbers it is still serviceable. The head can be warped up to .020" and still be run, it can be machined up to .012", so if you machine .012" off of the .028" you will have a warpage factor of .016". Acceptable by Volvo's standards.

Putting in a used engine is the most expensive way to go not only because of the added cost of the engine but because the time and money spent pulling the head is all extra at this point. You now get to pay for an engine R&R as well as a cylinder head R&R. While there may be a little overlapping labor involved it really is not that much and pulling a short block is actually a little more of a pain in the butt than pulling the motor complete.

I cannot really make a call on it without seeing it or having driven the car, if possible, before tearing it apart but if I had to I would be more inclined to drop a head on the existing bottom end.

Mark

Good points indeed!

What I'd want to have answered is this:

My machinist was concerned about the fact that the cams would sooner or later start to bind with so much warp. Is this something that can be overlooked?

with .028 warp, will the cams be fine? Is my machinist being overly cautious or should I consider pushing him to shave the head and see what happens?

The reality is that I can get a warranted (reman) head for 620 from clearwater cylinder heads and be assured that its good.

What should I specifically do to inspect the block that is in the car.. Any pointers would be great!

Thanks for the help in advance!

Lucas

That is a dilemma you have got there. From what you have posted I would go with the new engine with 90K on it. Reason is your engine was over heated pretty bad in the first place and what else is going to go wrong down the road.