Sounds very fishy! I am guessing that the crankcase seizure really means the timing belt broke and there are bent valves. Unless you drove for miles without oil and ignored the oil warning light.

Why are they describing this kind of failure as a crankcase seizure? Makes me think they are not honest.

So will the engine crank over on the starter but just not fire up, or when the key is turned it does nothing like a dead battery?

$5,000 is way too high for an engine, junk yards are filled with potential used engines. If it really is the valves you should be able to get away for about $1,200-1,500 in repairs.

How long ago did you do the engine swap? Was there a warranty? Was the timing belt changed according to the owners manual? How many miles on the first one, how many on the second one? How many miles on the second engine before it was installed into your car and then how many did you put on in that year?

Did the engine make any sounds before dying? How was it running?

Somebody should be able to tell you what exactly went wrong on the first engine.

DanR '94 964 355,000 miles (121,000 on the new engine)
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DanR

A billion years ago, in a galaxy far far away, I used to fix VW's. I had a two pump Texaco station with one bay to work in, and did a lot of motors and other general repairs to mostly those cars, sometimes some others.
It amazed me to see the way the public, and especially women, were basically stolen from by some mechanics. I did an engine overhaul on one that had a cracked distributor cap. That was all; it quit running, was diagnosed as a toasted motor, and they brought it to me to rebuild because I had the best price and reputation. ( I was also young and stupid and hungry, so I did too much for too little)
I just bought another Volvo from someone who had burnt the motor a long time ago and had another put in, which he was quite careful to tell me. $4500 for motor replacement, damn. There were some extras, like all new belts and gaskets etc, but I looked closely at the repair order and saw that they had been sold a used motor for that price; they thought it had been new. Yes, $4500 for a used motor. And No gold plating.
And, many other examples, but anyway; it could be that you just Do have bad luck. But like the others have said, what else can you tell us about all this? The more detail you can provide, the more we can suggest worthwhile avenues for you to pursue.

Two bad engines is either a very bad run of luck, or there is more to the story.

What exactly does your mechanic tell you is the problem?

-----------------
Chris Herbst
Phoenix, AZ
2005 S80 40k
1992 940 152?k

You need to have him define "bad" as in "what specifically went wrong". Absent that, we don't know the problem.
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See the 700/900 FAQ at the drop-down menu above right.

Hello Mary,

I'm sorry to hear about your streak of bad luck regarding your Volvo. What engine does the 93 960 run? If it was the PRV 6 cylinder engine, I know where one is sitting in South Carolina that might be able to be purchased(I just sold it for $100.00), although I would opt for putting a B230F motor back in and taking the loss in horsepower.

Regards,

Dear Mary Hada,

Hope you're well. This sounds fishy. What failed, on each engine? Did the timing belts break? If so, that's surprising, as a newly-installed engine should have had the timing belt and tensioner replaced.

When these cars "stopped running", did they fail in traffic, or did they simply refuse to start?

Do You have any on-board diagnostics codes? See the FAQs, for how to get and to interpret these codes.

Please post back with your findings.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook