Ok, guys.

I called the machine shop. They said there is no way that head left their shop in a compromised condition. They have ways of testing all parameters. The head is good.

So why is it pumping oil into all 6 cylinders??

I floated my missing dowel pin theory. They don't buy it. They said that one dowel should be enough to get the head gasket straight. Further, that *IF* I managed to screw it up that badly, that we should be seeing coolant before oil flooding into the cylinders.

AGAIN....So why is it pumping oil into all 6 cylinders??

They told me that they have seen these engines, with a fresh head, go back together and blow out the piston rings on startup.

A variation on this scenario is that I blew out one piston ring and that piston is now acting as a pump and flooding the intake with oil.

Guys..... I have having severe bowel distress here. Anyone want to comment??

The last time I heard a machine shop say that, was when my VW Dasher started using one quart of oil every 50 miles right after the valve job. That was a lame excuse. The rings were fine. It turned out that the machine shop had failed to push the valve guide seals all the way down on the top of the guides. The seals all came loose within the first day of driving. No one would follow me within one half a city block. In my opinion, any ring/piston/cylinder problem you have existed before the head work.

What do you think of the leakdown test?

And the theory that a fresh head blew out marginal rings?

I did have a minor overheat in 1999. It has been using 1 quart every 200-300 miles since then. I'm told that the piston rings can lose temper and collapse a bit after an overheat.

What's the compression and does spark plug 6 look different than the others?

No.... I am Fuq'ed.

Rings blew out.

Oh, come ON.

They're so perfect, they couldn't POSSIBLY make a mistake. Never mind that Hank Buttcrack came in half in the bag, Skip was thinking about knocking off a piece after work, and their apprentice was running the show on his FIRST 24v Volvo head.

I don't buy it. There COULD be some bona fide problem with your car, but you said it's dumping into all the cylinders. Is the intake fouled? The possibilites aren't exactly endless here.

I think they are bullshit artists. You know about that kind of thing firsthand. Look at it from both sides... customer and shop.
--
Chris Herbst, near Chicago, IL. 93 940, 91 240, 90 240, 88 740, 87 240

Well, actually Buttcrack and Son are pretty well regarded "round these parts".

And..............................................

It turns out they maybe 100% correct.

Till you posted this I have never heard of such a thing. In that case I should have blown up a bunch of engines. My machine shop owner-friend also has NEVER mentioned this. BSOMETER pegged at far right.
dick

Testing and actual testimony from a Volvo Pro bears this story out.

Overheat causes rings to lose temper and collapse, blowby..... head gets crapped up. Fixed head blows out rings.

It sounded like bullsh. It smelled like bullsh. God knows I WANTED IT to be bullsh. But at the end of the day, it looks like they may have been right on the money.

Non-Professional BS detection here, Tom.

The "Motorhead" across the street has told me (many times) that if you get the head done, you should do the rings or you risk (drum roll, please) blowing out the rings.

On the flip side, I had the head on my Nissan Stanza done twice without rings with no problems. Maybe it was just dumb luck (I use a lot of that) or the fact that it was not a high compression engine, like the 960 engine or the high performance V8s my neighbor plays with.

Final call....maybe not so big a cow pattie as some seem to think. Good luck.
--
Blane Gardner Couple of Volvos, Couple of Toyota Vans, and an Old Chebby

What does Mr. Motorhead think the cylinder and block will look like?

"They told me that they have seen these engines, with a fresh head, go back together and blow out the piston rings on startup."

So this is not the first time someone has called them after they rebuilt a 960 head and complained about oil in all the cylinders?

Curious.

-Bill D. Cat

Yep, I detect a distinctive fertilizer type odor here. For the sake of argument, let's say they did everything right.

How could *I* have screwed it up? The head gasket goes on only one way. The PCV system connects only one way. What could I have done to cause this?

THAT seems to be the big question.

'They told me that they have seen these engines, with a fresh head, go back together and blow out the piston rings on startup.'

You just pegged my BS-O-Meter with that one.
I'm not sure what is causing the problem, but I know one thing for sure: I wouldn't trust that shop any farther than I could throw it.
How could you possibly 'blow out' the rings by installing the head.

If they screwed up and milled the head WAY too far, you might get a very little excess blow by, but blow out the rings....naw.


'They said there is no way that head left their shop in a compromised condition. They have ways of testing all parameters. The head is good.'

That statment says it all ( i.e. we NEVER make a mistake and the customer is always wrong ).

That was my thought... we could NEVER make such a dumbass mistake.

That's the first big red flag! A good shop would be SO SURE that they'd immediately offer to have the thing BACK in to check it over with the customer there, and then fix it if they screwed it up. People are so pathetic.
--
Chris Herbst, near Chicago, IL. 93 940, 91 240, 90 240, 88 740, 87 240

Ouch.

Well, you saw the title of my post. But how to approach things?

This place is *THE PLACE* for Volvo and SAAB heads in our area.

I suppose a leakdown test and further diagnostics are in order. Either way it looks like I am going back into it. I just hope it was a minor screw up on my part.

If you blew out a ring, wouldn't the compression be bad? Have you done a compression test? I'm not an expert, but a compression test is the first thing I would do.

Well, sort of....

The compression rings could theoretically be ok, while the oil ring could be bad. A leakdown test is probably in order. I had cancelled that test for tonight upon figuring out what the problem is, maybe.

Now, prior to disassmembly, the compression on 5 cylinders was in the 185-195 range, cold. This is pretty good. Of course #3 was at zero, due to the valve. But you know what? #3 was the culprit last time too.

I dunno.

My head is spinning.

My head (biological, not metallurgical) is spinning here, too. How on earth could a rebuilt head cause the oil control OR the compression rings to "blow out" on startup? If they were faulty or worn before the head was removed, then OK, I can see it. But I can't imagine the failure sequence. Did the shop give any details, like exactly how this could happen? People replace heads all the time without having to do ring jobs. Please, shop mechanics, explain this. Do they tell each customer to do new rings with each rebuilt head?

Try a cylinder compression test. The valves have been seated correctly, so you know any leakage can't be at the top side of the cylinder. This should pinpoint failed rings, if any, although it might not catch a bad oil ring. I would imagine that if the oil control ring is bad, then the compression ring must be too.

Try this as well: remove the valve cover and try the ATF test on the valve stems of the TDC valves, maybe with some fluorescent dye in the oil. Pull the plugs and see if any oil leaks down. That may show you if the stems/guides/seals are the culprits. I am still betting that they are.