This stupid car has always had it in for me.

I just replaced the head gasket with a new (used head), that was cleaned and inspected at a machine shop.

I put in everything to torq specs, 15, 45, 90 turn with oil new head botls. This was done at about 50F, with new gasket (erling) ofcourse.

I did a compression check, 180 all around. There does not seem to be any coolant loss.

Another stupid problem is that the car dies on idle when hot. I've only driven it about 10 miles with the new head.

As far as the idle problem, I think it's a pinched fuel rail. It must have twisted when tightening the fuel pipe nuts. I came to this conclusion after piching the vacuum hose to the Fuel pressure regulator. It's does not die, but tries to. I have to get pick one up from the bone yard.

As far the coolant: there is a brown coagulate that sinks to the bottom. Also it looks fibrous.

It's giving me a headache.

It doesnt take long at all for an engine that is opened up waiting on a head to form some surface rust inside the coolant passages.mixed with a few drops of oil and grime spilled in and it can look pretty nasty.
Try flushing out the cooling system and see if it goes away(clamping a garden hose onto the block drain fitting works well for flushing)

Ten miles, are you serious?

You need to get the thing out on the road for a little while longer. Idle it for a while here and there, and then run it out for a while on the highway (as long as it checks out).

To do it properly, you MUST do a pressure test on the cooling system. Then your fears will be put to rest. Either you'll see coolant somewhere, or it's all right.

Usually if the cooling system keeps pressure for a while, it's good, though (if you can't get your hands on a pressure tester).

Remember, the block could still be dirty from the previous head gasket failure especially if there was deterioration of the gasket material. I've not SEEN that but it could happen.

--
chris herbst, five volvos.

Thanks I took a break from volvo work this weekend. Will give another shot monday.


I'm hoping it's just gunk left over.

Try flushing with water and running it and see if The Blob comes back. Maybe it's just left over from your previous problem?

Hot dying, could also be the hall sensor.

Greg