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I bought a 90 740 GLE wagon with roughly 100k miles on it. Within a few months of my buying it, it overheated at highway speed. I have to admit, I didn't catch the problem until it boiled over. I had noticed some hood discoloration when I bought the car, so I think it had boiled over pretty badly at some earlier point.
Anyway, I pulled over, let it cool, added water, etc. The hose from the radiator had blown off, so I re-attached it, and later had it replaced. My reasoning (incorrect) was that a bad hose clamp had led to the overheating. Car ran well, although sometimes somewhat hot, for two years. I put 35k on it. Recently it overheated during a long hot drive. I nursed it along with water every 30 minutes, and kept it out of the temnperature red zone, but it was leaking water all around the water pump, and the coolant was orange.
Took it to a shop, and they replaced the water pump and did $500 of brake work, then noticed that the head gasket was shot, as well as a freezer plug. He said it would cost $1100 just to pull the head and look, and he had me convinced it wasn't worth the risk, although I still owed him for all the other work.
I was gonna junk the car, although I just got new tires and wheels, as well as a starter and some other stuff within the last year, and it has no rust or other problems. I called another garage, and he basically told me that he could do the gasket for $850, and even if the head is warped, it was no big deal to machine it or get another used one.
I had the car towed from one garage to the other, which got the first mechanic mad at me (I paid him) and I'm hoping for the best.
My question is, why is this car having so many problems relating to head gaskets (among the receipts that I got from previous owner was one for head gasket replacement) and overheating? Is it probable that the engine is screwed up in a deep way? It always ran strong and smoothly. Why would the water pump, head gasket, and freezer plug all go at once?
Any insite?
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I haven't had personal experience with headgasket problems, but I can offer a couple small suggestions:
+ Check out the cooling system page in the FAQ... lots of info there. If you get all the work done and plan to keep the car, consider installing the coolant level sensor descibed in the FAQ... pretty easy job, and an extra level of awareness for you.
+ I can recommend an excellent Volvo-only mechanic in NJ: Raw Bear Performance in Clifton. The proprietor, Robert, is kind of eccentric, but he and his crew really know their stuff on the RWD cars, and their rates are extremely reasonable. You might want to give them a call if things don't work out at the shop where the car is now...
- Brian '93 945T
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Because the engine over-heated.
Engine over-heats, all gasket seals would pop.
The timing belt cover becomes brittle & crak. No way to align cam next time you do the belt change job.You would have to take out all cam gears for next timing belt job
Thermo-stat usually gets tosted, causing no-heat in winter problem.
Or worse, over heat the engine again if it gets stuck closed.
Also warps cylinder head causing head gasket failuare.
(There are limitations to how much you can machine the head, at worst case you will have to replace the head)
Water around the pump, means the pump is done. You should be replacing these things in every 50K miles or you would run into over heating problem (and all the problem above repeats)
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I'm just a novice, but I have done several heads on a variety of cars.
It's not that unusual for a car that has overheated badly once, to continue to have problems.
Most probably the first bad overheating could have caused the head to warp slightly. Since it's aluminum and the block is iron, the two expand at different rates. After the initial problem, the car might run okay, but as the engine heats up, there could be a slight gap, loosing pressure in the coolant system. Since the system is designed to be closed, and under pressure, the loss of pressure causes the coolant boiling point to go down. i.e. you overheat at a lower temp.
This continual overheating just gets worse as you go along, so.... cracked head,
etc.
The first head gasket replacement might not have included milling the head.
You should be able to find a competent machine shop to redo your head for about 200-300. Then the labor on a B230f engine should not be too bad, it's really a simple job. The hardest part is getting the crank pulley off!
If it's a b234f engine, like mine, the cost would be higher, I was quoted
$3-4,000 by a local independent, and I did it myself for about $900.00.
This included replacing 10 bent valves, new valve seals, and milling the head, though which should not be a problem in your case.
good luck,
jc
--
1985 740gle na, 1990 740gle 16 valve
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