New to owning a Volvo. The mechanic I bought my '82 242 from said that the head needs to be pulled and machined. I have been searching the forums for some information as to how difficult this task is. I have worked on VW's before, but this will be my first Volvo. I like to do my own work but also like to know what I am getting into.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
--
proud new owner! 82, 242, 2dr

Is there more to the story? Like, were there other poor running symptoms before the water was added to the sump?

I'm with the others here. If it will idle, get it up to running temp and add a quart of diesel to the crankcase and let it idle for another 10 min. Drain the slop and add fresh oil and new filter.

If it does not free it up then do a compression test. The real reason may be burnt or bent valves (or a holed piston or two, God forbid).

On the other hand, having a nice fresh head is not a bad thing (if you got the cash).

Water in the crankcase leads me to wonder if, perhaps, other novel maintenence proceedures had been performed (or essential ones never performed)?

--
Mike!

There is nothing unusual. I would be more concerned about why the head needs milling. Is there a compression problem or coolant loss? I thought the usual reason for having to do this is because the engine was severely overheated. Perhaps and inquiry about any other possible damage from overheating would be in order. You want to fix everything the first time.

The previous owner added water to the oil system believing it was the coolant system. She did not drive the car, but had it towed to the shop. The mechanic drained the oil system over night, put fresh oil in, ran it for ten minutes and then drained it agian.

Now the car feels like it's running on two cylinders. I have to imagine the vaulves got fouled, the mechanic concured.

Thus pulling the heads to have the vaulves ground.

Any other recommends while I am at it would be welcomed.

If the mechanic ran it for 10 mins the valves would not be "fouled" (never heard of such a thing). I strongly recommend a compression test before any drastic repairs. If you get the head off and don't find anything wrong, you will have to put it all back together again just to find the real problem.

I can't believe the very small residual amount of water in the oil would do that. If the valves really are gummed up I'd try pouring in some cleaner stuff into each cylinder, turning it over a couple of times, and leaving to soak overnight. Clean the plugs, check the HT leads etc for any other causes of misfiring, put injector cleaner in the tank, then get the engine going and give the car a really hard run.
Removing the head is straightforward, but still a real pain. I'd investigate every other possibility first.

you know there's something wrong with this story. for one thing, nobody is going to pull a dipstick, with an orange handle, that says motor/engine, out of a dipstick tube that's 12 or 13mm's in diameter, then try to add water. that just isn't going to happen.
for another thing, there's really nothing that water can do to "gum up" valves. It might be remotely possible that hydraulic lifters in really bad shape could be affected by a water/oil mix, but here there are no hydraulic lifters.

There is nothing unusual. I would be more concerned about why the head needs milling. Is there a compression problem or coolant loss? I thought the usual reason for having to do this is because the engine was severely overheated. Perhaps and inquiry about any other possible damage from overheating would be in order. You want to fix everything the first time.

If you've worked on a water-cooled VW before then it is pretty much the same thing. Drain the coolant first and then it's just a matter of unbolting all the 'stuff'. You will also have to remove the belts, fan, shroud and front covers in order to see all the marks when you line the timing belt back up.

Other than that I can't think of any surprises ahead of you.

Not very hard. Intake manifold nuts off, exhaust manifold nuts off, timing belt and coolant hoses off. Then 10 14 mm (use 1/2" drive 6 point) headbolts off with a breaker bar. Takes an hour.

Great, thanks for the response. I will give it a go this evening.
--
proud new owner! 82, 242, 2dr