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B21FT: What to replace with head off? 200 1985

Hi Folks:

Have owned my '85 244Ti since it was 3 1/2 years old. Never a problem with the motor in 231,000 miles. Recently I experienced difficulty starting, a very uneven idle and hardly any power when it did start. The car really wasn't driveable. In monkeying around with the car I discovered that compression was super low (about 50 psi) in cylinders 2 & 3. Today I let her idle for about half an hour in my driveway. Let her cool down and then pulled the plugs....you guessed it, #2 & #3 look brand new against #1 and #4. Also have some nasty sludge floating around in my expansion tank.

I plan to keep this car "forver." Instead of just replacing the headgasket, I am thinking about rebuilding the engine. At the very least, I would have the valves done and drop the pan to replace the oil pump and con-rod bearings (assuming this can be done with the motor in the car). If I replace the rings, do I have to mess with the bore?

I have never done anything like this before, so please pardon my ignorance. I have pulled the turbo before so removing the head does not seem all that daunting, but not sure where to go from there. Any suggestions, tips, hints, etc. would be very helpful.

TIA,
Charles








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    B21FT: What to replace with head off? 200 1985

    Hello,

    As far as cylinder head service goes, there isn't much you can do with the valves. You mentioned doing a "valve job", but it is not at all recommended with the turbo engines. The exhaust valves are sodium filled and use stellite valve seats. If you were to attempt to grind either the valve or the seat, you would destroy both. When I had the head removed from my B230FT, I simply lapped the valves, but did no grinding. This cleaned up the seats and valve faces without damage. That is what I'd recommend. As far as the advantages of rebuilding the entire engine, that would depend on how well you have maintained it over the years. If the oil pressure is good, the bearings are probably still in good shape. My 760 still had honing crosshatches in all cylinders at 227k miles (these blocks are very hard). In any case, it wouldn't hurt to rebuild it (if you really want to). If properly maintained, you should only need to replace the rings and bearings, no machining work should be needed. Anyway, that's what I'd do.

    I hope this helps...

    Joe S. - Volvo Master Technician

    1988 760 Turbo w/275k miles, 1981 242 Turbo w/243k miles







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