Hi Phil,

Thank you very much for reassuring me on that little spot on the deck.

I know, perfection does not exist, but I always try to get things done properly, at least to achieve excellence.

This is my 'first' head gasket, and as you know, it is a PITA to do this work, especially if:

1) The car is your daily drive.

2) You work full time, so I can only work on my car during the weekend.

Sure, we have a second vehicle (XC70), but keep reading:

Few months ago I changed the exhaust manifold on my 940. Long story short, it took long time to get a decent (which is, far away from being defined excellent) manifold from Volvo. So I ended up to keep my car on cribs for 6 weeks.

So guess what: It was Christmas Eve, and my wife called me from the supermarket, telling me she could no longer turn the key to start the XC70. You know what that means right?
It costed me an arm and a leg to get a new column lock from Volvo + another mini fortune went to the car rental company.

Nonetheless, I had to do the cylinder head gasket, and since I want to do things right, I am taking this opportunity and check everything around that area, including all the belts, water pumps and so on.

This is why I ask the help of my second family Brickboard :), and bother nice people like you, Amarin and the many others who help answer my silly questions.

You are awesome!

Thank you for your message, it was a nice reading, and you made my day! :)

Alessandro