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