If it hasn't been done, do your air/oil separator/PCV/whatever Volvo calls it now while its apart and easy to get too. Ours started running poorly (very suddenly) to the point it wouldn't idle. I bought the kit from one of the Volvo parts house and replaced it all... I think it was ~$250 in parts. It solved the problem. When I got the AOS off the car, it was completely blocked with carbon sludge.

i am surprised the engine lasted longer than the tranny...don't get me wrong, love(D) Volvos.

You and me both. I have changed the transmission fluid 3 or four times since new, with the first change at 80k, and changes every 30 since. From 120k to 200k it downshifted like dog. On the last change, I added a magline filter on the cool side oil return tube, and it has shifted progressively better ever since. It now shifts like a new car.

Also, on the last change, I set the oil level while the engine was "hot" instead of using the "cool" level on the dipstick. That made a HUGE difference.


Although I haven't pulled the turbo yet, I was making a parts list this morning. I'm not looking forward to pulling the turbo and displaying the trashed inside to you guys this weekend.

Researching gaskets- Are Victor Heinz gaskets worth a darn? They are all over ebay.
Also Stigan turbos- any info on those? The volkswagon reviews of them seem to be all ok.

Are there any aftermarket brands to avoid/ or pay more for in this area- like avoiding brazilian bosch coils?

Thoughts? tia- ron

Interesting info on the magline filter, Ron. I'm asking my service manager about that and what turbo and gaskets to recommend.

He said he has our turbos rebuilt, as long as your housing isn't trashed. Possible the chunk from your valve is stuck in the gunk in the exhaust manifold, but that looks like a big chunk, so maybe not. Big yes on the PCV stuff, and probably all your hoses will need replacing.

I believe only certain Aisins had issues? The switch was some time around 05 I think.
My FIL has 02 with tranny that has been flaring on 2:nd to 3:rd shift for last 10 years...it hasn't got any worse though.

Thanks for checking Steve. It will be interesting to pull it this weekend and see the damage. I remember when you and I spoke about the car over 2 years ago and were talking about how the transmission could go at any second. I'm certainly not tempting fate. The second I get cocky about it, I'm sure it will go :)

I think I lucked out. Pulled the turbo today. No real exhaust fan damage from broken valve. ZERO play in shaft. Lightyears better than my 951 turbo shaft play.

In honor of retrieving this undamaged turbo, I broke off an exhaust stud for good measure. Since I own a 911 with original dilivar studs, I should know how to get that out , but I've never had the pleasure yet.

I'm assuming some new seals and I'll be good to go?

(edit- UPS guy still hasn't picked up my box of awesomeness containing the head to be rebuilt. Wife's dogs are whining to get out to go pee. I can guarantee the second I let them out, UPS guy will come up driveway and dogs will eat him)



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UPDATE-turbo rebuild and the REGAL TOUR X

I went and disassembled my turbo. After the initial euphoria of pulling it and seeing no damage, I realized there was some play in it, so I figured I'd rebuild it. Also, it was noisy after the valve broke, almost like a turbo whine on a cummins diesel. Like an idiot, I bought a cheap ebay rebuild kit, watched a youtube video, and realized the replacement bushings have more slop than the originals! I am also scared that without getting the thing balanced, it might not spin reliably for the long term. It was much louder after car broke valve- I am concerned shaft got bent ever so slightly. I am not concerned about the turbo itself (replacing/rebuilding), it is accessing it again if things go south.

I don't want to revisit getting to the turbo. It's a pia.


Second- I drove the new BUICK REGAL TOUR X. :) Overall- okay car. Lot's of space. Actually better looking in person than in pics. It's one of the few american cars I enjoy look at. Reminded me a little of 1970's wagons in it's length. Was not impressed with auto cut off feature (especially with a stressed 2liter turbo pumping out 250hp), lack of spare, and higher than expected wheel noise from rear of car. It had about $6k of unneeded bells and whistles that I want nothing to do with.

I like it, but 40K can buy a lot of stuff.

Hmmm....

So.... In terms of rebuilding a turbo, does anyone know where I can get the CHRA assembly rebuilt properly (and balanced)? Or just a new CHRA core? It's a mistibishi unit that they use on the volvo. I could buy all new, but that's a lot of parts and $ to fix a relatively small issue.

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I've been in the exact same boat (right down to the chunk missing out of the valve) and although I consider myself a really solid shady tree mechanic, after I removed the head I took it to my favorite engine builder in town and he put 16 new valves, guides and seals and made sure the head was dead straight. This cost me $600-$700 and was definitely worth it.

Concurrently, I also replaced my turbo seeing that it was all apart with a freshly rebuilt one as the turbo rebuilder I use offer a great core exchange program with a 1-2 day turn around with a 12 month warranty. Plus the eBay Chinese kits are a disaster - be warned!

I hope that helps.
Yasin

Cool. Tell them Mike Mascote at McKevitt Volvo referred you. He's the service manager there.

I have moved on to greener pastures at Volvo Cars Walnut Creek...

Will do. Thanks!
Ron

As of 5:00 est Sept 1st, the volvo LIVES!!!! (subtitled- "That was a B#$~~!!!!") :)
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(please ignore all lifter/ injector noise... it's really not that loud)

not that I care, I was just happy it spins and doesn't bend valves. A summer worth of bittersweet sweat and tears! It took me 30 seconds to get the guts to turn the ignition on.


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Good on you for keeping a car you like and bringing it back to life!!

I have always liked those Volvo wagons.
Congrats on bringing it back to life.

Congrats!

So what did it wind up being? I'm late to the thread but would have just sourced a good used turbo, they must be plentiful(?) Also, can't imagine living somewhere where you'd need to box up a common cylinder head and ship it off for a simple repair? You must be somewhere really remote. Machine shops are everywhere engines are.

The real mystery is how it could have 30 lbs. of compression, (held), w that sized hole in valve? That's a head-scratcher...should be zero.

I'm glad that you got it fixed. If I'd been on thread in the beginning, I would have told you to pull the head and fix it cheaply. One cylinder suddenly dead is in the head every time. I bought a Chevy PU a few years ago w a "bad engine" for cheap. Super clean 4x4 Silverado w the 5.7 Vortec, they generally run forever.

Of course when I pulled the valve cover, it had a broken valve spring and dropped a valve. The guy told me that he was driving down the highway when suddenly it bucked and started making horrible noises but limped to the side of the road. "What kind of noises?", I asked. "Like someone dumped the silverware drawer into the engine."

Thanks, buddy. That's all I needed to know. Pulled only the effected head and got one good used valve from a machine shop and one used valve spring+retainers. Lapped the used valve in. Old valve was bent and damage to top of piston was cosmetic and minimal. The engine only ran for a minute after event.

The point of the story is that I fixed it for the cost of a set of head gaskets, (still have the unused one), $10 for the used valve and spring and some of my own labor. It ran like showroom new and I drove it cross-country including towing a 911 I bought 2k miles on a U-Haul trailer home to CA. Still ran perfectly when I sold it a couple years later.

Cheap car= fix it cheap. What do you have to lose and w a little intelligence, you can put it back to where it was easily. Other than external wear items like belts and hoses, skip the "while you are in there BS" where guys make things worse than they were half the time. Look at those cylinders of yours @ 200k, they are like new. leave what the factory built alone where possible. :)

^ yeah. I think you have a good point. I probably paid a little high on the head considering what I got. The whole issue was the one chunked valve. I considered just replacing the valve myself and being done with it, but then I started thinking about the where my comfort level was with me just replacing only it.

If you think just replacing the valve would have been thrifty, you should have met my dad, who would not only just do that, he would reuse original head gaskets. He never had a failure either.

But I ain't my dad!

In my scenario, I've had an engine code for "MAF reading too low"- for about 100,000 miles. I have been through everything looking for vacuum leaks, bad maf, bad connections, etc, only to find nothing. I have spoken with several other volvo mechanics with the same code that they couldn't figure out. In the back of my head, I always wondered- with the low maf readings, was the computer making the car run lean and jeapordizing the valves? The mpg seemed to raise after the maf code came up, so in my mind, I have always been concerned.

When this valve went, I can't say I was too surprised, so as much as I wanted to just pop one in and be done with it, I wasn't too sure the other valves weren't that far behind. I wanted the whole head gone through. I have also heard of other volvo's burning valves in the 200k plus range. The other issue is the car is a turbo (albeit a "low pressure" turbo), and like many of these cars, has gone through life on low test gas, so that was just even more reason for me to question the other valves. There were no local shops I knew of so I shipped it off to a company touting itself for doing primarily volvo heads. Big pia in retrospect- but it's done. In the context of paying someone else to do the labor, or buying a new car, the price of the head rebuild wasn't the a huge factor. I could have done the job myself with the little suction cups and the grinding paste, but the price for the head job made sense at the time.

Same goes for the turbo. It was leaking (needed new seals)- but on this car it is sandwiched between the front bevel gear and the rear of the engine compartment. There is no way to get to it from the bottom without pulling the AWD system off. With access from the top, dealing with the turbo was a no brainer, and necessary to at least pull it to ensure the valve hadn't damaged the turbo fins. Once it was off, it made sense to send it to Steve Carlton's guy- Tony Vargas, who rebuilt it for about the average price of a fleabay used one with high miles and questionable history. (btw- thanks STEVE!!!!)

The while you were in there items turned out to be things the car needed anyway. It was going to need a new timing belt in 10,000 miles, so that was in the cards anyway. No biggie. It had an original water pump, so that was easy to change out. The PCV system I had replaced about 60k ago, so I looked at it and it was as clean as a whistle- so I didn't change that. I did replace a lot of questionable vacuum hosing (a lot of elbow grease- but little $). I also replaced the motor mounts since the access was easy.

As for the 30lb reading, that was a miscommunication from the mechanic's wife. When I spoke to him several weeks later, he told me he got zero. When I tested it- zero.

Also MAF reading too low has mysteriously gone away- knock on wood!

I'm glad that it's fixed and I agree w most of what you did, (especially dealing w turbo while head was off), just not shipping the head x-country. That must have been one expensive UPS package and required quite the box.

You did the right thing. There is no economy in buying new cars and the one you have was built very expensively at the time. It's absolutely safer than a new Mazda, I don't care if the Mazda has airbags on its airbags. My BIL who is a trauma surgeon/cardiologist drives only Volvo SUVs and he's been working a big city ER for decades. There are of course other safe cars but nothing better than a heavy Volvo. Nothing.

The true stories of people walking away from accidents that look like plane crashes are legendary. You did the right thing. And yes, Steve is a great guy!

Nice work, Ron....you did good!

Your '05 looks HEAPS better than anything manufactured afterwards anyway! :D

The old Volvos rule!

Thanks Baz!
I had been thinking of placing some stickers on the front fenders (or the doors) of all the valves that got replaced (like ww2 airplanes with pics of the planes they had shot down)- but perhaps, I should just hang a piranha/pacu off the rear view mirror instead. It's been fortunate enough to miss out on all the soccer stickers, but, perhaps, some personalization is in order! :D