850 T5 Estate - head gasket & related maintenance work?

Volvo 1996 850 T5 Estate, 90,000 miles, not had Volvo dealer maintenance since 50,000 mile service, but had regular oil changes/basic servicing at non-volvo garages ..

About four days ago, on a short journey (about 3 miles) I noticed that the temp gauge had gone just into the red. I stopped and also noticed small amounts of steam from the engine bay, and on further inspection is was coming from the coolant tank where hot water/steam was escaping. It had emptied quite alot too. Since then, I've only taken it out on one or two very short journeys (under 2 miles) as I'm afraid of doing some damage to it. The fan's working fine and there's no loss of power noticeable, though it did struggle to start this morning for the first time in two years (maybe water getting into cylinders?). There's no obvious leaks in the hoses or radiator, and the coolant looks slightly discoloured, as if very small amounts of oil might be getting in, or at least some dark deposits. The car does not overheat when standing still idling - it maintains normal, level temperature and sounds just fine. After reading the posts in this group (thanks guys)it looks fairly conclusively like the beginnings of a head gasket problem and I'm thankful that I haven't made any longer journeys since the problem began.

Since I'm not exactly clear on what has been done to the car in the last 40,000 miles, I have a couple of questions to ask to try and rectify the problem and prolong it's life a little...

1. Assuming the head gasket diagnosis is correct, and I will get this verified by having a pressure test and checks for exhaust gases in the coolant expansion tank, what else should be replaced (as a preventative measure) whilst this work is being done?

• Water pump?

• Flame guard?

• Oil & coolant + filters?

• Any hoses?

• Manifold gaskets?

• Plugs?

• Any others recommended?

1. Would you recommend that I replace the timing chain whilst doing the head gasket to save on labour costs - whilst they are in there? I don't have any documentary evidence of the timing belt ever been changed, though it may (and should) have been done at 60,000 mile service before I owned the car (this service was not done by a Volvo garage though, and there's no note in the service record that it was done).

2. Could this head gasket problem have been caused by a generic oil filter having been fitted during the last service or the omission of some essential work due to it being serviced at non-Volvo garages? There appears to be a number of Volvo-specific checks that might not be obvious to technicians who were not well versed in Volvo maintenance.

Any advice is welcomed. I realise that this is likely to be an expensive bit of work to get done, but I'd prefer to get everything done at once and save future costs if possible.

Thanks Tim

PS. Anyone know of a reputable Volvo specialist in the UK, Midlands area??

Well then, my advice is to eat a can of beans and blow yourself away.

Blow yourself to the mooooooooooon!!!!!!

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, you are wise not to drive it too far in this condition, certainly not under appreciable load until you have it checked properly, but it sounds very much like HGF, which incidentally is quite rare on the 5cylinder unit unless it has previously been over heated or running alot of boost. Anyhow seems like you have been unlucky.

I cant recommend anyone in the midlands area for Volvo's having not needed any other than a small firm in telford who I have used in the past for 2nd user parts (heater matrix and leccie mirrors etc) Don;t know if they are still in business though. I would only use someone who has stripped a grey block before, as they require special tools (home fab-ed is fine) to hold and pull the cam carrier (and cams) back to the head upon reassembly without snapping the cams off or cracking the cam carrier. Note there is no gasket twixt head and cam carrier, nor cam cover- Volvo supply a special sealer with short hair roller to apply it with. DO NOT USE silicone!!

If the HG is indeed leaking then I would do the job fairly quickly as alot of oil in the cooling system is a nightmare to flush out! The exhaust gases check in the expansion bottle is a good as any check. also look for more than normal steam from the exhaust, but without running the car under load for 10+ miles to blow out water in the exhuast thats going to be kinda tricky.

Depending on past maintanance all the cooling system hoses should be fine- oil wont have been in contact long enough to do damage, however from past experience the factory hoses clips will have to be hacksawed off as they seem to rust up quickly.

Replacement as a matter of course items would be:

1) timing belt, and tensioner. 2) Water pump. 3) aux drive belt. 4) coolant- use 50% monoethylene gycol + water. (u might want to do the initial fill and test run with plain water if there is alot of oil in the cooling system.

Thats about it.

Tim..

Newsreader cut my reply short for some reason last night- feel free to email me for more detailed "how-to".

Tim..