95 - 850 blues

Kris · Post by **Kris** » 13 Feb 2004, 11:37

1995 2.4 ltr, 20 valve Non turbo - 140K, automatic, running real rough, milkshake discovered on dipstick. Want to put in used motor, several motor swaps under my belt, but never a Volvo, nor a fwd, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being a nightmare, how bad a job is this going to be ?
I am in Atlanta, Georgia and this will be a one man swap....shops
hear want $1,500 to do it.....didn't bother asking the dealer (hahaha).
Anyone out there done it ? things to look out for ? common mistakes ?
Any insight would help....thx

blenheimpalace · Post by **blenheimpalace** » 22 Feb 2004, 17:20

kris,
before you go to the trouble of swapping out entire engine, (the mileage just isn't high enough to consider it yet) consider:

1) replacing the head gasket. After removing head, have it checked for a true surface. It may have warped some if the engine overheated.

2) if this doesn't solve your problem, you may have to replace the head with a new one. Not sure what the price of a new head is, but it has to be cheaper than an entire engine. 1) still applies as you will need to fit with a new gasket.

I had the same thing happen on my saab 99 a number of years ago, and I bought a used engine and pulled the head off of it. The car worked for another 100k!
regards!

Krisb · Post by **Krisb** » 01 Mar 2004, 11:31

Thanks for the reply, do you have any idea of what kind of life expectancy, under ordinary conditions/maintenance, I could expect to get out of this motor ? (I had heard about 300K).
PS - New bare head - $950, used motor $1,100., have not found
good used head, still looking-just in case mine is cracked (bought
car used, certain it had been overheated, overflow tank had a severe
leak), as I can't afford to have it off the road more than a few days)
I want to be prepared to replace it if necessary.