The Resurrection of (10/1998 to 01/2021 )Elizabeth 1999 V70T5M56 Cylinder Head Job

[abscate]

With sadness I report the demise of my T5.

On a trip back from central NY, 3 miles from home, #3 valve was ingested and I limped home, thanking her for her decades of service

Elizabeth led me to MVS back in 2013, when I was contemplating selling her, but decided she was a really nice car worthy of refurbishment. she gave me another 7 years and 120k miles of service at ridiculously low cost and equally ridiculously high smile factor, waggling her gearbox from DC to Chicago to\ Boston and all points in between. Many a Bimmer was dispatched in the rear view as the HPT spooled up over 3000 rpm.

Disposition? She needs a steering rack and the valve dealt with, but is otherwise a daily driver. I have an offer from a local speed guy that I won’t seriously contemplate due to his reputation of his cars lasting 6 months. I can’t possibly get to this for 4 months and I don’t want the car to sit that long if at all possible.

I will put a classified shortly, maintenance history, of course, is detailed in the link below - under “Elizabeth” of course.

The tears of sorrow already are being quenched with the many happy memories.

[FireFox31]

Sad to hear that another manual, yours specifically, is leaving us. You did well to keep it rolling. How many miles did you put on since your contemplated sale in 2013? You earned every one of those.

[abscate]

I probably spent $3000 to refurbish her in 2013

New ETM , all new suspension, AC refurb, core, rear delta links

That took me another 120,000 miles on a really low repair budget, so that refurb cost works to under 3 cent per mile.

Finding this site and learning the P80 platform paid off again on the cars I’ve added to the fleet since, too, of course,

[misha]

Put a used head in it and keep it!
Here in Serbia....head rebuilt is around 100-120€ in a professional mashine shop,headgasket,seals...another 80€,plus a good trusted mechanic around 100€...around under 300€ in total costs with 2 years warranty.

If you have a skill and tools to replace the head yourself it would be under 200€ for a professionally rebuilt head.

Are you sure it's not a coil pack(since it's '99) or spark plug failure on that cylinder?

[matthew1]

Oh man, this is sad news indeed, Abscate. A V70 T5M is a rare car... rare in either P80 and P2... And for any Volvo actually. Although the others would be T4Ms, technically speaking.

Tip of the hat for your work keeping her great and her giving you miles and smiles.

[Clemens]

Too bad... Sorry to read that, Steve

[BEJinFbk]

C’mon... Fix Her!
You know you want to.

[RickHaleParker]

Me think Abscate wants a new project.

If somebody else wants to take on Elizabeth and give her a new rack. She would be a good candidate for a RNC conversion.

[abscate]

I can guarantee she won’t be going to the scrap yard or getting parted out.

Here is something I don’t quite get on valve drops. You lose an exhaust valve, presumably. You pull the head, replace the valve, cut seats, new stem seals. Don’t you expect another valve to drop? Or, is refreshing the seats and stems enough to reduce that probability?

[erikv11]

That's how I figured it. Valve burns in an instant right, due to deposits built up over time. No buildup no hotspot, unless by rare chance it starts to build up in same location again.

Sorry to hear indeed. Great project opportunity!