1984 242 head gasket+dummy=weekend of fun!

[scorpiodad78]

Hi guys! I just acquired a 1984 volvo 240 as payment for building a fence. It ran like a dream for a few days and my wife is in love with it, but today my wife took it to work and called me crying, broken down. She said the car lost power and went from 65 mph to 40 mph and started to over heat so she shut her down( yeah me! i was smart and told her what to do in case of that very thing!) she let it set for 20 min. and tried it again but she said it almost immediately over heated and would not hardly accelorate. I'm having it towed home today to have a look.... I'm sure this is not a "new topic" but my question(s)is/are what should I look for to determine if it is a blown head gasket, if it is can you point me to a good link to give me detailed instructions for removal and replacement( I have haynes manual but it's pretty vague), and if you guys have been here/done that give any tips/advice to someone who has no bussiness even owning a wrench let'lone under taking this project? ...besides having a pro do it, I'm a pretty fart smeller(did I get that backwards?) and can follow directions to the T and don't discorage easily;) Thanks in advance guys, any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Sam

I once killed a six pack just to watch it die!

[scorpiodad78]

I just got the car home, no broken hoses and oil is still fine as far level and color. I do have a question though, in front of the resevoir where it shows min/max antifreeze level there is another plastic tank that has dark turquoise fluid in it. It has a plastic push and click style lid on it , the tank itself has a big cracked hole in the top of it. I know I'm backwards with this stuff but what is that plastic tank for ?

[billofdurham]

If it is the tank arrowed it is the washer fluid reservoir:

pg17a.jpg (31.96 KiB) Viewed 619 times

If you don't have the owner's manual you can see one and download what you need here.

Bill.