Low Compression + Other Problems: Fix It or Junk It?

[lucken51]

I have a rather stark dilemma and as a brand-new Volvo owner/disillusioned shade-tree mechanic I am at an impasse.
A bit of backstory: I had lusted after Volvo station wagons since I was a child. No one in my family or anyone I knew shared my fascination. When I could finally afford to buy my own (used) car about a year ago, the choice was simple, cheap Volvo or nothing. I got a 95 sedan for $1000 with major electrical problems but loved it anyway! About a month after purchase, I hit a young deer and to my surprise the car was totaled by the ins company, who handed me a $2700 check. Naturally I turned around and bought the first V70 I could get my hands on, which in the south is hard to do. I took the 1998 V70 to the only non-dealership Volvo mechanic my limited resources could find and he laid down a big list:
-A/C recharge
-replace headliner
-replace sunroof seals
-passenger CV joint was wearing out
-rear seal leak
-new locking pin for the third-row seat
-new clips for the liftgate
verdict: $3000 for all
He admitted I could wait on the rear seal leak (he put in additive) and the CV joint til it started 'clicking', but that otherwise the car seemed to be a solid purchase. After talking the seller down to $2400, I bought the car.
After picking the car up from him, I discovered that the 'locking pin' was working just fine, and he had simply screwed in wood screws into the liftgate to keep it from falling off. The sunroof leak isn't terrible, just have to avoid 'touchless' car washes. Also, I just add oil occasionally to keep the car topped up, and the headliner is the least of my problems.

About two months ago, as I was driving on the interstate with a car full of children, the car suddenly lost power, & started to shake violently with a flashing 'check engine' light. I pulled over and had the car towed to aforementioned mechanic. He reported the compression was low on one cylinder, i.e. dead cylinder. His recommendation was to pay $2100 (to replace all the valves & head gasket & have the head sent out to be re-machined) or junk the car. I do not presently have that kind of money, and this is my daily driver so upon my dad's recommendation I replaced the spark plugs and continued to drive it, saving my pennies for repairs. It shakes upon startup, but is less noticeable at higher speeds, with only a slightly discernible lag in pickup or 'power.' Of course, the shaking becomes obvious again when the car comes to a stop. I live in the country so typically drive 30 miles roundtrip to town 3 times a week, then about 70 miles roundtrip twice a week to my part-time job.

As if all that weren't enough, two days ago I noticed the coolant lamp on, so I topped up the nearly empty reservoir. Today I pulled the dipstick when adding oil, and noted a 'milkshake' residue.The car smokes light grey smoke upon startup since I bought it, but a bit more since the interstate incident. This sounds dangerously like a blown head gasket, but having never witnessed such an incident personally I can't say for sure. Consider this too, I'm coming up on 140K miles and the requisite maintenance (timing belt, serpentine belt, etc.) not to mention that I've been too afraid of what I might find if I inspect the motor mounts or rear spring seats.
Have I completely screwed up the car by continuing to drive it in its present sickness? If not, can it be saved? I can do some of the repairs myself, but I'm not confident enough in my abilities to attempt the more involved ones (rear seal replacement, valve job) I have no one to help me either, as everyone I ask offers up "I have done that before, but not on a Volvo!"
Junk it or fix it?

[erikv11]

The freeway incident sounds like a burnt valve, hence the dead cylinder. Light grey smoke at startup is consistent with this, the valve stem seals leak and eventually burns an exhaust valve.

Which cylinder is it? You should unplug the injector that feeds gas to that cylinder. Driving it around like that is fine, you won't ruin the bottom half of the engine or the exhaust as long as you unplug the electrical lead to the injector. I agree with the mechanic that the only way to fix that is to pull the head and R&R it. DIY cost for this is 800-1000 done right, which includes all of the timing parts that are due. You can do it with help of someone who has done one before on another car, as long as they are patient and willing to read the excellent tutorials you can get online.

The AC issue could be an evap core (hideous job) or just needs recharge or compressor shims (easy jobs), or an easier leak to repair.

Driving around on a dead cylinder seems unlikely to have ruined the head gasket, but I am not sure. Is the milkshake at the top of the dipstick (common when it gets cold and you check after short trips - just condensation) or was the entire oil line looking like chocolate milk? You should change the oil, all that driving with raw fuel going into the dead cylinder (did I mention: unplug the injector!) means raw fuel seeping into the oil.

Rear main seal is a very big job but only an $18 part.

So on the junk it or fix it, these seem like the only options:

1) junk it

2) fix it, meaning
- get ahold of a hoist, a garage to work in, maybe an engine stand, basic hand tools
- pull the engine and trans out the top
- separate engine and trans, while separated do the RMS and do the head swap on the engine. Might as well do o-rings in the oil pan too.
- spend $1,000 on the car, assuming you have the tools you need
- send a couple weeks on it, i.e. no car for a while.
- in return your car will run for another 200k miles

The decision is yours, depends on how much you like the car, how nice it is. For $1000, you can't get a better car than the one you will have after the rebuild. But it won't come easy.

[rspi]

Man, if you can't fix it yourself, I would consider selling it for $800 and getting another one. You need to be carefull to get one with a solid motor and tranny.

Keep in mind that if you went and purchased a 5 year old car, you would likely have payment of $350+. When you look at your purchase in that light, your car should have last you just under 7 months. To be honest with you, if you plan to own a 13+ year old Volvo, you have to do a lot of little work on them yourself or they will nickle and dime you to the junk yard. They are pretty easy to work on, even the tough stuff. But it takes time and you have to pay attention to detail.

[lucken51]

Thanks for the advice, guys! This site has given me hope where its been sorely lacking.
The car was low on oil when I checked it, so the dipstick looked kind of like oil with a chunky residue on top i.e. the middle of the indicator. Thanks for the idea about disconnecting the injector, I wish I'd done that sooner!!
There's an old saying that when you ask for advice, you usually already know the answer. My husband's uncle is a huge car buff (although he's built and raced American cars, not European ones) and when asking his guidance he offered to assist me in the repairs if that's the route I chose. My husband patently refuses to touch the car as he was against the original purchase, and is therefore also against 'imposing' on his uncle. He may not have much faith in me either, given that the first car I've ever owned (1992 Nissan Stanza, 249K, second owner!) has been sitting behind the garage for a year waiting for a new fuel pump. I have small children, I'm busy! Seriously though, we do have a fourth(!) car that I can use til the Volvo is fixed, as well.
It is heartening to hear that you agree with my opinion that the (relatively) small investment of a grand and two-three weeks is well worth the car I'll end up with, erikv11! It has peeling paint and a sagging headliner, but it's by far the nicest car I've ever owned. Those were my thoughts as well, to go ahead and replace everything while the engine was cracked open.
(I think that buying used cars is shaky at best, using an educated guess about what's going to happen in the future. Having said that, I feel that any car I may replace this one with will only come with its own problems occurring now or later. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know, right?)
This boils down to whether my husband's uncle was serious in his offer of assistance, and if so that will be the route I'll take. He's a patient guy and with the excellent tutorials on this site I'm sure we can make it happen! I'll be sure to report back with what finally happens.

[Ozark Lee]

Do you have the actual compression numbers?

Low compression can mean many things but there is a big difference between low compression and zero compression. The latter usually means a bad valve but "low compression", depending on the numbers, might be a stuck ring and 1/3 of a can of Seafoam in the oil might clean the ring up after 100 miles or so. When I Seafoam a car I put 1/3 of a can in the oil, 1/3 of a can in the gas, and slurp 1/3 of the can through the vacuum tree. After the slurp through the vacuum tree turn the car off for 15 minutes or so and let things just sit.

Only do the vacuum slurp outdoors since the smoke cloud will be amazing when you restart the car. The smoke will clear up after 5 miles or so of spirited driving (and people will back way off behind you).

I normally don't believe in "miracle in a can" products but Seafoam actually does seem to work on stuck rings and it is under $10.00 a can as I recall.

...Lee

[lucken51]

Now that is an interesting hypothesis, Ozark Lee! I don't remember everything from the phone conversation with the mechanic, but I do remember him saying the compression was normal (150?) in all but one cylinder, and that one was "down around 80." Those numbers could be completely made up as I said, since in my state of shock the world was turning upside down as he spoke. Does that sound plausible? I have GOT to find this miracle product, I've heard so much about it on this site!

[Klausc]

Note about Seafoam slurping: connect a small vacuum hose to a port on the intake manifold or vacuum tree, and move the hose down into the bottle to slurp liquid for 1 second, then pull the hose back out of the liquid. If you are not careful, it will gulp the entire can in about 15 seconds and KILL the engine - and I mean dead. If a cylinder fills full of liquid, it will not compress and probably break a wrist pin or bearing, which means new engine.

If the rear main seal is just leaking a small amount of oil, don't worry about it until later. Ask your uncle to help with the head, but show him the task involved: Volvo 5-cylinder: How to Replace the Head Gasket
I would add a can of r134a to the AC before doing anything elso to the AC.