Cylinder Head Replacement

[bright]

95 960
I recently did my timing belt and so far so good.

You know, I don't know what the literary term is, but there has to be one. My timing belt shredded itself. The new water pump walked off of it's bearing and took the belt with it.

I wasn't with the car at the time, but some other poor souls heard the death gasp. I was at a shop and they had one of those super cool inspection probes (the ones with the camera at the end.) Any rate, the belt jumped and I had a couple of valves shear off into the combustion chamber.

Clearwater Heads says that they'll pretty much accept anything as a core. I will put them to the test. She was towed home, and I will take the head off and hope that there was no piston damage. That'll be the deal breaker.

Bright

PS
As a note, the water pump and timing kit came from IPD. Some time ago, on another post I was criticized as "not having the full story." There was a systemic error on their items shipped to me. They had shipped a variety of goods that were not compatible for the 95 960. I received no help. Their response was to change the descriptors of what was compatible (which was definitely needed.)

If this was somehow related, I'll never know. But I am sworn off of ipd.

[Bikerdoug]

DJM850, You ARE DA MAN. Extremely clear, concise, well-written, informative, and the pics are great. About to (Texan: "fixin' to") do this same job myself, so this thread is great for me. Kudos also to Cattledog and Ozark Lee. Glad to see a guy OC enough to get the parts clean before re-install, too.
(Couldn't help but notice the Shiner bottle early on, which gave way to Diet Coke in the "Late Nighter" ! You know your beer as well.)

[Yoni]

First post - lurker for a few weeks - Just bought a dead 96 854T with a blown HG - 71K AT for $875 this is my eleventh or 12th Volvo - but my first venture to the dark side of FWD and white engines. We sold our last Volvo in 2007 a dialed in 90 744T with alot of IPD suspension items. Our return to Volvos - the catalyst was A leaking power steering hose on 95 Dodge Stratus - it was the final straw after 6 hours to replace a $4 piece of hose (it rubbed on the firewall). So we replaced that 2 weeks ago with a pristine 93 940NA 130K -uber clean - but with a flame trap that had more holes than swiss cheese and leaking like a sieve. Getting that to stage zero.

DJM850 thanks for the diligence and the time to document the steps as well as thanks to Tracey of tracystruesoaps and his write up on MVS. It gave me enough info to pull the trigger on the car. That an I am unsure what the deal is but lately I have seen a great number of 850/70's with replaced head gaskets on Craigslist almost like it was regular maintenance, even a 97 850T that had it done at 61K. So I figured- I could end up spending $2-4K on a used 850/70 and then still end up doing a Headgasket. Figured that I still might have to deal with the AC or a Tranny but hopefully unlikely at 71K. (no records)

All the electronics work (that I could test).

Thanks!

[choogenboom]

I am about to pull the head on my 2000 V70R and send it to clearwater for a rebuild. At 107K miles I replaced the timing belt, tensioner and idler with "OEM" parts from FCP Groton and the new Ruville tensioner siezed up at 133K miles, ie after only 26K miles. Anyone know of any issues with the Ruville tensioner? Can you elaborate on the special tools used? Anyone want to lend or rent them to me?
Thanks in advance for your help and advice,
Chris

[Brucebo]

How heavy is the cylinder head? I know it's aluminum but ...

-Bruce

[choogenboom]

I just shipped mine to Clearwater, about 46 lbs. Why do you ask?

[Brucebo]

Wanted to know if it can be lifted out by one person, or if you need a hoist to lift it off.

-B

[cjep]

It is definately doable by one person. I do not go to the gym or anything and I managed. But it is heavy, and you have to lean over in an arkward position, being hard on your back.

I would also recommend a good pair of gloves, as some edges are sharp.

/C

[erikv11]

I agree - heavy enough to be awkward, but you can do it. Easier with two people. I always get help putting them back on, to carefully and accurately lower the head onto the block. Empty (without lifters installed) the head is like 45 pounds.

[precopster]

A handy solution to awkward placement of a heavy cylinder head is to take two old head bolts and cut off the hex head with a grinder or handsaw, then deburr them with a file then wrap the tops of them with some electrical tape. Of course test you haven't put too much tape on by trying them in the holes.

Screw them only 3 turns into opposing corners of the cylinder block and you have two really great locating studs!!

This makes it easier on the back and the tape wrap prevents any damage. You can use as many as you like and have one on each corner. Four is even better

Then just grab them and unscrew once the head is fully down.