98 V70R Sudden Loss of Power & Now Barely Runs

[Nick Wigen]

I had a similar problem with a S70 GLT. The ABS plastic pipe that connected to the bottom of the throttle body had come off. It is held on with a hose clamp and I did not have it tight enough after doing a top end overhaul. It happened during a full-power test drive under maximum boost. It is hard to see but you can reach down and see if it moves when you wiggle it.

[rspi]

If you pull all the plugs out and crank the motor it will should like it does in the bad cylinder. If there is NO COMPRESSION it will crank freely. That is normal for a dead cylinder.

Some of these head shops are getting the older heads confused with the newer head that have fixed lifters. It should cost around $600 to have a head totally rebuilt with 2 new valves. If the car has more than 10 years on the head and it's off I would suggest doing the valve stem seals.

Are you doing the work yourself? I have been talking to a guy in TN that had a head done but has been catching hell with oil leaking from the cam cover. Be careful not to strip any of those screws.

[rspi]

With a cylinder with ZERO compression, I wouldn't bother with a leak down test or another compression test with the throttle at WOT. It doesn't matter that much.

[rspi]

Actually, with 2 numbers at zero, I would pull the head before I ordered anything. If you have a cracked block or something a new head won't do you any good. You have #2 and #3 at zero. I'm not sure what is going on there???

[erikv11]

rspi is totally right, best to pull the head and know what the problem is, before you dive in deep on ordering parts.

I just shopped around for (and bought) cam seals, best price I could find was on eBay. Fronts are SKF 17806, Rears are SKF 11809.

[BigRed]

I got a late start yesterday on the tear down yesterday. So, I'm not there yet. I was trying to find 14mm impact that was thin enough to fit. Ended up with set of Craftsman Evolv on sale for $20. Hopefully being the lower end of their stuff, it will fit.

I am not sure how to proceed with pulling the cam cover. The Tracy Soap write-up has the cam sprockets removed, cams secured at both ends, and lifted with cover. Others have said as much. The write-up from (I think) RSPI has the sprockets left on, cams not secured, and left in head when core removed. I've seen the same from post about swapping to N/A cams.

If I don't have to go to hardware store, and find pieces to build something, then build it, that'd be great! I've set the crank and cams on mark already, and will have a helper to remove the cover with me. Will it be safe to do without securing and leaving in head when cover comes off?

[erikv11]

I've pulled the cover many times without securing the cams. It is totally fine to do but also crucial that you be careful: do not rock the cover back and forth back to front (sprockets to CPS), but side to side (manifold to manifold) is OK if needed. As much as you can, keep the cover coming straight up. You want to avoid (a) cracking the cover and (b) cracking the little guide slots that the cams sit in, in the head.

Wal-mart cheap impact 14 mm, or Stanley, are known to fit well.

[erikv11]

Oh, and I do try to lift the cams with the cover when I pull it this way. It is the front where they tend to stick, so use a screw driver through the sprocket holes to pry/pull up the sprocket end every couple of turns of the cover bolts. Unscrew them all 2 turns, snug up the cams as much as you can, go around and do them all a couple more turns, pull up the cams, etc.

[BigRed]

Thanks for info. The sprocket side seemed easier to secure, with some wire. I'll at least do that end.

[BigRed]

I decided not to risk it. $5 or so in parts at Home Depot. First thing I found that looked promising were Simpson Strong-Tie's. They have holes staggered through them, but they're too small to be useful. The straight piece is a 12" heavy duty piece. The right angles were the only ones I saw. They were pretty close to right size. I just had to shorten the short end using a hack saw. And on the one for exhaust cam, cut a notch out of it due to the larger head of the original bolt that gets re-used. The bolts hiding it together are M5 x .8, same size as the original distributor cap bolts.