1994 850 Head Gasket Or More?

petek153 · Post by **petek153** » 12 Dec 2014, 10:41

So I'll start by telling the story that I was told and would like input as to how bad do you think this is. Son had the car on the highway (has a heavy foot) so was going 70 +would be my guess said the car temp gauge starting getting high and then car shut down. When I got there car was still smoking could smell the antifreeze so figured blown hose overflow tank was empty. Threw some in the tank started to crank car saw it spraying out from heater hose so didn't even try to run it . Outside air temp 20 and snowing so just called the tow truck. After getting it in my garage repaired the hose and started filling tank and had my son start car while I was going to add antifreeze while it ran. But what happened is it starting pumping like a gusher out the overflow tank and you could smell exhaust out of tank. So I believe it's the head gasket but how much worse do you think it might be? Temps are winter norms here and hate to start if its more than a head gasket it will be done in the driveway or should I just write the car off has 184k miles on it. Thanks for your input.

Post by **E Showell** » 12 Dec 2014, 12:09

It is a pressurized system. Sometimes the expansion tank caps fail. If you are really lucky, you shut it down before you had a serious overheat condition and a new cap and several ounces of coolant will solve all of your worries. Let's start with Occam's razor and take care of the potentially simple stuff first before imagining complex problems. Sometimes folks do get lucky -- notice I said folks, not me. . . Get a Volvo cap. Aftermarket ones can be dodgy. I'd also be prepared to replace the Engine Coolant Temperature sensor ECT, and thermostat as cheap insurance.

Post by **dosbricks** » 12 Dec 2014, 19:27

petek153 wrote:....But what happened is it starting pumping like a gusher out the overflow tank and you could smell exhaust out of tank. So I believe it's the head gasket but how much worse do you think it might be? Temps are winter norms here and hate to start if its more than a head gasket it will be done in the driveway or should I just write the car off has 184k miles on it. Thanks for your input.

It is probably not worse than a head gasket and the required truing of the head. So what you decide to do with the car will probably depend on its overall condition and whether it has already had a lot of work invested in it. If your son is available to help with the repair in Connecticut winter, that could be a teachable experience.

petek153 · Post by **petek153** » 12 Dec 2014, 19:50

Car itself is in good shape front ends rebuilt, all new brakes and rotors, strut mounts etc... of course he was going to head back to Tx with it today but had to fly because of this.Better here than on the road somewhere. He's in the service so kinda on my own on this rebuild hopefully warms a little so I don't drop too many bolts due to numb fingers.Won't order parts till I tear it down in case it's more and not worth repairing it will become a parts car

Post by **tryingbe** » 12 Dec 2014, 20:04

petek153 wrote:the car temp gauge starting getting high and then car shut down.

Replace the engine with a running one.

Post by **rspi** » 12 Dec 2014, 20:53

There is no doubt that the head gasket is blown. The issue would be if there is more damage. You could probably install the cap tight and start the car to see which cylinders are leaking. If the car shut down while running, it either fouled out the plugs or the block got so overheated that the pistons seized.

Now for the $10,000, what caused the overheat? Most people THINK the blown hose caused the issue, however in a lot of cases, the overheat blew the weakest hose, which in your case was the heater hose.

Another thing to consider, did the motor blow coolant into the exhaust? This can cause a cat issue.

I suggest that you do a compression test. If more than 2 cylinders are reading low, replace the motor.