'98 S70 GLT Trouble with staying running...

[Ben850]

Bring it over and we can fix it dude!!! Give me a call. Just finished that V70.

May I bring my XC too? I am only a few hours away.

I would also add EVAP lines everywhere, SAS which seems to be on all '98s.

MAF thorough cleaning, and any intake/turbo hoses, and idle air control tubes which you need to feel for fissures.
Good luck and let me know because I have not dug into my XC yet, but it is also a '98, and Iknow these were some weak points, or failures as well as fuel pumps.

[kahl]

Went over to Francis's house and FLXC90 was correct misfire codes. Found plug wires 4 and 5 in wrong holes. Easy fix. Francis also has a issue with low or no heat. Found thermostat is stuck open. Thermostat housing bolts really tight, advised Francis to soak with penetrate oil for a couple hours hopefully to get them off without snapping bolt heads off.

[francisp]

Thanks to kahl for his invaluable help and experience. As I have attempted to remove those torx 40 bolts off of the thermostat housing, one of them is stripped and the other is holding true so I have decided to perhaps just get another housing because I am eventually going to screw up the bolt removal. Also the front lower engine mount is in need of replacement as I had mentioned earlier in this thread. After viewing the tutorial on how to replace it, I am feeling very confident that I am able to replace it myself.

[kahl]

DId you get a walker jack and stands yet? You will need these items to R and R the mount. The Pick N Pull on Groveport has a 98 with the housing still intact.

[JimBee]

You might get lucky and remove the complete t-stat housing from the head, but those screws are often frozen, too. I've found that drilling the head off the frozen screw in your t-stat cap is a safer way to go. There's a post on MVS on that. It's not a technically difficult job: Use a sharp 5/16" hi speed drill with some cutting oil which you'll add a few drops at a time to the screw head.

Here's a review of how I did it.

Drape a rag over your alternator to protect it from filings.

Just bear down hard enough on your drill to cut away the head. You'll get down to the screw shank and the remaining rim of the head will fall away.

Now you can lift off the t-stat shell top half.

Next, you need to get the stud out. They sometimes screw out easily, but neither of mine did. I used the "two-nut" trick to get them out.

Step one: when you drill off the head, try to keep the drill bit perfectly vertical to the screw shank, so when the head comes free, the screw shank is squared off at the top. If you use a small drill bit, it can slip off the side of the shank, leaving you with an angular cut on the top of the shank. That can be harder to work with. A nice square cut will make it easier to screw a nut onto the shank. The 5/16 or even 3/8" drill bit will give you that as long as you hold the drill perfectly vertical to the shank.

Carefully screw on a nut (if one of the screws comes out easily, take it to the hardware store and buy TWO (or even a third) nuts that exactly fit. If you don't have a sample screw (had to drill off both heads), then press a piece of paper or small piece of cardboard onto the top of the shank to get a good estimate of the thread size. Take that to the hardware store, use a screw that fits the hole and buy a couple of nuts that are close (with metric threads). You'll find the right one.

Clean up the shank threads of the stuck shank. Use a fine steel wool or plastic scrubber and rotate clean them. Carefully screw on the first nut far enough down the shank until you have enough shank exposed at the top to screw on a second nut, with a couple of threads still exposed.

Slip a box wrench over the lower nut and hold it tightly while you tighten down the top nut against the one beneath it. You can get them quite tightly locked. But don't use extreme force as you don't want to strip the shank!

Now those two nuts are locked onto the screw shank. You will be able to put a socket onto the top nut and turn out the shank.

Full disclosure: When I faced this situation, I REALLY did not want to drill off the head of that screw. But having tried everything else I could think of (including, soaking it over night with PB Blaster, help of a local mechanic, tapping the screw head at an angle with a chisel, etc. while one of us had a torx bit in the head trying to turn it, that was the only option. When I decided to go for it, it wasn't so bad. It was satisfying to get it done.

Also, I've used screw extractors with mixed results. I'm convinced that the way my shanks were frozen into the lower t-stat housing, a screw extractor would not have worked. You have to get a real solid purchase on that shank. Mine squeaked all the way out. Maybe you'll get lucky and yours will turn out easily.

N.B. If you mess up one of the screws holding the complete housing to the head, you'll probably have to pull the head to get it out.

[francisp]

@kahl: So I took your advice and went to the pick n pull and tried to retrieve the mount off of the '98 C70. I was not successful at it since there were a few impediments in the way. I also took a closer look at it and it didn't seem intact or whole. I passed on it and proceeded to other Volvos on the lot.

[francisp]

@jimbee: This is certainly an alternative but I just don't have the right tools or the patience and know how to go ahead and do it. I would probably end up buying a new housing and bolts and that will be the end of it. Thanks for your in depth advice and guidance. It is very much appreciated.

[francisp]

Here is a shot of the engine mount from that 98 C70 at the p n p.I was able to loosen the top 14 mm bolt but the rest were frozen and I could not quite get in there to acess all the bolts.

[francisp]

After much time in between repairs, I was able to purchase a new mount and install it using the FCP video and it turned out great.

The new Febi/Bilstein mount looks much better and hopefully will last another 100K

The original mount as you can see is quite worn and i removed it in pieces.