2001 V70 2.4T Oil pooling in the wells around ignition coils, Permatex 51813 cam sealer Topic is solved

[prwood]

Another thought I had was whether I could use emery cloth to clean the cylinder head. Volvo specifies it to smooth the mating surfaces for the camshaft oil seals, so I’m wondering if there’s any reason I couldn’t use it on the mating surfaces of the head...

This is what I found, but didn’t buy yet, at HFT.

[precopster]

I wouldn't t use emery on machined surfaces at all because it's way too easy to make little dips and troughs with it. In the camshaft bearing areas use VERY light pressure if using emery.

If you have deep scoring in the cam bearing areas you can be a little more brutal but again be careful you don't take much surface material off as the cams need the material for support even if it's a little scratched.

As these motors don't generally suffer from cam bearing wear issues it's best to concentrate on the sealing surfaces and leave the rest as is.

[prwood]

Saturday morning status:

More scraping to be done...

[prwood]

Saturday afternoon:

Getting there.

[erikv11]

Over the years I have learned that for head work there are two kinds of automotive gasket remover products: the worthless ones (e.g. Permatex) and the ones that are essentially paint stripper. If you can very carefully contain the overspray, varnish remover is superb for preparing the head and cam cover surfaces. Spray it on, let it sit to dissolve oil deposits, wipe it off. Come back through with a razor blade for the smallest of touch-up spots.

This one works super well: https://www.amazon.com/AST-PVR-Varnish- ... B01C0192SC

[prwood]

Post-weekend update. Removed as much gunk and discoloration from the cylinder head and camshaft cover as I felt I safely could. Took quite a while and I think if I had to do it again I would probably try the paint stripper method.

Installed the new o-rings around the spark plug tubes:

New spark plug tube seals installed

Applied the anerobic gasket to the cam cover:

Anaerobic gasket applied

I did the thinnest layer I could manage while still giving what I considered adequate coverage.

I reinstalled the camshafts and the camshaft cover. I used very slow and methodical hand-tightening of the 42 bolts in an inside-out pattern to get the cover all the way down. Used a 1/4" drive mini ratchet in quarter turn increments when I encountered resistance.

Now I'm giving it a few days to cure out in the cold while I work on putting other parts of the car back together. Brrrrrrr...

[abscate]

A couple of old style incandescent light bulbs under hood might help cement that up?

[prwood]

Good news! I put everything back together and was able to start the engine yesterday! Thus far there are no oil leaks that I can see, which was my intention with the whole project.

I did have a few items of concern, though.

1. When I first attempted to start the engine, it had a very hard time turning over. After a few attempts it did start. It sounded dry. I did lubricate the camshafts, bearings, lobes, and tappets before reinstalling the cam cover, as instructed, but maybe not liberally enough? Video of results:

https://dl2.pushbulletusercontent.com/A ... 4.TRIM.MOV

2. Immediately after starting, I got a steady stream of smoke puffing up from the backside of the engine. After taking it out for a drive, this went away. I'm thinking maybe previous oil/other fluids spilling or rinsing off of the engine were being burned off? It was just curious that it puffed with the rhythm of the engine, like it was being puffed *out* of the engine. Here's a video:

https://dl2.pushbulletusercontent.com/U ... G_4077.MOV

3. I also got quite a bit of white smoke from the exhaust after the first startup and while the engine was idling. This didn't go away after the smoke from the engine stopped, although it did become less thick.

4. My first drive went okay while I was on the city streets, but after I pulled on to the highway and had been going highway speed for about 5 minutes, the car switched into limp mode. Throttle position was fixed at 20%, and the engine started stumbling whenever I was idling at a stop. I suspected a hose had come loose, so I made a quick stop at a gas station to check under the hood. I didn't see any of the usual suspects looking loose.

I was able to get home okay, but continued to run into stumbling at idle speeds.

5. This morning when I attempted to start the car, the engine turned over a few times and then started, but stopped seconds later. I repeated this several times with the same result and wasn't able to start the car. The OBD code reader is now picking up codes P1238 and P0121, which are related to the boost control valve and the throttle position sensor.

I'm thinking in the process of putting things back together, I may not have properly connected and/or tightened some of the air intake system parts, so I will probably go back and re-do that stuff. I had removed the cold air intake pipes, air box w/MAF, and the air box to turbo pipe in order to get better access to the rear of the camshafts. I had also removed the throttle body and intercooler-to-throttle pipe to clean the throttle, and removed the turbo charge air pipe from over the engine to get access to the cam cover.

Any other suggestions?

[abscate]

Take a look around the intake ports with an inspection mirror and look for stuff foiling the intake ports, causing a massive intake leak

[Cross_Country]