General Tips for DIY Head Gasket Replacement - 99 s70 na Topic is solved

[smacknab]

So I'm gonna try this resivior cap check to see, but my evidence was on having 50% compression between cylinders 3/4 and a white coolant smelling exhaust. Also I had my cousin driving the car just around town while I was gone (she doesn't have a car and I didn't think It would do more harm than already done) and I checked under the oil cap when I came back and it had a milky look to it. I checked the cap again after driving it and it was fine, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I have not done a wet compression test.

I realized there were two different valve stem seals for my year (there seems to be 2 of everything for 99's) so I had the dealership order them at the same time as the headgasket with my VIN, and I'm pretty sure I have 7mm. Below is a photo of my part number.

Based on what I've seen and read about, I don't think I have vvt, as my cams look the same, and I don't think I have those inspection holes that robertDIY mentioned would be there for solid lifters. Below are photos of my cams and my engine serial code, which indicated to me that I have the 7mm seals (based on FCPeuro's listed cutoff).

With all of this, will I be fine with a simple cam locking tool? The true soap diy uses cardboard and I did my timing belt without a cam locking tool, just whiteout on the marks and it wasn't too hard. At the time this was the most advanced car-job I had ever taken on so it was a big moment for me when the car ran haha.

An extra question for anyone with the time; when I ordered the fcpeuro timing belt kit, it came with this garden variety of camshaft seals and with all the confusion of what parts I need (based on what moon-stage we were in when the car was made) does anyone have any insight as If I have the right ones?

[abscate]

Looking good, S.

1999 NA has solid cams with no CVVT on either cam
1999 Turbo has exhaust CVVT
2000 NA has intake CVVT

You don’t need the cam lock tool for solid cam cars,

Loosen the big crank pulley nut, the use the small nuts to set the crank to TDC clearance timing mark so all the pistons are clear of the valvetrains

Volvo is pretty good with part breaks but FCP and Volvo are good to work with and will swap parts if needed.

Don’t sweat that milkshake, slow town running will cause that in a few days. If coolant isn’t falling and the oil isn’t a brown milkshake, you don’t have significant mixing.

[smacknab]

The best way to check for a head gasket leak with these cars is to get the engine up to temp then try to ease the coolant reservoir cap off with the engine running. If coolant tries to rush out of the reservoir and you really can't get the cap off (slowly), it likely has exhaust gases getting into the coolant chambers. If you can get the cap off and the level in the tank does not raise, the gasket is good.

RSPI- So I tried this this morning, let the car warm up in my driveway, then after my (short) commute I was able to pretty easily get the reservoir cap off, but there was a pretty big burp from the system when I did. Other than the gasket, if there anything else I should replace if I've had exhaust fumes running into my coolant system? The car hasn't been getting a ton of milage over the last year or two (I bought in September, but based on what I was told it wasn't driven too much during the end of it's time with the last driver).
P.s. I feel like I've heard of a Volvo named Panther before.. are you RobertDIY?

Should I 100% do a wet compression test first to see if I have problems with the pistons?

Abscate- regarding removing the crank pulley, I was planning on replacing the oil pump seal while Im waiting for the head to get back from the machine shop. From what I can tell that's behind the crank pulley, right? Do I run the risk of messing up the timing if I do this while the head is off? Would It be overzealous to reseal the oil pan at the same time? Just trying to do everything in one go..

[abscate]

You can’t mess up the valves if they head is off

Pull the pulley , deal with the oil seal, replace pulley, reset the timing mark.

Ezpz

Don’t put the harmonic balancer back on until the timing belt is back in though

[smacknab]

I started dismantling everything but finding some discrepancies between my car and the 850 turbo diy. Could anyone help me understand what this high pressure line is and how I can move it to get the fuel rail out of the way to remove the intake manifold?

[volvolugnut]

If you are asking about the bell shaped tube, this is the fuel line. You will need a special fuel line tool to push into the big end of the bell and release the clips. There is an oring that makes the seal. The tools are common but are various sizes. They don't cost much. You can do this with a small screwdriver, but it is a pain and may damage the connection.
volvolugnut

[smacknab]

If you are asking about the bell shaped tube, this is the fuel line. You will need a special fuel line tool to push into the big end of the bell and release the clips. There is an oring that makes the seal. The tools are common but are various sizes. They don't cost much. You can do this with a small screwdriver, but it is a pain and may damage the connection.
volvolugnut

Hey lugnut, thanks for the tip! I'm gonna go pick up the tool in the morning!

Sean

[abscate]

The visual is the left hand pipe seals into the right hand bell with an o-ring

Inside the bell are two flat springs which put pressure on the pipe to hold it in place

The tool has to slide up into the Space on the bell, spreading the springs slightly so that the hose can then be pulled out

I’m using left and right here in photo frame of reference, opposite from the car frame of reference.

Lisle makes this tool in a small set of sizes, available at your FLAPS

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-37000-Cond ... 0171&psc=1

You will have to bend the fuel line a bit to snake it out of the intake manifold on removal. It’s ductile and designed to bend without breaking for 99 head jobs. Keep score by putting a little sharpie mark on your hand.

[smacknab]

Chugging along here, but found some broken stuff and broke some stuff myself. Could anyone help me identify these tubes from my pcv? I have the FCP pcv kit but it doesn't seem to have this long hard plastic tube I snapped and the mystery tube with the torn foam sheathing.. I've never got into the nitty gritty of all these small vaccum lines so im not to sure how to source them.

Update: looks like this is Volvo part 1270321 - found from the dealer that the 99 na has 3 part options for this tube.

[abscate]

Get some paper towels stuffed into those intake ports before something falls in, VOE. ( voice of experience)