My 05 xc90 is going under the knife, head or engine swap?

h20ham · Post by **h20ham** » 28 Jul 2021, 17:09

Great day
Ive been in kid land since schools been out, finally got my hands on a new engine.
So the question is, do I just swap the heads over from the 04 engine. Or keep the much lower mileage engine complete then I know.
Sure its a bit less work swapping the head, not much I am sure.

Opinions, comments greatly appreciated please.

Kind Regards
Jim

Post by **abscate** » 30 Jul 2021, 02:39

Having done both engine swaps take the same time amd are a simpler work. Of course, you take the risk on any used motor so try to get a sense of the provenance if possible

Post by **Chuck W** » 30 Jul 2021, 07:40

Swap the engine.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 30 Jul 2021, 23:21

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I was going to suggest a Carfax for provenance but Eric suggested that in the video. The FCP video is very good depending on how far you want to inspect and replace. Suggest getting a flex camera also to look at the cylinder walls. By the way, not sure what kind of spark plugs was in the FCP engine but it kind of looks like the Extreme Sparks Torque Master in our 03 GS300 going on around 7 years now.

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https://extremespark.com/

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Post by **SuperHerman** » 06 Aug 2021, 21:43

What engine are you dealing with? You say "heads" which is the V8. That is an engine swap.

If it is the 2.9T or 2.5T what is wrong with the engine? If you had a broken belt and head damage I would just fix the head.

Need more detail on donor and original engine to give any meaningful advice. I have done a 2.9 on a S80 and a 2.4T on a XC70. Neither terribly difficult.

Valve seats and valve stem seals can be an issue on higher mileage engines, but you are opening up a can of worms.

h20ham · Post by **h20ham** » 09 Aug 2021, 09:18

Thanks
I have a leak down tester that will be here this week. Hope to run some tests pronto. I also bought a Vida system but I cant seem to get it to connect. It recognizes the car, it wont go into test mode. Probably the Amazon software.
I suspect the head is worn (thought it could be rings of course), mechanic confirms something happened. So this doesnt help too much!
I probably wont have time to do much as kids are back and school starts soon.
Hope by mid sept.