V50 Cylinder Head

[Roger_850T]

Hi Everyone,

I picked up another project, I thought it would be fun to document it here. The car is a 2008 V50, T5 AWD, and I bought it not running. Prior owner was chasing down some coolant leaks, and managed to overheat it. He took it to a shop, who removed the cylinder head and sent it to a machine shop, and received the verdict that the head was warped beyond repair. And also that the block was warped. He asked them to look for a replacement; after it sat on their lot for 6 months, he towed it back home and sold it off.

When I checked, I found I could get a .013" feeler gauge in between #2 and #3 cylinder, so I agree it's warped. When I checked the block though, I couldn't find any warpage, so I'm going to go with it.

After several tries, I found a decent cylinder head at the local pick-n-pull. It had just come into the yard, didn't look like any water damage, coolant tank looked clean, dipstick showed a little residue of oil (no sign of oil-coolant mixing), so I pulled it off and now have it. Checking, I find no space where I can get in a .002" feeler gauge, so it seems to be nice and true.

I decided that since the head is off, I'd do the valve stem seals, and while I was at it, lap the valves in for a decent seal. I also just recently learned how simple a hydro test is, so I'll probably do that before I disassemble. (Haven't done it yet.)

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The plan is:
Get it running
- Clean/prep the head
- Install head, (exhaust, no intake yet,) set the timing
- Compression test
- Assemble the rest
- Pressure test
- Start and run

Get it past the State Safety Inspection
- will need new tires at least, plus anything else I find

Cosmetic clean-up
- Ozone generator to get rid of smoker smell


I'll post more as I get things done, but thought I'd start with an intro. I've read through other cylinder head threads on MVS, so pretty comfortable with it, but I'm always happy for advice and input. I've done other cylinder heads before (Toyota, VW Rabbit, Volvo B23F), but not yet on a whiteblock.

Cheers!

Roger

[Roger_850T]

I have learned that the valve stem seals vary depending upon exactly which engine you have. It was mentioned anecdotally to me that it may be T5 vs LPT, I have not yet confirmed this yet. Anyway, I thought I'd include details here.

Older engines (2000-2005 S40 et al.) used 20 of Volvo part number 9443837. The Volvo ones are kind of pricey, at $6-$8 apiece, so ~$160 for all twenty. Volvo has a kit with twenty of them in it, as part number 274344, for about half price. Definitely a good deal if you can use it.

At some point, Volvo changed to a different seal on the exhaust valves. My V50 engine (B5254T7) has this. The new part number is 31316151, still $6-$8 each, but no kit available.

Some people like to use Corteco valve stem seals. Both of these Volvo part number match to Corteco 12019821. I guess Corteco felt that the changes that Volvo implemented were not necessary in their line.

Non Volvo seals are closer to $2 each. While it's tempting to save some $, I'm probably going to stick with the Volvo parts for these. They are hard to get to, and I don't want to have to touch them again for another 200k+ miles, so I'll pay for the Volvo part now. Same with the head gasket; there are kits out there, but I don't think this is where I want to be cheap. (Although the Victor Reinz seals, reportedly "OEM", are closer to $1 each... It's awful tempting... Let me know if you have an opinion or experience here.

Roger

[Roger_850T]

Thanks to YouTube, I learned how to do a hydro test. It was surprisingly simple and easy. You just fill the combustion chamber with water and watch for leakage through. I let it sit for about an hour.

I was contemplating whether I should or should not bother to lap the valves - maybe just change the valve stem seals and send it. With the hydro test, I learned I have leaks on #6 exhaust and #8 intake valves. Thus, I decided I'd lap them in and see if I can seal them up a bit tighter.


Test in progress: (Look closely to see the meniscus. Less so over #3 - that was due to water pouring issues, not due to leakage.)

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Closeup:

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Leak from Exhaust #6

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Some people claim that a better way to do it is with the intake / exhaust ports up, so you can fill more water and get a little more water pressure on there to indicate leaks faster. This may be true, but I think waiting an hour made up for the higher static pressure (maybe 2" wc).

Roger

[kallekula]

Great job. Im lazy and I never do seals or lap myself, always let the machine shop take care of that. Bonus is that they clean it making it look brand spanking new.
Did you get the cams too? They’re matched to the head. It’ll most probably work with the old cams but check that it doesn’t bind just to be sure.
EDIT: 0.002” is . Limit for these heads is around 0.010”.

[Roger_850T]

I got the whole thing - cams, brackets, all the screws and bolts that go into the head, coolant pipe that goes behind the timing gears, VVT solenoids, cam sensors. I wasn't 100% certain that I got all the hardware from the old head, so I grabbed everything I plausibly could.

My one concern is that after I lap the valves, the valve clearances will all shrink and I'll have to replace some of the lifter buckets. (Solid lifters on this engine.) Still, since I have a whole second head, with luck I may end up with sufficient replacements. (Fingers crossed!)

Roger

[kallekula]

Did you junk the car or what happened?

[Roger_850T]

Did you junk the car or what happened?

Still working on it, albeit slowly. (Don't need the car, so it's not urgent.)

I have the valves removed out of the cylinder head, (had to find a valve spring compressor that worked on the bench,) and now to clean and lap them in before reinstalling with new valve stem seals.

Roger

[Richard99]

Fun car!