Lost compression on 4th cylinder

[misha]

Game over folks!
My engine burnt a valve on 4th cylinder few nights ago on freeway.

Mileage is about 450-500k km.

I'm still thinking what to do...to replace the engine,to rebuild mine or to part it out.

It's not just a head rebuilt...engine burned about a 1l of oil per 1.000 km...last 15 years.

Drove it for 26 years,bought it with 70k km...was almost brand new when i bought it...it never let me down....not a hiccup untill now.

[scot850]

3 options:

1) Part it out as you say,
2) Rebuild the engine fully (expensive)
3) See if you can find a lower km engine and swap it out after doing some 'while I have access and the engine is out' jobs first.

It is unfortunate, but it does happen, usually a lot sooner than this. Shows how you have taken care of the car to get it to this mileage!

Neil.

[misha]

It was maintained regularly and always with oe or oem parts.Where there was not possible to source oe or oem part,it was replaced with high quality,well known aftermarket brand.


I'm in pursuit for s80,v60 or xc70 in years range of about 2010-2014.

Problem are the taxes for 2.5T & 3.2 engines which are high in the sky in Serbia.
2.5T is (2521cm3) where registration is around 900€/year.
Displacement up to 2.5(2500cm3) is around 400€/year like for my 850.
For 3.2 is more than 1.200€/year.

Found one 2011 s80 2.0T which is relatively low mileage(180k km) and in excellent condition but it have 4 cyl.Ford engine and notorious Ford's PowerShift automatic transmission.

2012 Xc70 i have found is a good known D5 and 2014 v60 is D4 but it is new 4cyl Volvo engine drive-E(VEA),with 6speed manual transmission.
I'm not really a fan of diesel engines,but my options are pretty limited.

The best alternative would be the latest s60...up to 2009 where all of the petrol & diesel engines are still 5cyl,but they almost doesn't exist in adverts in those years...only up to 2006 or 2007.

[Sveedy]

Well that's a total drag.
If it were me, and the rest of the car was still good, I'd probably pull the head and check things out before making a final decision.
Maybe just a quick look inside of the cylinders with a bore scope would be a good first step.

[misha]

The engine was always smooth,stable idle,power was all there when needed and despite the fact that it was burning 1l of oil/1.000 km...never had a hiccup.

It was late...around 3 am and nobody on the freeway.
I was returning home from around 600km trip...drove up to 160km/h and last 10-20km before my exit from freeway a kick downed it up to 200km/h and after a few minutes CEL started to blink...i knew that blinking CEL is a sign of misfire.
I didn't felt that misfire while i was at speed...and i let off the gas pedal and continued to drive around 140km/h for a few minutes before my exit.
When i was stopping to the ramp i felt that something isn't right...it was shaking pretty bad and misfiring.
Drove a few km to home and parked it.
Tommorow i looked into it,started the engine and started to pulling the connectors from injectors one by one...and when i reached to 4th cyl...nothing changed...that one was not working.

All spark plugs were greyish-white except the 4th which was black.

Replaced it...nothing.
Replaced cable for that cyl...nothing.
Replaced a cap from spare...still nothing.

Checked injector with a multimeter....it's ok like all others.

The sound from exhaust manifold with engine running confirmed my suspicios that i have a burnt valve on 4th cyl.

[misha]

Well that's a total drag.
If it were me, and the rest of the car was still good, I'd probably pull the head and check things out before making a final decision.
Maybe just a quick look inside of the cylinders with a bore scope would be a good first step.

The rest of the car is nearly mint...except a little wear & tear on driver's leather seat.
But it's still '97.
Repair would be more that what it's worth...plus...i drove it for last 26 years...daily.
I love it...but i think that it's time to move on.

S80 from 2006 to 2014 is my first choice,but i don't like that bad "marriage" with Ford.
From 2015 and on they dropped those notorious PowerShift ford's automatic transmissions and their engines and started with downsizing and development their own 4cyl engines...but those years are a bit pricey.

[abscate]

Misha, are you oil burning with rings or with valve guide seals?

A head job will fix that valve and a stem seal oil burning problem.

[erikv11]

Hmmm, yeah, what's the compression in the four cylinders with good valves?

Sounds like you're ready to move on but for sure, the post-P80 platforms haver their flaws.

[Vova585]

Issues with "new" car- you are buying 10-14 year old car which you know nothing about. Was it abused or pampered, was it used to carry concrete bags vs driven normally. All those cars will be at the age where everything is falling apart and requires serious investments(even done by you it will mean new special tools, learning curve, more electronics).
I would still price out cost of engine rebuild(you are in Serbia and you have higher chance to find good motor repair shop than most of us in northern America).
But at the same time it is an opportunity to get into something new and interesting. Given significant taxes on engine size, why not to consider something from Toyota or Honda, possibly even Hybrid.

[misha]

Misha, are you oil burning with rings or with valve guide seals?

A head job will fix that valve and a stem seal oil burning problem.

I don't know yet...i guess that valve stem seals are the problem.
Still not decided what to do with the car.