'96 850 turbo, replacing head gasket, anything else while heads off? Topic is solved

[wizechatmgr]

Rocks down the intake was on an older dump truck. He was following a little bit too closely. Someone forgot to close the gate all the way on the truck in front. As I heard the story he ended up in a virtual blizzard of rocks from the truck in front. This was on the same day he decided that he's done nothing but replaced air filters in his truck and that it's just a sham for mechanics to make money. Believe it was and old dump with an even older mechanical Caterpillar 6 cylinder. It will suck up whatever you allow it to. It only takes a couple small pebbles...

I've heard of starting it with the fuel injection fuse out - should cause the oil pump to prime without actually starting to send any hot gases its way. The goal is to make sure she has oil before it actually starts.

Tried looking for that synthetic turbo lube - not finding it. Odds are most Synthetic oils will fit the bill now a days. You're already going to need to drain that oil sump so you my as well swap to the good stuff now.

[erikv11]

Since the engine has been cracked open to pull the head off, an alternative is to instead refill it with cheap oil, whatever dino oil is cheap locally, run it for 50-100 miles, then swap that out for the oil you want to use long term. That's how I do it but largely a matter of preference.

[abscate]

Also I just remembered 2 things, there was a bit of water or rad fluid in the oil. I took the hoses off the radiator because i thought i needed it off to have room, some clean oil from a hose that had a metal connection connecting to the bottom of the radaitor leaked out some clean oil, i think that hose leads to the turbo, when i replace the oil afterwards, will it fill that as well or do i have to add oil somewhere else?

Are you possibly talking about the induction hose in the center of the radiator - actually the intercooler, but looks like the radiator? Its common for those to seep oil on removal. Is it a BFH - Big Fat Hose about 10 cm in diameter?

[rspi]

... Most of the time you get good compression even with a bad head gasket with these cars.

I wouldn't have guessed this, interesting tidbit from the master. Good to know.

I guess I should clarify this... When our S70 GLT had a bad head gasket, the breach was between the combustion chamber and coolant passages. The compression was good across the board, lowest was 156 psi. If the head is so warped that fluids are mixing, it may be bad.

Overall, if the car was so neglected that it was overheated several times, chances are, it was run low on oil or oil changes were neglected. This would cause rapid engine wear and replacing the head/gasket would be a big labor risk.

[bugs11]

I recall pre-filling the turbo with oil before hooking up the oil lines to it when I did my head gasket. I also replaced all the coolant hoses at the time, including turbo coolant lines and even that little one at the top on the back of the engine. I also kept the lifters in order and soaking in oil, but they were still some what noisy at start up; they quieted down after a few minutes. I'm also one of those that's fill oil filters with fresh oil when changing the oil.

[101]

The "while you're in there" list for me would include the following:

New valve stem seals - Volvo brand only
New head bolts
New head gasket and spark plug tube oil seals
New camshaft oil seals (x4) - Volvo or Corteco brand only
New intake manifold gasket
New exhaust manifold gasket(s) depending on the style you're using
New water pipe and thermostat housing gaskets
New thermostat
New oil cap filler gasket
New turbo oil return pipe gasket and o-ring
New dipstick tube o-ring
Various vacuum line and plastic corrugated tubing
New timing belt. The other parts dependent on when they were last replaced.
and stuff to rebuild the PCV system if needed (the 5/8" hose mod is HIGHLY recommended)

[j-dawg]

I wouldn't call head bolts a while-you're-in-there - you have to change these out when installing the head. They should only be torqued down once.