C70 sad story

[June]

It seems to me the lower the mileage the better. After all you will replace all the seals, timing kit, water pump, PCV box, oil/filter and thermostat before installing it.? I would want to see under the oil cap of any engine I would consider. At 69K it should be squeaky clean. Would 6 years of sitting really damage the metal? June

[erikv11]

I'd read up on how to soak the engine in MMO and go with the lower mileage one.

[abscate]

It seems to me the lower the mileage the better. After all you will replace all the seals, timing kit, water pump, PCV box, oil/filter and thermostat before installing it.? I would want to see under the oil cap of any engine I would consider. At 69K it should be squeaky clean. Would 6 years of sitting really damage the metal? June

In 6 years of sitting, Arizona not withstanding, water will have worked in and condensed inside. The condition inside could vary from clean to corroded. You really want to know the history on a picked engine.

[JimBee]

I would want to know what the internals look like before replacing the TB kit, seals, etc.

While you have the engine on the ground why not open it up (there are tutorials on here). Pull the pan; you'll want to replace the oil pickup o-rings anyway. While you're in there, pull the rod caps to have a look at the bearing inserts. If the engine has been well maintained, the bearings should look like new. If there's any uneven wear, that would be a red flag. If the cap inserts look good, the upper inserts in the connecting rod should be okay.

IMP: Replace the caps with a dab of engine rebuild grease on the journals.

The crankshaft should be perfectly smooth and, of course, perfectly round (which it will be if the bearings look good and the crank journals are smooth).

If you love the car and you want to run it for another 5-10 years, this would be the time to look under the head, as well. Buildup on the piston crowns? With the head off, you can inspect the cylinder walls and scrub down as much of them as you can with engine cleaner, rotating the crank for access.

How do the valves look?

Then when you put it together with new TB and kit, get those new seals in you've put a few days into it and you've got a motor that will run another 2-300k, trouble-free.

Also, +1 on checking out the rack seals and lines while access is good.

NOTE: if you pull the pan, run a tap through all the bolt holes to clean out the sealant from the threads. Special attention to the long pan bolts at front and back of engine. Also clean off the bolt threads (I just used a wire wheel in my drill for that). Then you can get even torque on all the bolts when you replace them. The Permatex anaerobic sealant works just as well as the Volvo brand (probably the same stuff; Volvo doesn't make the one they sell).

RELATED: also run a tap into the two bolt holes in the head where the coolant flange connects. Those holes/bolts are fine threads and if they're mucked up with sealant which they will be, the bolts will bottom out before the flange is tight. If you force them, the threads in the head can strip. Once the motor is installed it's a huge headache trying to do that simple prep.

[erikv11]

Pulling the oil pan for the pickup tube seals is an absolute must, good call. Only buy them from Volvo, or Volvo-branded anyway.

[bmdubya1198]

Unfortunately buying engines from full service junkyards can be hit or miss... there are good places and bad places. Unfortunately I've only ever dealt with bad places... both times, the engines knocked after dropping them in. It was only the timing chain guides (on both of them) but still, it's an inconvenience after going through the work of dropping them in.
I'm not trying to scare you with this, but the fact of the matter is that these engines will sit for some amount of time, and will need a refresh regardless of the source. I apologize, I didn't read the rest of this thread thoroughly, but I recently replaced the engine in my 2000 S70 and wanted to share some insight.
When I did this, I replaced the timing belt, water pump, pulleys, oil pan seals, I pulled the cam cover to reseal (I saw RTV on the edges, scraped that nasty stuff out and replaced with the proper anaerobic sealant), PCV, rear main seal, and cam seals. That's pretty much the bare minimum I would do (minus the cam cover, really not necessary unless it's leaking).

My take on this... find the cheapest relatively low mileage engine you can. And ask questions. Some yards will get annoyed quickly with questions, and it's really unprofessional, so I usually just take that as a reason to continue to bug them. Ask about how long it's been sitting, how it ran when removed, and of course if they can provide them, compression numbers. Oil condition is a good thing to check too... condensation is okay, coolant is not!
I'll also throw in that mileage isn't a huge deal here... as long as the engine is healthy, it should run great for years to come. The burnt valve thing isn't really mileage-dependent. My last car has 200k currently, and my current one has 194k... no issues ever. My cousin's S70 T5 is at about 250k and his old V70 had about 275k (and ran phenomenally, by the way) when we finally parted it out. Always run 91/93 octane fuel, don't lug your engine and you shouldn't have any issues.

And $1k for a transmission? That's hilarious... I wouldn't pay more than $300 for one of these transmissions.

Also, your turbo whines? How so? Is there any shaft play?

[JimBee]

"Upullrparts" junk yards in Twin Cities, MN, don't keep any notes on engines. They process cars immediately, meaning all fluids are removed. Odometer readings (if visible like in 850's) are recorded with VIN's. Beyond that, even if cars were driven in, no data is kept. Cars come in daily, stay for 45 to maybe 70 days then into the crusher. Engines are $159 + $25 core; transmissions are $99 + $25 core. Not sure what return policies are, if any.

If I were going to purchase an engine I'd pull it (which you have to do at yards where I shop), and right there on the ground pull the pan and rod caps (might take a half hour to crack the bolts loose and run them out with a bat-op drill). Plus in daylight you can get some sense of the cylinder walls looking from the bottom side. That would be my most minimal check before leaving with the engine.

[bmdubya1198]

Self service junkyards are a great option to keep costs down, but you just have to be ready to pull it yourself. I've done it once to get a transmission, not that bad to do. I can pull a P80 engine in probably a 45 minutes to an hour tops at a junkyard, not that hard to do.