$200 2000 Volvo V70XC

[DuckCryptid]

Howdy there everyone, after months of window shopping I finally found a Volvo that was more than in my price range, a $200 Volvo V70XC with 176k miles. The previous owner owned it for four years, and put around $11k into the car through a new transmission, new head gasket/resurfaced head, timing belt, and other bits and bobs. I went to go look at the car in person since the guy wanted to sell it to me since I was the only person who showed actual interest in fixing up the car. He said he was selling it because a coolant expansion hose burst, he towed it to the shop, then after leaving the shop the upper radiator hose burst. So, he was done with it and wanted to send it off to someone else as the shop said either head gasket or cracked block was the source of his woes. He said he didn't overheat the car either time, and coolant was still in the hoses/expansion tank, albeit low. Oil and coolant were all clean when I checked out the car, so I thought what the heck and bought it with a split upper radiator hose along with a free tow from his AAA back to my place.

Spent 3 and a half hours detailing the interior with removal of the seats and vacuuming and wiping etc., as it seems the interior may have never been cleaned in his 4 years of ownership to be quite honest (maybe 70 or 80 toothpicks, mummified french fries, plastic cutlery, fortune cookies, negative COVID test, pixie stick powder?). After cleaning it I ordered a new upper radiator hose as well as new coolant reservoir cap as I suspect the extra pressure may have came from a failed pressure relief cap as I've seen on the forums. Installed all that today, along with a new thermostat and it started up just fine.

Following starting it, I attempted to use a rental combustion leak tester from AutoZone, which didn't seem to work as the bulb would not re-expand and pull gases from the expansion tank, minus a hand-full of bubbles but the fluid remained blue. Following that and letting the engine come to operating temperature, I did a compression test on all 5 cylinders and all came back between 185 and 200 PSI. After reassembly, I started it up and drove it around my neighborhood while watching the dash like a hawk, and noticed that terrible, sweet smelling vapor coming from the tail pipe in my rear view mirror. I parked the car and I'm going to go try to get another combustion leak test from AutoZone tomorrow.

Super excited to finally have my Volvo station wagon (so is my partner so I'll shut up about it). I do have some questions though if people would be able to answer!

• Thoughts on the coolant burning? I suspect the head gasket still, though it was done only about 7k miles ago, and I know the compression test isn't conclusive by any means.
  
  The key is awful to turn. I have to get it just right over about 1 to 2 minutes just to turn it on from 0 to 1, does the dremel ignition fix apply to this year/model? Some of my findings on the forums were inconclusive, and I've already tried graphite powder.
  
  There is an awful whine coming from the back of the engine bay near the firewall when running, is this potentially a sign of the turbo going? I'm not seeing anything in the paperwork about the turbo ever being replaced, just components around it like the breather hose, coolant hose, etc. being replaced.

Thank y'all, I appreciate the help and the information already here! Here's a pic of the car on its bad side, as seen from the backdoor.

[abscate]

Compression test won’t tell you if it’s a bad head gasket necessarily, but if it’s good then valves are in good shape. With an unknown engine there is not really a good path other than running it for a bit then pulling plugs and look for steam cleaning

[Vova585]

"Steam cleaning" is great test. Likely this car has a huge leak somewhere. Ideally you would remove all spark plugs. Pressurize the coolant system and with articulate borescope look into each cylinder for a leak. The fact that it was rebuild does not prove anything. Who did it, what equipment and parts they were using all can be a problem. Oregon is notorious for great concentration of volvos so maybe used engine swap from fresh road kill might be a cheaper alternative unless you want to do the job yourself and not on a tight budget for it.

[DuckCryptid]

Compression test won’t tell you if it’s a bad head gasket necessarily, but if it’s good then valves are in good shape. With an unknown engine there is not really a good path other than running it for a bit then pulling plugs and look for steam cleaning

I had checked out all the plugs yesterday to look for steam cleaning and I wasn't able to notice any steam cleaning yesterday, but the plugs are only a few thousand miles old. I think the coolant pressure test is next on the docket for me along with just running the engine like you said, and maybe another whack at the combustion leak test too, thanks for the reply!

[DuckCryptid]

"Steam cleaning" is great test. Likely this car has a huge leak somewhere. Ideally you would remove all spark plugs. Pressurize the coolant system and with articulate borescope look into each cylinder for a leak. The fact that it was rebuild does not prove anything. Who did it, what equipment and parts they were using all can be a problem. Oregon is notorious for great concentration of volvos so maybe used engine swap from fresh road kill might be a cheaper alternative unless you want to do the job yourself and not on a tight budget for it.

I've been told to call around different shops to try to line up a new engine just in case since there are so many volvos around me here in Oregon. Gonna be doing more driving to look for evidence of steam cleaning since I didn't see any yesterday but the plugs are only 6-7k miles old. Head was done at a volvo specialty shop, but I agree you never really know what was done/how it was done. I do have the paperwork from maintenance thankfully, I think I'll rifle through those to see what parts were used and make sure the multilayered steel head gasket was used. Will be trying to get my hands on a coolant compression tester. Should I consider a boroscope with a camera on the back as well to look for steam cleaning on the valves or should I be good with a regular front facing one? Thanks!

[Vova585]

If the work was done by "volvo shop" I would expect them to stand behind their product and for modest diagnostic fee to look at your engine and hopefully tell you what is wrong with it 100%.
In terms of tools like borescope- it is a great tool and if you have something that works, I would give it a try prior to buying a new tool. Articulated borescope will cost between 80-130 for a low end and around 150-250 for a decent one. I much rather encourage you utilize those money for a professional diagnostic (please dont kick me here. I understand that good mechanics are hard to find and everyone sucks nowadays. But running to the store renting tools and buying tools that are expensive and might not be used a lot in a future is not cheap in terms of money and time. ) i wold expect that normal shop would be able to quickly test for exhaust gasses in coolant, pressure in coolant system, quick relative compression test and tell you what is going on.
Would be great to find someone from a local volvo club(it is Oregon after all) who will be able to come and help.

[DuckCryptid]

If the work was done by "volvo shop" I would expect them to stand behind their product and for modest diagnostic fee to look at your engine and hopefully tell you what is wrong with it 100%.
In terms of tools like borescope- it is a great tool and if you have something that works, I would give it a try prior to buying a new tool. Articulated borescope will cost between 80-130 for a low end and around 150-250 for a decent one. I much rather encourage you utilize those money for a professional diagnostic (please dont kick me here. I understand that good mechanics are hard to find and everyone sucks nowadays. But running to the store renting tools and buying tools that are expensive and might not be used a lot in a future is not cheap in terms of money and time. ) i wold expect that normal shop would be able to quickly test for exhaust gasses in coolant, pressure in coolant system, quick relative compression test and tell you what is going on.
Would be great to find someone from a local volvo club(it is Oregon after all) who will be able to come and help.

That's a good idea about calling the shop, I think I'll try to give them a call here today. I've so far tested compression and exhaust gasses in the coolant, but both came back good so pressure testing the cooling system is what's up next. Looking up local Volvo clubs is also a great idea. Thanks!

[DuckCryptid]

Update: I've tested the compression again and all came back good still, and managed to get the combustion leak test to cooperate and ran it for a good 5 minutes with no color change in the liquid, before coolant leaked into the tester itself so I'm going to run it once more just to be sure. Reconfirmed that the coolant smell is still coming out of the tailpipe, and it's still there. Going to be calling my local AutoZone to see if they can get the coolant pressure tester shipped to them for me to rent.

Also, the dude who sold it to me sold me a Volvo specific scan tool, and I ran it and got back a code that was ECM-6120 for the cooling fan. I confirmed that the fan does turn on when the car is at operating temperature, so I'm unsure of what this code is trying to tell me/if it's actually doing any harm by existing.

Also here's a video link below of the whine I mentioned in the original post. Tried my best to demonstrate that it is coming from the firewall area by moving my camera around, so sorry for the quick moving of the camera. Any pointers on what this whine could be? Thanks for the replies so far y'all!


https://imgur.com/a/SCFaCbC

[Vova585]

When you will sort out this issue, look at engine mounts. The top one is for sure is done.
It is great that exhaust gases are not detected in coolant, but lots of 2010 Priuses have the leaking headgasket in the similar fashion. Appoud all your work and research. Pressure testing system and borescope would be my next move.

[DuckCryptid]

When you will sort out this issue, look at engine mounts. The top one is for sure is done.
It is great that exhaust gases are not detected in coolant, but lots of 2010 Priuses have the leaking headgasket in the similar fashion. Appoud all your work and research. Pressure testing system and borescope would be my next move.

Yeah that ones been bugging me haha, need to look over the other mounts too like you mentioned.

Just did one last check for exhaust gases in my coolant for my own sanity, and nothing there.



If you don't mind clarifying; with there being no exhaust gases in the coolant, no mixing of oil and coolant, compression of all 5 cylinders being good, how would the head gasket be compromised/how is coolant being vaporized? Thank you, this if the first time any of my cars have ever entailed internal engine work, so I'm just trying to wrap my head around the "how" with the head gasket. I attached a video of my tailpipe.

Also called that shop, they remembered the car and felt pretty confident in their guess of the block, though no diagnostic work was done for them to determine that except their educated guesses, being a Volvo specialty shop and all.

Thanks again!

Tailpipe video:
https://imgur.com/a/8cjoge9