1999 V70-XC Cracked Head?

Plewis11 · Post by **Plewis11** » 27 Jan 2015, 11:35

Hello I purchased a 1999 V70-XC for $400 with what was described as a blown head gasket. We tried to start it before pulling any parts. We drained all the oil and coolant and just used fresh oil and filter and it would barely kick, compression was 175, 145, 0, 35, 175. Upon tear down we noticed on the lower half of the head the back row of torque bolts were easy to remove no real force needed so i assume they didn't torque them right and the front row required a breaker bar with a pipe for extra leverage. Once the head gasket was revealed it truly was a flaky worn out head gasket. The head mating surface was cleaned and checked for squareness as well as valve leak it was good to go. After doing a head gasket kit install it was sealed up and put back. compression was a 180 or more for all 5 cylinders. But we couldn't get the motor to run it would spudder for 5 seconds or so and cut out. I noticed there was more than average coolant pressure and a sheen and the smell of exhaust coming from the reservoir, upon examination we found a slow drip of coolant in cylinder 3 so i assume there must be a crack in the head somewhere where it was hard to see and i missed it. My father was the one looking in the cylinder and he said it didn't appear to be coming from the gasket.

I'm new to this series I own a 89' 740 16-valve and sometimes do work on my sister's 94 850 but nothing this down to the block and i do know they differ a lot in some ways other than appearance. So far i'm in around $1000 total some in hoses and motor mounts. Would it be a good assumption that the issue is due to a cracked head and would you think that would keep the motor from running? Would like a second opinion before heading off to the junkyard and searching for a head. Any questions i'll try and answer thank you for your time.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 27 Jan 2015, 15:50

It depends on how it cracked. Normally the car will start and run on 4 cylinders with no problem. It will run rough of course but it will run. I would think a bad crack would have shown up on your compression test but you should do a leak down test before you get much further into this just to make sure. From what you are describing there is a breach somewhere.

You indicated that the mating surface got checked for being true but did you get the head surfaced at a machine shop before you re-installed it? It could be that the head is still warped a bit and it could be surfaced and cure your problem. Most machine shops can pressure test the head as well to see if it really is cracked. With a junk yard head I would get it to a machine shop for a once over anyway so you might be able to work something out with the shop to test your old head and then surface a junk yard head all in one package deal if your existing head turns out to not be serviceable.

The head on a '99 XC is pretty much its own animal since it is a CVVT head with hydraulic lifters. The '97 and '98 LPT cars have no CVVT and I think they went to solid lifters on the '00. I don't know if you can mix and match parts between the hydraulic lifter head and the solid lifter head or not. Mike can likely chime in and have the answer on that one. Somewhere in the P2 cars (2003?) the engine got CVVT on both cams and that won't work at all for you.

...Lee

Plewis11 · Post by **Plewis11** » 28 Jan 2015, 08:01

Thank you Lee I've noticed on most posts you tend to chip in and you had some great points! No we only used the metal straight edge to check the head, low budget build however i prefer reliability. I will try and find a machine shop between home and Durham where i travel every week for work. I will do the leak down test this weekend and recheck the compression since the rings should be dry from sitting three weeks. Hopefully it will be easier to pinpoint issues now that i know the gasket isn't filled with holes like the other one..

As i feared i have set my eye on another special flower Volvo though i assume it'll be easier to find a cylinder head (worst case) than my 740 b234f 16 valve. On my way back i'll check at a u-pull it yard to see if i can find a donor car might just buy a scrap engine for parts/backup since with age the car will become a hassle for finding parts..... Just for fun here's a couple images

As you can see the engine was neglected in some ways more than one....

This was after being mostly reassembled much cleaner and lots of wire looming and more to do.