Is my head gasket bad?

Doerae · Post by **Doerae** » 11 May 2017, 13:53

Hi, I am new to Volvos and really owning a car at all. I just bought a 2001 Volvo v70 with 119 thousand miles. I noticed within a week of buying the car that the coolant levels were going down quickly but I didn't see any signs of a leak. One of the times the coolant level warning came on so I pulled over and opened the hood. The coolant was at the low level marking on the tank. I let the car sit for thirty minutes and checked again and the coolant level was back up. I drove the car home and had no obvious issues. Then this morning I checked the oil on the dip stick and it was sort of bubbly. I freaked out thinking it was the head gasket and went to smoke a cigarette and calm down. When I came back and checked the dip stick again it looked normal. Any insight?

Doerae · Post by **Doerae** » 11 May 2017, 14:41

also... no signs of oil in the coolant tank and no bubbles on the oil cap.

Post by **oragex** » 11 May 2017, 15:02

Perhaps not a quick answer, but really the only way you'd find out is a compression test. Thing to know is these engines don't have hg issues, but then again even the best engine in the world would blew a hg if for some reason it gets to overheat. If the news aren't good, it's good to know a head gasket is not a small job on these cars, so it's better to return the car for a refund.

Post by **jonesg** » 11 May 2017, 15:17

I don't know if these engines are the same as my older 4 banger volvo but I found a blown head gasket by putting the coolant overflow tube into a bottle of water and watching the bubbles as engine rpm increased, more bubbles with higher rpm means its blown.

Also NAPA sells "block tester" fluid, its very cheap, run the coolant overflow pipe through it ...the gasses will bubble up through the fluid, its blue and turns yellow if exh gases are present in the coolant, I think its $7 a qt. Test done on a cold engine...obviously.

Thats when I junked my old 740, still ran too.

Could also be as simple as an air pocket in the cooling system, burp the lines , also check the footwells for moisture under the mats.

And it could also just be nervousness of a first car.

Doerae · Post by **Doerae** » 11 May 2017, 16:41

okay, I will burp the lines first and see if that changes anything. Im hoping it's first car nervousness! Thank you both for your advice

Post by **oragex** » 11 May 2017, 17:00

Normally these engine will burp by themselves after a coolant flush. The way they burp is the coolant level goes down after driving the car the first time. Then we just refill as needed. However, I haven't noticed the level to go up. The NAPA stuff may indeed be a good option

Doerae · Post by **Doerae** » 11 May 2017, 17:02

is there any reason other than a bad head gasket that my engine oil (on the dipstick but not on the engine oil cap) would appear bubbly and lighter in color?

Post by **jonesg** » 11 May 2017, 19:16

Might be over filled, too much oil.
Let it rest overnite before reading oil level.

Doerae · Post by **Doerae** » 11 May 2017, 21:16

I don't think its overfilled seeing as I havent filled it recently and the oil level (when the oil returned to normal) is a little bit on the lower end.. :/

Post by **jonesg** » 12 May 2017, 14:14

You need to let the engine settle a few hrs to get a proper reading of the oil level.
Overnite is good.