[DMCForum] Re: Continuing misadventures of a Volvo/B280F PRV
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[DMCForum] Re: Continuing misadventures of a Volvo/B280F PRV



Robert,

Yeah we shared the same 'pleasures' with those O-Rings. I appreciated
the tips you gave me a few weeks ago.

I think I am heading down the same path you are. I've garaged the 760
until I can dig into this thing (as if i have not been dug in so
far). I don't want to risk warping the heads (if they are not warped
already). I was driving my '71 145 'rusty green'. I'm having to look
for a better 'beater' since i'm going to be driving it for  a few
months. So far the 'short list' includes a Volvo 245 station wagon
and a '90 miata.

Have you considered finding a B280F for the swap? Up until  march
it's been solid as a rock. 252k miles and runs like new. Seems like
they fixed a lot of things in that edition. Cept the 'O-Rings'.

As usual thanks for the tips sorry we seem to be in the same boat.

Carter

--- In DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "therealdmcvegas" <dmcvegas@xxxx>
wrote:
> I've gone thru a simular thing. 2 years ago, I found I had nasty,
> chunky oil. Didn't look like a milkshake to me, and the car was
> running fine overall. A couple of months later, I noticed that I
was
> losing cooling, and having to pour in about a pint or so every
week.
> Under the manifold, I noticed pools of coolant, and discovered a
> leaking O-ring on the Y-pipe. Replaced that, and was fine for a
> little while, until I randomly overheated in traffic one day. I
> happened to have some spare coolant in the car, so I filled up, and
> drove home.
>
> Now, I was noticing the same thing as you, with the goop filling up
> the mesh filter in the breather cap. As soon as it got clogged, I
was
> spitting oil out from the Front Main Seal behing the Crankshaft
> Pulley. Cleaned it out, and it was fine for a week, until it would
> just clog up again. And then I started pouring steam out of the
> exhaust when it started up.
>
> Drove it down last week for my emissions inspection, and to get the
> car tuned (I fixed a whole bunch of vacuum leaks), and my mechanic
> wouldn't touch it. He confirmed a blown headgasket. Probably only
> about 10 miles or so from my house, but the car drank a half-gallon
> of coolant each way!
>
> So now, my motor has given up the ghost. It'll run, but it blows
out
> coolant, and just keeps running warmer and warmer. And the reason
> that I bring this up, is because I started having the same tale-
tell
> signs as you. The first thing that I would do, is clean out the oil
> breather cap. Martin is right, that if the motor sit for a long
time,
> it's normal for condensation to cause that. BUT, if you drive
> normally, and still see that gunk collecting again in the breather
> cap, then you know that you've got a problem somewhere. FYI: My
> coolant also smelled like exhaust gas too.
>
> So for me, it looks like it's time for a motor swap...
>
> -Robert
>
>
>
> --- In DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "cartermartin" <cartermartin@xxxx>
> wrote:
> > Sorry in advance for the long post.
> >
> > Ok so I think I have gotten to the bottom of my Volvo
760GLE/B280F-
> > PRV problems or at least nearly to the bottom of it.
> >
> > I have essentially rebuilt my  cooling system. Along the way I
did
> > every possible test I could think of for a blown head gasket or
> > cracked head. These include:
> >
> > - Compression test. I got 180-185# on all 6 cyl. The numbers
might
> be
> > suspect but felt the fact they are so close together was more
> > important.
> > - Cooling system pressure test. After all the cooling system work
> was
> > done. I pressure tested it at 22# (factory spec for this model)
for
> > 15-20 minutes. I had very little, if any, leakage.
> > - Tested the cooling system pressure under normal running
> conditions.
> > Pressure was built gradually up to 15-20# or so.
> > - A block leak test. The gizmo that detects exhaust gasses in the
> > coolant by drawing air thru the coolant.
> >
> > Anyway after all of this I still have coolant loss and evidence
of
> > high pressure in the system. In this case coolant blown out of
the
> > expansion bottle.
> >
> > The only other clue was the chocolate milkshake on the filler
cap.
> > When I changed the oil I found no evidence of coolant.  And after
2
> > negative 'block leak' tests (i.e. no combustion gasses) I finally
> got
> > a positive after a highway run (where btw it urped out a pint or
so
> > of antifreeze).
> >
> > It appears that under light load, idling or driving around the
> > neighborhood, there is not a problem. This manifests itself at
> > freeway speed when I hear a buzzing sound from time to time that
I
> > believe is either the pressure being vented past the radiator cap
> or
> > perhaps even gasses blowing past the head gasket. The latter may
be
> a
> > long shot but the sound is coming from the opposite side of the
> > engine from the coolant bottle.
> >
> > At this point my suspicion is either:
> >
> > - small head gasket leak
> > - Cracked head
> > - or maybe a seal for the cylinder liner?
> >
> > I'm still a neophyte on these engines and since it's an old Volvo
> > sedan (as opposed to something more exotic) I should probably
walk
> > away. But I feel I want to get to the bottom of all of this. It
is
> > also difficult because it's running SOOOOO good.
> >
> > Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions would be appreciated? Any PRV
> > mechanics in the Atlanta area who can do a head/head gasket,
please
> > step forward.
> >
> > Oh and for what it's worth I did get the Y-Pipe o-rings sealed
up.
> >
> > Carter




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