Think Head Gasket's Shot

[Crazy_C]

Looks like the head gasket has gone in the Volvrat. Had noticed it was starting to overheat a little bit when I was queuing up for the strip at pod at JapShow, but thought that was just from the queue in the heat.

But on the way back from pod, got about 40 minutes on the road and the engine started over heating, so topped up the coolant levels and thought nothing of it.

Bit further on, the temp gauge was going up and then down again, thought it was a bit strange, but kept going as it was staying in the middle 80% of the time.



Then going along the M25 at 50mph in the road works just after J28, the engine started rattling / knocking as you could hear the pistons and the oil warning light came on, so had to pull in when I could do safely, but I am thinking the head gasket has gone :(


So all in all, a pretty crap end to a great weekend :(

[Tomcat]

Oh bugger!, have you checked things like the oil for water contamination?, also the water pump?, they can let go but usually take the timing belt with them. May also be worth getting a compression check done.

[scooter]

before you spend alot of money trying to get it fixed take thermostat out and put it in warm water and see if it moves a previous car started that i thought of everything but the thermo and it was that thank god

[Crazy_C]

Water is just being turned to steam within the engine being on for about half an hour, kept having to top it up.

Oil warning light is on and checked the dipstick, it's pissed all the oil out somewhere :(



Water pump and belt was done like 1 or 2 months ago and that is all.



I'll check the thermostat, but to be honest, with the engine rattling, I think it may be shot :(

[Tomcat]

Aw crap, sounds like it's pretty terminal.

[Crazy_C]

Just been told by a mate of mine that he saw the car kicking blue smoke out the tail pipe too, so guessing that means the engine's probably totalled then really??

[Dangerous Dave]

Pah, I do headgaskets in my sleep. Done mine twice now, and had a head bolt snapped whilst tightening.

Have you checked the oil cooler pipes where they enter the radiator? The clip broke on mine and spewed all the oil onto the road, and I had to do a roadside repair at a garage and fill her back up (fortunately it held and has done for a long while :-) )

Any loss of power or rough running?

[Flatout Phil]

Bloody hell Dom. Bad news I fear. I have to say that IIRC head gaskets don't seem to fail that often on 850. If it wasn't clonking I would suggest the quick and cheap test where they check for CO in your header tank. From the sound of it, rebuild time - if you can be bothered. Otherwise, you should be able to pick up a resaonable replacement engine for a couple of hundred pretty easily.

Seems important to find the cause. Wonder if the fan thermostat has failed - only tends to manifest in queues or slow/laboured driving on hot days because the ram effect tends to provide most cooling.
T5 do have a little b@stard of a coolant pipe going to the turbo - I lost this one once on the old one, and it dumped the coolant: only noticed it because I got home and saw coolant draining out - could only have happened in previous mile or so. Hate to think what would have happened on a run.

Volvrat must live! But MAJOR sympathies on this one.

[Crazy_C]

Okay, got a few mates who are mechanics so I've been on the bell to them. Their thoughts are that I might be alright, cos the engine was over heating, would make the oil thinner, which would cause knocking noise as there wouldn't be full lubrication of the pistons, so I'm hoping that it hasn't caused any serious damage.

One of my mates also thinks that it could be that the turbo has gone, rather than the head gasket, cos if the turbo was drinking more oil than normal, it would cause the engine to over heat, and therefore use more coolant, and then with the hot engine, get the knocking noise.



I'm hoping it's just the turbo has gone and that everything else is alright. If the turbo has gone, I guess I'll just have to get a bigger turbo lol

[Crazy_C]

Put some water in there earlier, and it was pissing straight out the block at the back :(


Could the water pump going cause these problems?

I had a look and water is pissing out the block, same side as the water pump, so I am thinking that could be the problem as the temperature was going up and down.

[Volvostorm]

Mine had a crack in the radiator, just below the top hose, that gave the needle bouncing thing, but, if its leaking from the waterpump, that's a better place to start!

[Crazy_C]

Yea, it's leaking out the back of the block, no leaks up front.

[Al115]

ARSE. Sorry to hear it. This has become one of my favourite 850s recently :D

[Crazy_C]

Cheers man, she'll be back, don't worry, but it just depends on what is involved.

But if I end up having to replace the engine, may as well try and stick a 19t turbo on and RRIP kit too, and that stands for Rat Reverse Intercooler Piping ;) Just wait n see :D

[Dan850r]

Just check the pipe going over the exhaust manifold by the servo, theres a small pieces of flexible pipe that may have split.

[Crazy_C]

I'll see about jacking the car up so I can get under it and put water in it and see if I can spot where it's pissing out properly.

I'll check that pipe cheers mate.