C70 t5 2.3t engine issues

[Aj_roy]

Hey guys i am really hoping you can help me. I am having a nightmare. I recently bought a c70 t5 2.3t 1998 and have been loving it. I was going to write a really long explination of the issue and how it occured and the fustrations i had but it it reached more than 1 page on a word document and it would bore people. So long story short my car has developed a misfire. I tried replacing the coil packs and spark plugs, which the old spark plugs were horrendous.the guy at the garage i went to said he was surprised that it was running at all. We replaced everything and still the misfire was still there. We did a compression test and found that cylinders 4 and 5 where very low. He said that he thinks that the valves have worn excessively and more than linkey burt out. To say i was devistated was an understatment at this point as i had spent almost a grand on top of the buying price of the car to that point and had got a new exhaust 3 days earlier which had cost me £500.

I am in need of a cylinder head reconditioning which i can get done for £200. But i am massively struggling to find someone in sheffield that will be willing to take on the labour for a decent price. I am in a masive dilemma as i really dont want my volvo experience to end here and i would love to have this back on the road but spending almost twice of the value of the car on the car just seems to bother me a little. I am hoping you lovely folks can point me in the righr direction of who to go to, to get a quote for this job and if you can give me any recommendations for what to do. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks peeps

Arjun

[deathrider311271]

if the car is drivable, contact Tim Williams as he is more than capable of doing this job

[Kingsford G]

Test the compression again and then put some engine oil in the low compression cylinders and test again,if the compression goes up its your rings gone so the head job will be a waste of money if it stays the same then happy days,just a head job.

[Doingitsideways]

Or could just be the head gasket across two cylinders?

Quite rare for the valves to burn out on these to be fair.

[Biff]

Kg is talking sense. I've not heard of the valves burning out, I reckon it could be the gasket also as it doesn't have to mix oil & water or smoke excessively.
If it does turn out to be your head why not stick a second hand one on if your at a budget? I'm sure one of us will have one knocking about.
With your car being a 98 you need to say whether it has a throttle cable or not as this relates to what engine it has.
Good choice of car, hopefully these problems wont put you off.

[960kg]

Burnt Valves are common on these engines because a few owners only use 95ron and the carbon will build up around the valve and even parts break off them.

[Aj_roy]

Hi guys thanks for your replies. Its an me7 engine. What had happened was that i had a new straight through exhaust put on last friday and until monday it was fine. Then t started misfiring. I took it to a garage who told me that it was not a misfire as it was too smooth and that it would be down to the lamds sensor not being able to measure the airflow out which made the engine compensate by adding in more fuel, this is why it was running so rough. I had a remap booked a couple of days after anyway, which they would be able to program in to the ecu to bypass the sensors so i wasnt too worried.

So i made the trip from sheffield to burton. A 50 mile trip. Chris at Cc tuning knew straight away that it was a misifire and like me was hoping at that point it just needed a new set of plugs. We replaced the plugs and coil packs with no luck. The old plugs hd obviously not been changed for atleast 40-50k as they were hugely erroded. Thats when we did the compression test and found that cylinders 4 and 5 were running very low. Because it had been run with very bad plugs and possibly the coil pack was damaged as well as no water or engine oil loss, he thought it would be the valves that had been damaged.

Sorry for such a long explination. I am hoping that this will make more sense. I have contacted Tim so hopefully he can help me. i think either way in my case the cyclindee head will need taking off. So hopefully i can find someone who is willing to do this and then go from there. Thanks for all your input and help guys

[Doingitsideways]

Standard T5s can run on 95 quite happily.

Christ, that's like rocket fuel compared to the crap Americans run them on!

Remapped though, gotta be 98. I wouldn't even use BP's crappy 97.

[mike 850]

Hi guys thanks for your replies. Its an me7 engine. What had happened was that i had a new straight through exhaust put on last friday and until monday it was fine. Then t started misfiring. I took it to a garage who told me that it was not a misfire as it was too smooth and that it would be down to the lamds sensor not being able to measure the airflow out which made the engine compensate by adding in more fuel, this is why it was running so rough. I had a remap booked a couple of days after anyway, which they would be able to program in to the ecu to bypass the sensors so i wasnt too worried.

So i made the trip from sheffield to burton. A 50 mile trip. Chris at Cc tuning knew straight away that it was a misifire and like me was hoping at that point it just needed a new set of plugs. We replaced the plugs and coil packs with no luck. The old plugs hd obviously not been changed for atleast 40-50k as they were hugely erroded. Thats when we did the compression test and found that cylinders 4 and 5 were running very low. Because it had been run with very bad plugs and possibly the coil pack was damaged as well as no water or engine oil loss, he thought it would be the valves that had been damaged.

Sorry for such a long explination. I am hoping that this will make more sense. I have contacted Tim so hopefully he can help me. i think either way in my case the cyclindee head will need taking off. So hopefully i can find someone who is willing to do this and then go from there. Thanks for all your input and help guys

2 cylinders next to each other normally means head gasket

[Aj_roy]

Does anyone have any idea how I would double check exactly what the issue would be? I have had a quote from a company in London that have said they can do a full engine rebuild for £1800 fully fitted with new cambelt etc. Do you guys think its worth it? I am wondering also if anyone on here would be interested in buying it as a project if they have the skills to do it themselves? considering possibly cutting my losses with it now. proper gutted about this especially as I have spent £500 on an exhaust 3 days before it happened

thanks for all your help guys

[Doingitsideways]

Not really without pulling the head off, Fella.

The oil down the bores would rule out the rings, but the HG or a burnt valve would still be the same.

My money is firmly on the HG though, especially as the two cylinders with no compression are next to each other.
Chances of two valves burning out on different cylinders at the same time are extremely slim.

[Mart5in]

I +1 on it being the head gasket.

As above, it's between 2 cylinders. and it's not using oil or water.

£1800 for a "rebuilt" engine isn't that great imho.

Whatever happens, the cylinder head has to come off. I doubt it's burnt/broken/damaged valves - that's not common at all.


Also, if 4 and 5 were lower, how much lower?

[Aj_roy]

Not really without pulling the head off, Fella.

The oil down the bores would rule out the rings, but the HG or a burnt valve would still be the same.

My money is firmly on the HG though, especially as the two cylinders with no compression are next to each other.
Chances of two valves burning out on different cylinders at the same time are extremely slim.

Thanks mate. i am hopefully going to find someone that will be willing to take off the head for me etc, have a look and go from there with it. can you recommend anyone at all? i think my breakdown cover allows me to get the car towed anywhere in the uk.

[Aj_roy]

I +1 on it being the head gasket.

As above, it's between 2 cylinders. and it's not using oil or water.

£1800 for a "rebuilt" engine isn't that great imho.

Whatever happens, the cylinder head has to come off. I doubt it's burnt/broken/damaged valves - that's not common at all.


Also, if 4 and 5 were lower, how much lower?

thanks for your reply. if i can remember correctly cylinders 1 to 3 where around 180. cylinder 4 was about 150 ish and cylinder 5 was about 130 which was the lowest.

when the issue happened i was in Sheffield and when i took it to a garage they told me it was too smooth to be a misfire. because i was told the engine light would come due to the decat i ignored that when it came it. the garage told me it was due to the decat but because i had a remap booked in 2 days later that didn't bother me. so i drove it from Sheffield to burton. i think i may have made the issue worse by doing this. Chris at cc tuning was pretty confident that the issue was down to the valves as the spark plugs where so bad so i don't know what to go on now.

[Kingsford G]

Go to halfords and get a compression tester,oil in the bores and measure before and after,if its a head job it might be in your budget to get it sorted and you can drive it a long time.My mates Gull is near 300k and still going strong.These engines can easily beat most diesels on a life span if looked after.Your problem is most likely to be due to the bad plugs and 4 and 5 must`ve been a bit different from the rest.

[deathrider311271]

My V70 2.5T had burnt out valves on cylinders 4 and 5 due to faulty knock sensors

[Aj_roy]

Go to halfords and get a compression tester,oil in the bores and measure before and after,if its a head job it might be in your budget to get it sorted and you can drive it a long time.My mates Gull is near 300k and still going strong.These engines can easily beat most diesels on a life span if looked after.Your problem is most likely to be due to the bad plugs and 4 and 5 must`ve been a bit different from the rest.

Cheers for that mate, I think a lot of people are very surprised that it may be the valves that have been burnt out. Today I have spoke to Shem from Shemtek automotive solutions who says he is more than happy to do the job if it needs doing at all including a reconditioned head for around £500-600 which I am pretty happy with.

I am so glad I am getting somewhere with this now. I would hate to break my Volvo up or sell it as spares and repairs with the amount of time and money I have spent on it. if all goes well I should have it up and running by the end of Nov. fingers crossed ey!

Really appreciate you all taking your time out to help me guys!

[960kg]

Standard T5s can run on 95 quite happily.

Christ, that's like rocket fuel compared to the crap Americans run them on!

Remapped though, gotta be 98. I wouldn't even use BP's crappy 97.

Standard T5`s are still turbo ...Lol, and should be 98ron as per handbook.

95ron is for use just now and again and not continual use..........otherwise you get a big bill after so many thousands of miles.

[Kingsford G]

Cheers for that mate, I think a lot of people are very surprised that it may be the valves that have been burnt out. Today I have spoke to Shem from Shemtek automotive solutions who says he is more than happy to do the job if it needs doing at all including a reconditioned head for around £500-600 which I am pretty happy with.

I am so glad I am getting somewhere with this now. I would hate to break my Volvo up or sell it as spares and repairs with the amount of time and money I have spent on it. if all goes well I should have it up and running by the end of Nov. fingers crossed ey!

Really appreciate you all taking your time out to help me guys!

Shem is a good lad and knows what he is doing so let him do the magic.

[Jamest5r]

Cheers for that mate, I think a lot of people are very surprised that it may be the valves that have been burnt out. Today I have spoke to Shem from Shemtek automotive solutions who says he is more than happy to do the job if it needs doing at all including a reconditioned head for around £500-600 which I am pretty happy with.

I am so glad I am getting somewhere with this now. I would hate to break my Volvo up or sell it as spares and repairs with the amount of time and money I have spent on it. if all goes well I should have it up and running by the end of Nov. fingers crossed ey!

Really appreciate you all taking your time out to help me guys!

Shem is a good shout mate he did a recon head on my V70 and had it back in a week no problem at all.