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

["cartermartin" <cartermartin@xxxxxxxxx>]

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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