Blown Headgasket

Blew my head gasket while launching onto the 417 last Monday. Ah, me...she's in the shop now. On the good side of things, this final gasket will bring the engine to Stage 0. I will shortly be able to safely start turning up the wick. Hell, yeah!

'mule

you didnt replace it yourself?

I wouldn't know where to begin, it's -25 outside, and I don't have a garage. But I have the money to have it done :wink:
If it was summer, I had a helper who knew what to do, and had the time, yeah, I might give it a go.
As it stands, I'm on the road now for 10 days, and while I'm away my car is being repaired by the best indie Volvo wrenchers in town. They guarentee their work, to, so if it isn't right, THEY have to fix it, not me.

'mule

I'm just given ya a hard time

Altho its really not that hard of a job to do, took me a weekend the first time I did one, warped heads aside i could probably knock one out in about two hours now

a weekend huh? im seriously starting to think about doing mine myself. If i could get the damn car back to my house. grrrrrr.


Michael

No offence taken. I would LIKE to know how to change a head gasket...someday I will. But in the dead of winter here...nah.

'mule

TaskMule said:

No offence taken. I would LIKE to know how to change a head gasket...someday I will. But in the dead of winter here...nah.

'mule

Click to expand...

i just did one on my 83 chevy 3/4 ton pick up...1st one i ever did...took aprox 10 hrs...of course, both heads were cracked..upon close inspection...but, once i got it back togather...it started and ran like a champ... richard / colorado

I'e done headgaskets on B230FTs a few times. I can have it all apart [with cleaning the parts etc included] in about 2 hours. Not so bad, I take my time putting it all together and cleaning the deck etc.

Not that bad but not that fun either !

Late

Update; once the mechanic got inside the head, he found a fried valve. Big chunk missing :shock: , so a re-manufactured head was installed. The bill was kinda large, around 1,700. :shock:
It runs nice now, but I think all the performance mods I had in mind for this summer will now have to wait til 2004...dang.

'mule

He installed a whole new head because of one broken valve?



Did he ask you before performing the work? Sounds like there could have been a much better solution to that problem

head job only costs like 170 bucks (for a three angle) and they replace anything thats fucked up... you need a new mechanic

Here's what I was told, and you guys can tell me if I've been screw'd or not;
First, I'm no mechanic, I tinker a bit, oil, brakes, sways, airbox,etc, but bigger jobs I leave to the mechanics. And I consider a new head bigger than I can tackle. :?
The valve has a big chunk missing, so it's definately pooched. E-mail me for a picture if you like.
I was away for 10 days while the work was being done, originally quoted 600 to install a new head gasket (all figures Can$). I was also told that I'd be called if there were bigger issues. Never got a call...
When I got home, I was presented with a bill for 1,742. I was told that once Imre got into the engine, there was plenty of damage to the head from the valve going. So much that they felt that the head could well be cracked. Rather than x-ray it and/or rebuild it themselves, a re-manufactured one, complete was found for 450 and installed. That, plus the gasket kit, all related seals(water pump, etc) all related fluids (they re-used my 2 week-old Amsoil, as requested) and 12 hours of labour add up to 1,742.
This is my second Volvo, and I've been going to Adria Volvo Centre since 1988. I've never had problems with them before, and they have always done good work for me. In fact, they have helped me out alot with small adjustments and quick "out-of-bay" repairs for free.
I do have one question that lingers; If a new head-gasket installed was going to be 600, and they installed a re-built head instead, wouldn't the labour charges be around the same? I mean, the head is off in either case, right?
So, how bad was it? I welcome all comments, once again bearing in mind, I am NOT a mechanic...

'mule

[quote:3d2f73753a]If a new head-gasket installed was going to be 600, and they installed a re-built head instead,
wouldn't the labour charges be around the same? I mean, the head is off in either case, right?[/quote:3d2f73753a]

Not necessarily. Chances are the new head came totally bare so they has to swap over everything from the old head. Camshaft, distributor, possible assembly of the valve train and all the little fittings and sensors in the head. Time for removal from the old head and fitting in the new head will be where the price difference will be. You are correct in assuming they need to pull the head to change the gasket but swapping the head isn't quite that simple...

Thanks for the reply. Do you think the whole thing sounds like I got fleeced here? It appears to me that the parts/labour, while more than I bargained for, are inline with what needed to be done. And judging by the look of the valve, there was alot of burned stuff inside that head.
BTW, I was in Calgary for part of the time the work was being done. The 12th/13th...nice warm days. But I think that's passed now, hmmm?....brrr.

'mule

Yeah...warmed up to minus 20 here yesterday. Not exactly the kind of weather that makes me want to venture out in the garage. Not to mention, the flourescent lights don't work when it's this cold... brrrrrr

linuxman51 said-
"head job only costs like 170 bucks (for a three angle) and they replace anything thats f?k'd up... you need a new mechanic"
_________

Since the complete set of head gaskets alone costs around $240 here, I don't think the job could have been done for 170. :wink:

'mule

I know this can be frustrating for us Canadian folks. I have an old Mercedes turbodiesel and belonged to a Mercedes Turbodiesel email discussion list for a year or so. I kept hearing over and over how cheap this was or that was. First of all, we are talking about Canadian $ when we quote prices, so take that into account. Second, sometimes we live in an area that only has one specialist or dealer where we can get work done or buy parts at. The Mercedes dealer here has outrageous prices but when I need a part yesterday, I have no choice but to pay his prices. Sure, I could order it out of the US (if I have a credit card) if I wanted to wait a week or more for it to get here and then pay the customs brokerage fees and taxes, but by that time, I might as well buy it from the dealer and save the headache.

An example:

I'm looking for a set of glowplugs for my Mercedes. A listing on eBay has a "buy it now" option for $47.99 for a set of 5 Bosch OEM glowplugs. Good deal, I think. Do the math... At today's exchange rate $48 US works out to just over $70 CDN. Around $14 per plug. Still a good deal. Shipping will be $10US so ad another $15 CDN to the price. Customs brokerage fees will be $5 if mailed, up to $20 if UPS or FedEX so add another $20. What are we up to now? $105 CDN. We also have GST to pay but we'd do that anyways so I'll leave that out of the work-up. So $105 CDN is $21 each. I can buy them here for $24 each so why would I want to go through all that hassle to order them out of the US when for $3 more each, I can drive to the supplier and have them in my hands in an hour?

If I come out and tell you I can get glowplugs for $24 each, you'll tell me I'm crazy, that you can get them for $48 a set, right?

I realize the glowplug example is kind of irrelevant but I think it illustrates my point very well.

Please don't say we got ripped off until all the circumstances are considered.

Not getting defensive here but I've seen this happen many times...

True.

'mule

[quote:5a0dd1a62b]Rather than x-ray it and/or rebuild it themselves,[/quote:5a0dd1a62b]

Or, they could have just pressure tested it and hopefully replaced one $30 (at the most) valve rather than replace the entire head at $1,800 without asking you...

I dunno, I would have been at least slightly irritated if my shop did that to me.

bitjockey said "I dunno, I would have been at least slightly irritated if my shop did that to me."

Yeah Bit, I am irritated by this whole thing, and I'll be discussing this with the garage when I go back to have the tolerances adjusted later. What is most irritating is that the shop owner told me he'd call me if there was any problem aside from just replacing the head gasket. Never got a call before the extra work was done, they just went ahead and did it. It's a nice job, but yeah, I'm a little annoyed at not being called. But what can I do, it's all done, and running great.

I don't claim to know all about a turbo engine, but from the guys I've talked to, it's pretty rare that a valve would go that bad and there'd be zero damage anywhere else inside the head. Almost a full quarter of the valve is gone. Wouldn't that involve at least getting the seat smoothed out too?

I knew this was coming before too long, and it was sooner than later. It's a 15 year old engine, and I like to drive it fairly aggressivly. All I can do now is just know that the top end of my engine is running very smoothly now, and very quiet.

My favorite and most trusted Volvo shop is a 6 hour drive from here, and my second fave is 1 mile from here. I'd have rather gone to choice 1, but really, the car was limpin' BAD and I was lucky to get it off the hiway and over to choice 2 under it's own steam. Maybe I could have gotten out with less work done and a smaller bill, but it's also very likely that I'd be back in the head this summer replacing another valve or two, and yet another gasket set.

I'll have to satisfy myself with that, and a discussion with my garage about how to handle a situation like this in the future.

Thanks for all the input, guys. It's helping alot.

'mule