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#1 |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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![]() 1991 Volvo 240
There was oil in the coolant expansion tank. I did a leak down test and could hear air bubbles in the radiator so assumed the head gasket was bad. I subsequently replaced the head gasket. When I seated the head, the water pump was in place. I also may have not gotten all the fluid out of the threaded holes in the block. I am therefore concerned that I may not have the head torqued correctly. The car is not "smoking like the Batmobile", but there is some smoke and fluid that comes out the tail pipe when warming up. The smoke and fluid do not come out the tailpipe once the car has been driven several miles. I also see a sharp drop in vacuum at the intake when I rev the engine. Would it be best to replace the head gasket again, without the water pump in place and a through cleaning of the threads in the block? |
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#2 |
Can play the blues
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: S NJ, a suburb of Phila.
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![]() How did you torque the headbolts? You can retorque them if you aren't sure. What makes you doubt the job? A warming up engine in the cold weather especially spews out some nasty gook which is totally normal. It will get better as the engine warms up.
A especially helpful test is to use the uv dye. This helped me find a tricky bad head gasket. I found the trail of uv dye down the back of the block and down the right side of the bell housing.
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Dave, 1982 242 turbo. 339k miles. Lots of good changes. 1993 245 Classic, 415k miles, enem V15. 5spd. IPD bars and chassis braces. Simons sport exhaust from Scandix. chipped ezk. Been a good road warrior. |
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#3 | ||
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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1. I am learning how to work on cars from the internet and have not previousely replaced a head gasket. 2. I am generally insecure. #1 is exacerbated by #2. Quote:
Where do you put the dye? |
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#4 |
Board Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Boulder, Colorado
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![]() I tried to view your videos, but they kept stalling (audio was OK). Maybe they'll playback better after the kids have all gone to bed.
During warmup, it's normal to get steam/condensation out the tailpipe. Does it spit out some [discolored] water droplets too? That's normal as well. For the vacuum gauge, you want to connect it on the intake valve side of the throttle body butterfly -- should have high vacuum when idling with butterfly closed. If you connect it on the other side of the butterfly, the air filter side, it will show very little vacuum until the butterfly opens. If you have a Haynes manual for most any 90s car, they usually include a mystical reading a vacuum gauge section in the engine chapter.
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'85 245glt aw71 k-jet -> ms |
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#5 |
<Master Tech>
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: California
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![]() Did you machine the head or at check it for straightness?
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No Start Thread |
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#6 |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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#7 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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I haven't noticed if the water spat out the tailpipe is discolored or not. The vac gauge was connected to the top of the intake. I can take a photo, but it should be going to all the intake runners. |
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#8 |
Can play the blues
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: S NJ, a suburb of Phila.
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![]() The UV dye comes in three flavors. One for the coolant, one for the engine oil or trans oil, and one for the a/c system. The kit comes with some yellow glasses and a UV penlight.
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#9 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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I started it up today and it didn't sound quite right. I don't know if this is related to the head or not. I was doing some reading today that suggested that if a head is not torqued correctly then it can be deformed or warped. Based on that I'll probably just redo the job. |
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#10 |
Board Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: hillpoint
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![]() it's normal for vacuum to sharply drop when you crack the throttle
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#11 |
Can play the blues
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: S NJ, a suburb of Phila.
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![]() Before you redo the whole job. I would also verify your timing belt is correct.
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#12 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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I have an inexpensive timing light. Unfortunately neither the car or timing light have a tach. Would it be worthwhile to see what the timing is at idle, or try to match the RPMs with my '85 240 and try to get a reading? Last edited by Rusty_ratchet; 01-09-2018 at 08:18 PM.. |
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#13 |
Board Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
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![]() Rusty.
While I wouldn't simply advocate for you to generally "forget it" consider that these vehicles are quite robust. If you hamfisted the HG job (which it doesn't sound like honestly) the damage you would do would simply be leaving you stranded at some point. The thing is... often times a bad HG will give warning signs (over-heating, oil mixing in coolant, exhaust gas in coolant etc) well before leaving you someplace. I might suggest checking your compression numbers, or performing a leakdown test to be doubly sure. Additionally, as has been mentioned, there are dyes you can get to do various things. The one I might suggest is the one that changes color in the presence of exhaust gasses. You use a bulb to suck it up. You might also take solace in knowing that my car was pulled out of a field with 400k on it. It had been parked for a year with what they thought was a dead battery. This was ultimately (as I pointed out to them) a blown HG. Furthermore, they had driven it to the point of gross overheating. I replaced the necessary components, performed a stage zero and then added the +T stuff and that car is now a DD with 15psi of boost and a cam. I encourage you to continue your quest to assure things were performed correctly because I think good mechanics are getting fewer and farther between. But don't fret too much if all the signs point to yes... you're probably good. FWIW, I didn't notice anything in your videos that seemed abnormal? |
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#14 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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I'll continue with the diagnostic tests. I think I'll pursue the HG redo only if the results are more conclusive. |
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#15 |
Board Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
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#16 |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Cornholio, OR
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![]() If it is not overheating and not eating or loosing coolant the gasket is fine.
The only other bad thing a head gasket can do is leak fire between adjacent cylinders, this usually presents as severe spark knock like symptoms on one cylinder with low and matching compression test numbers on the adjacent cylinders. Condensation out the tail pipe is normal as long as it does not smell (or taste sweet) like coolant. |
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#17 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
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#18 | |
Board Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Southwest
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Last edited by Rusty_ratchet; 01-09-2018 at 11:54 PM.. |
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#19 |
One hundred gift baskets
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Virginia Beach
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![]() Lol knocking sounds from a B2xx, I drove 11 miles on a definitely blown hg, no worse for the wear.
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1980 primer Franken-242DL, 1989 silver 780 bone stock. |
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#20 | |
yv1a.com
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Kitsap, Wa
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Unless you are overheating, have water in the oil, oil in the water, have low compression and the thing drives fine you did the job right. I think that you are overthinking it. If you really want to verify timing, you can purchase a dial back to zero timing light. I use mine to verify timing on my B23 that has no timing cover (and hence no timing marks). |
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