volvo 79' 242 cylinder head replacement

How difficult is it to change the cylinder head in a b21f engine. I'm not very experienced with this kind of engine repair and my mechanic said it would cost at least $1000 to have him replace it. I would prefer to avoid this and do it myself but i don't want to get stuck in the middle of it with my engine half disassembled and end up taking it to him anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Did you call Carlo at CRO Volvo in San Rafael?

Is that labor and parts or just labor? Why does the head need replacement?

Thanks for all of the replies. The head needs replacement because the exhaust valve on one of the cylinders won't seal correctly and that cylinder is only running at 30psi.

He had a B21 with rod noise coming out last week.
I'd call him..

I called him and he said that it would cost about $1000 if I brought my own head to replace. Again thanks for all of the responses.

username228442 said:

I called him and he said that it would cost about $1000 if I brought my own head to replace. Again thanks for all of the responses.

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wow.... only a few things I can think of for any shop wanting to charge that price:

they don't want to do the job...
they see a "sucker" and see no problems taking advantage of someone....

must be nice to be able to charge $250 an hour labor ...

It isn't that bad. For a first-timer you might want to budget a good 6 hours at least. The only annoying thing on that car is the fuel distributor under the manifold. You'll want to read up on the timing belt installation and headbolt tightening.

Mueller said:

wow.... only a few things I can think of for any shop wanting to charge that price:

they don't want to do the job...
they see a "sucker" and see no problems taking advantage of someone....

must be nice to be able to charge $250 an hour labor ...

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Erm *cough* machine shop..

He's $90/hr,and he isn't going to slap an unknown head on there TB style in a couple of hours.

It's called being a professional and doing a good job.

Redwood Chair said:

Erm *cough* machine shop..

He's $90/hr,and he isn't going to slap an unknown head on there TB style in a couple of hours.

It's called being a professional and doing a good job.

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I guess I interpreted the quote wrong...I thought if he supplied a good replacement head the price would still be near $1000.... shouldn't take 10 hours to replace a head

Mueller said:

I guess I interpreted the quote wrong...I thought if he supplied a good replacement head the price would still be near $1000.... shouldn't take 10 hours to replace a head

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In any case you are right things add up fast in a shop with overhead.

Edit;
Soooo why don't you kick down and help the kid out Mr talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk?

Bueller, Bueller, Mueller?

Nobody wants to help a brother out with a 4 hour $100 head gasket set & $138.00 Jy head back alley-coat hanger swap?

Redwood Chair said:

In any case you are right things add up fast in a shop with overhead.

Edit;
Soooo why don't you kick down and help the kid out Mr talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk?

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^^ Agreed. I just did the head on a fellow member's 79 GT. Even with a head supplied, you are looking at doing a pressure test and surfacing the head at a minimum. Then, you add the parts costs at a minimum of $100 for the gasket set, oil/filter, timing belt etc. With SF machine shop prices you will have $100 minimum in machine shop services. That leaves ~ $800 in labor. Trust me, nobody is going to get a K-jet head swap on a 30 year old 240 done in 6 hours and do it correctly. That estimate of $1000 is spot on and very fair.

Wow,,, I have got to forward the url for this thread to my kids... Just so they'll know what we do is worth... So far we have 4 240s in the family and we do all the repairs at home in the garage...

DoubleBit said:

Wow,,, I have got to forward the url for this thread to my kids... Just so they'll know what we do is worth... So far we have 4 240s in the family and we do all the repairs at home in the garage...

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Some of us live in the real world.

1000 gets you dealership level service, FWIW. Personally, I don’t see a need to pressure test if you lap in the valves. Cleaning it will show any large cracks big enough to significantly affect compression.

Since it’s aluminum bolted to a steel block, the aluminum will bend enough that there is no need to flatten the head unless it’s really bad, in which case it’s probably toast anyway.

Since it’s a non-interference engine, I don’t mind if the timing belt snaps on the side of the road since it’s an easy fix. No need for a new tensioner in my book, unless it shows signs of being close to the end of it’s life.

Biggest monetary expense for me is the gasket set, even then that’s under $100. Throw in say another $50 for oil, coolant, oil filter, etc.

I’d say allow an entire weekend, if possible, or at least one really long day of wrenching. If you’re not going to bore out the head/intake/exhaust, you can leave most of the stuff in place.

As mentioned earlier, do your reading now for the tightening sequence on the head bolts and know what to look for when lining up the timing belt.

Nylon cup brushes work great to remove any crud from the combustion chamber. Put a ring of heavy grease between the piston and the wall to absorb any bits of grit – rotate the engine to lower that piston then wipe away all the crud/grease and it will keep crud from getting by your rings and scratching the bore.




Or, post your location and I bet someone will do it for you for under $500.

Ken is right on the ball here.

I hate to say so, but $1k for a shop to do a HG job is basically the going rate.... A gasket set, timing belt, tensioner, solvents, machine shop work, maybe headbolts, etc add up quickly. A pressure check and resurface is pretty much a hundred bucks already. Plus, to use the full top end gasket set, you're mechanic is going to replace seals and other stuff. Any idea why you need a new HG?
Hiring a shop is expensive - that's why guys here make every effort to do the wrenching themselves. Maybe you can find someone here that'll help ya out at a cut rate.

"Hiring a shop is expensive - that's why guys here make every effort to do the wrenching themselves. Maybe you can find someone here that'll help ya out at a cut rate."

Word.

BrickBaller said:

1000 gets you dealership level service, FWIW. Personally, I don’t see a need to pressure test if you lap in the valves. Cleaning it will show any large cracks big enough to significantly affect compression.

Since it’s aluminum bolted to a steel block, the aluminum will bend enough that there is no need to flatten the head unless it’s really bad, in which case it’s probably toast anyway.

Since it’s a non-interference engine, I don’t mind if the timing belt snaps on the side of the road since it’s an easy fix. No need for a new tensioner in my book, unless it shows signs of being close to the end of it’s life.

Biggest monetary expense for me is the gasket set, even then that’s under $100. Throw in say another $50 for oil, coolant, oil filter, etc.

I’d say allow an entire weekend, if possible, or at least one really long day of wrenching. If you’re not going to bore out the head/intake/exhaust, you can leave most of the stuff in place.

As mentioned earlier, do your reading now for the tightening sequence on the head bolts and know what to look for when lining up the timing belt.

Nylon cup brushes work great to remove any crud from the combustion chamber. Put a ring of heavy grease between the piston and the wall to absorb any bits of grit – rotate the engine to lower that piston then wipe away all the crud/grease and it will keep crud from getting by your rings and scratching the bore.

Or, post your location and I bet someone will do it for you for under $500.

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+ K-jet injector holders,O rings Yadda.

gottarollwithit said:

Ken is right on the ball here.

I hate to say so, but $1k for a shop to do a HG job is basically the going rate.... A gasket set, timing belt, tensioner, solvents, machine shop work, maybe headbolts, etc add up quickly. A pressure check and resurface is pretty much a hundred bucks already. Plus, to use the full top end gasket set, you're mechanic is going to replace seals and other stuff. Any idea why you need a new HG?
Hiring a shop is expensive - that's why guys here make every effort to do the wrenching themselves. Maybe you can find someone here that'll help ya out at a cut rate.

Click to expand...

I stand by my statement.
Carlo would do it right,under book hours,then use his exhaust gas analyzer to dial in the K-jets,and check the injectors so it doesn't burn another hole right away.

DoubleBit said:

"Hiring a shop is expensive - that's why guys here make every effort to do the wrenching themselves. Maybe you can find someone here that'll help ya out at a cut rate."

Word.

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Most shops 90% + nowadays won't even touch a K-jet car.
And you wouldn't want them to.

BrickBaller said:

1000 gets you dealership level service, FWIW. Personally, I don’t see a need to pressure test if you lap in the valves. Cleaning it will show any large cracks big enough to significantly affect compression.

Since it’s aluminum bolted to a steel block, the aluminum will bend enough that there is no need to flatten the head unless it’s really bad, in which case it’s probably toast anyway.

Since it’s a non-interference engine, I don’t mind if the timing belt snaps on the side of the road since it’s an easy fix. No need for a new tensioner in my book, unless it shows signs of being close to the end of it’s life.

Biggest monetary expense for me is the gasket set, even then that’s under $100. Throw in say another $50 for oil, coolant, oil filter, etc.

I’d say allow an entire weekend, if possible, or at least one really long day of wrenching. If you’re not going to bore out the head/intake/exhaust, you can leave most of the stuff in place.

As mentioned earlier, do your reading now for the tightening sequence on the head bolts and know what to look for when lining up the timing belt.

Nylon cup brushes work great to remove any crud from the combustion chamber. Put a ring of heavy grease between the piston and the wall to absorb any bits of grit – rotate the engine to lower that piston then wipe away all the crud/grease and it will keep crud from getting by your rings and scratching the bore.




Or, post your location and I bet someone will do it for you for under $500.

Click to expand...

On the contrary. There is no Volvo dealership in the US that would touch this job for $1,000. A head gasket job at a dealership is on the order of $1,600+. A pressure test to find cracks is necessary to prevent any possibility of coolant leaks into the engine. No shop is going to install a head that they are rolling the dice on. At least, no shop where the shop owner stands by his work. You folks in this thread with these ridiculous estimates don't get out much. Another customer of mine called this week to see what I would charge to install a flywheel/flex plate on his 960 because the starter is having trouble engaging. A local Volvo shop with an excellent reputation quoted him $2,000 to do the work. The parts alone to fix the problem are over $600 from Volvo. Where the rest of the quote is coming from, I don't know. The trans R & R should be approximately 6 hours. Something in the range of $1,200-$1,400 would be what I would expect. I'm offering to do the job for him for $400 with a good used flex plate and starter.

To the OP. If you don't have much experience working on these engines, do yourself a favor and have the shop do the work. All too often I see these threads go on for months where the work gets started, the member gets stuck, can't figure out what to do, loses interest and ends up selling the car for pennies on the dollar. Don't be that guy. Also, if you are in a relationship, your significant other will be much happier spending time with you vs. every free moment of your time being spent under the hood of your 240.