Volvo Head Gasket Kit

[LazyDog]

Hola,

I am on the planning stages to replace the head gasket on the wife's 97 Volvo 960. They have a common problem that w/ high miles the cooling jacket on the exhaust side they begin to fail and you loose some coolant. It is been this way for almost 2 years and the General/ wife said to fix the darn thing.

Here is what I found so far in kits for doing this job:
1. Mahle
2. Victor Reinz
3. ELM
4. Felpro

What will you consider a good kit, I have used some gaskets from Mahle and they seem good. The Felpro is what the local parts place carry around here.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I used Victor Reinz on my last headgasket job this spring, and the components inside were made by Mahle. So I don't think VR makes their own stuff anymore, but I could be wrong.

Mahle and Felpro are both good options. I've never had anything go wrong with either, I've used LOTS of Felpro gasket sets over the years and they are always good quality, though often a bit more expensive than the rest.

 

[LazyDog]

I used Victor Reinz on my last headgasket job this spring, and the components inside were made by Mahle. So I don't think VR makes their own stuff anymore, but I could be wrong.

Mahle and Felpro are both good options. I've never had anything go wrong with either, I've used LOTS of Felpro gasket sets over the years and they are always good quality, though often a bit more expensive than the rest.

Any preference for buying new head bolts it seems they are one time used only???

 

[michaelluscher]

Any preference for buying new head bolts it seems they are one time used only???

Price out OEM TTY bolts vs upgraded ARP studs

 

[LazyDog]

I did look at the OEM bolts and they are about 3 times the Mahle bolts.

 

[meep]

I’ve quite liked felpro when I’ve used them. I have no doubt Mahle would be good too.

 

[Trav]

Hola,

I am on the planning stages to replace the head gasket on the wife's 97 Volvo 960. They have a common problem that w/ high miles the cooling jacket on the exhaust side they begin to fail and you loose some coolant. It is been this way for almost 2 years and the General/ wife said to fix the darn thing.

Here is what I found so far in kits for doing this job:
1. Mahle
2. Victor Reinz
3. ELM
4. Felpro

What will you consider a good kit, I have used some gaskets from Mahle and they seem good. The Felpro is what the local parts place carry around here.

Mahle, Elring or Victor Reinz set, the Mahle bolts are fine. Whatever you buy stay well clear of AJUSA.

 

[Timmastertech]

I have been doing at least one if not 2 or 3 white block volvo head jobs a month for the last 4 years. I have had problem with oil seepage from aftermarket head gaskets and head bolts on them. We now only use Genuine Volvo head gaskets and bolts. With an OE head gasket and bolts the final torque on the angle stage is far more consistent from bolt to bolt than the aftermarket ones. I usually use Corteco cam seals and Reinz for the rest of the gaskets.

You will also need the timing tool set which includes the press tool to install the valve cover/upper cam caps. The pliers to remove the cam cover/caps is also helpful but not 100 percent necessary

Volvo put an article on head gasket service in their tech tips magazine. Its about the 5 cylinders but your 6 is similar. https://automotivetechinfo.com/2018/03/5-cylinder-head-gasket-replacement/

 

[LazyDog]

Timmastertech,

You advice is to stay w/ OEM Volvo parts, what brand of spark plug seals and valve guides seals do you recommend???

What is a good brand for the Angle Gauge??

The car is getting old and in some cases Volvo no longer makes certain replacement parts, last time a look at the prices the head gasket only was close 100 dollars not sure what the cost is today.

 

[Timmastertech]

Timmastertech,

You advice is to stay w/ OEM Volvo parts, what brand of spark plug seals and valve guides seals do you recommend???

What is a good brand for the Angle Gauge??

The car is getting old and in some cases Volvo no longer makes certain replacement parts, last time a look at the prices the head gasket only was close 100 dollars not sure what the cost is today.

The plug tube seals I usually use are Reinz, I usually use Corteco valve seals.

Yeah, the OE head gasket and bolts are not cheap but there is a huge difference in quality. The most common 5 cylinder gasket is a hair over 100 bucks and the bolts are 9 bucks a piece IIRC. Your engine being a 6 cylinder needs 14 of them.

As far as an angle gauge, they all measure 360 degrees. You are going to need one in half inch drive and a good size half inch drive bar to turn the bolts. I use a Snapon TechAngle torque wrench to do the torque and the angle, saves a massive amount of time which matters in a production environment. Before I had that I used a regular click type torque wrench and an old mac tools angle gauge.

If the OE gasket is obsolete I would use an elring gasket, the ones we had issues with were Elwis and Reinz. I havent tried elring head gaskets for a Volvo because the OE gaskets fixed the issues we were having and ya dont mess with what works. I would at least go with OE bolts, those I know are still available

I also prefer the genuine volvo chemical gasket for the valve cover to the aftermarket alternatives. Part number used to be 1161059, number recently changed and I dont know it off the top of my head. Permatex 51813 is okay but not the same. The other common sealant is reinzoplast which I dont like.

With the head apart its a great time to have a valve job done as well but if you do anything with the valves you will need to set valve clearance. All of the tappets between the cam and the valves are a different thickness, they are available in various thicknesses from 15.84 mm to 16.34 mm in .02mm increments. It is important that if you arent doing any valve work that you keep the tappets in their original order so you dont have any issues on reassembly.

Good luck, this isnt the easiest engine to do a head job on if you have not done one before but its not too tough and after ya do 40-50 of them you can do them with your eyes closed lol.

 

[LazyDog]

The plug tube seals I usually use are Reinz, I usually use Corteco valve seals.

Yeah, the OE head gasket and bolts are not cheap but there is a huge difference in quality. The most common 5 cylinder gasket is a hair over 100 bucks and the bolts are 9 bucks a piece IIRC. Your engine being a 6 cylinder needs 14 of them.

As far as an angle gauge, they all measure 360 degrees. You are going to need one in half inch drive and a good size half inch drive bar to turn the bolts. I use a Snapon TechAngle torque wrench to do the torque and the angle, saves a massive amount of time which matters in a production environment. Before I had that I used a regular click type torque wrench and an old mac tools angle gauge.

If the OE gasket is obsolete I would use an elring gasket, the ones we had issues with were Elwis and Reinz. I havent tried elring head gaskets for a Volvo because the OE gaskets fixed the issues we were having and ya dont mess with what works. I would at least go with OE bolts, those I know are still available

I also prefer the genuine volvo chemical gasket for the valve cover to the aftermarket alternatives. Part number used to be 1161059, number recently changed and I dont know it off the top of my head. Permatex 51813 is okay but not the same. The other common sealant is reinzoplast which I dont like.

With the head apart its a great time to have a valve job done as well but if you do anything with the valves you will need to set valve clearance. All of the tappets between the cam and the valves are a different thickness, they are available in various thicknesses from 15.84 mm to 16.34 mm in .02mm increments. It is important that if you arent doing any valve work that you keep the tappets in their original order so you dont have any issues on reassembly.

Good luck, this isnt the easiest engine to do a head job on if you have not done one before but its not too tough and after ya do 40-50 of them you can do them with your eyes closed lol.

I was going to take the head and just clean the valves and replace the valve seals at a shop: will you even consider doing this car has 200K but burns no oil. Will this change the valve clearances??

 

[Timmastertech]

At 200k it would be best to have the valves done. We see them burn at far lower mileage than that. Also at that mileage the valve clearance may be out of spec anyway just due to wear. You can measure it one cylinder at a time once the timing belt is off