Advice needed: non-running 2006 Volvo V50 T5 AWD manual transmission

I bought the car below as a non-running car, in hopes of getting it running and it becoming my son's first car next summer. I'm not mechanically inclined whatsoever, so I took it to the local, very reputable indie Volvo shop. They took a look at it for me and determined that it jumped timing, resulting in a bunch of bent valves. They quoted me $3K to get the head re-conditioned. That includes all of the associated work, including a new timing belt, etc.

I paid $1500 for the car and am concerned that I'll have $4500 in a car that may very well have other issues waiting to be discovered, once running. Meanwhile, running/driving versions seem to only be worth about $4500-$5500, so my concern is that we end up very upside down in the car. 

I don't have the know how (or time) to even consider attempting the repair on my own. Suggestions on what to do? Sell it as is and try to recoup my investment? Repair it and hope for the best? 

R/Ring the head should be manageable, especially if you want to be somewhat mechanical with or without your son. 

Call a reputable local machine shop and see what they think of an estimated price to go through the head if you bring it to them. 

I'd love to learn more, but I travel for work quite a bit which limits my time greatly. And the most mechanical thing I've ever done is change the oil in a car. :(

These 'whiteblock' engines are not like rebuilding a Chevy 350. The headbolts are torqued so tight (torque to yield) that you are lucky if none snap when you are taking the head off ( with a 4 foot cheater bar). And they scare the crap out of you when you torque them upon reassembly...all kinds of pinging and scary noises. That said, they are just a bunch of parts bolted together, but would not be an ideal candidate for your first head job. 

I'd buy all the parts yourself (reman or used head off ebay) and get a labor-only quote from somewhere else. Even if it doesn't work out right you'll save probably half of the $3000 quote and if it runs at all you'd be able to get most of your money back. Or it might be perfect. You need a sucker like me. I pieced someone's C70 back together from the head sitting in the trunk for like $700. 

I'm shocked.  Two years ago, any S40/V50 with all wheel drive and a manual trans was a $8-10k car.  (All AWD models were turbo)  If you could find one.

Now that teh R is paid off, I've been looking for a manual trans all wheel drive S40 again, and even doing nationwide searches, none come up.  The people who own them aren't selling.  And thus, why I have spent approximately what you paid for the V50, in the last month, to start piecing together my 34 year old 5 cylinder manual trans AWD wagon unicorn, and I have waaaay more than $3k left to spend on it to finish it.

I had a crank/no start Volvo in my shop a couple of weeks ago.  It's the only one I can remember of the post 2000 models that was a no start because of something other than an ignored timing belt.

Just an observation, perhaps advice for future buyers.

I warped the head on my 850, I got some quotes on rebuilding the head, found some remanufactured heads, but they weren't cheap.  I found a long block, with fewer miles than my engine, 350 miles away, on car-part.com, and had it shipped to a near by loading dock, for ~1/3 of what a refurbished head cost.

I don't think the head bolts are too scary, but you do need to have some special tools, bought or built, to hold the cams in place when reassembling the head.  The upper cam cover uses an anerobic sealant, buy the OE Volvo stuff, or whatever FCP recommends, don't cheap out on it.

I'd just about guarantee you can find a lower mileage engine cheaper than having the head rebuilt.  The question is, how much more is labor going to cost to R&R an engine vs. a "new" head.

I dunno man

I did buy the special cam cover tool for like $80 many moons ago. It is definitely helpful!!

Not mechanically inclined?

No time like the present? Maybe there is a local GRMer who will take pity on you and help out?

Brett_Murphy said:

Not mechanically inclined?

No time like the present? Maybe there is a local GRMer who will take pity on you and help out?

To be frank, if someone offered me cash for the Quantum, right now, even having spent $bank on buying unicorn parts for it, I'd go down there tomorrow with a U-haul and offer to liberate it for $2k as-is.

It's the perfect testbed for my idea of stuffing all the S60R running gear and electronics in 30/40/50.

Knurled. said:

To be frank, if someone offered me cash for the Quantum, right now, even having spent $bank on buying unicorn parts for it, I'd go down there tomorrow with a U-haul and offer to liberate it for $2k as-is.

 

That's not what I meant! I meant helping him rebuild the heads. I can't say I'm shocked it went in the direction you took it, though.

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

I know what you meant.  I just have a hard time believing they have lost value that quickly.

My son's v50 T5 overheated and cooked the rings, and from what I've read doing the head in the car is not that hard.

Having just swamped a T5 from a S40 into my C30, it isn't hard either, but is time consuming.  Coming from someone with a lot of experience.

I'd say "wtf were you thinking buying it in the first place?"  when you have no experience, didn't you check cost to fix it before buying it?

You need to just sell it, and for a loss I'm sure, as cars with bad motors go for cheap, because well, you have learned a lesson right?

And btw, it looks like I will be pulling the motor from my c30 to put in my sons v50, so I will have a c30 no motor, what to do with it?

And bbtw, the c30 motor with a blown rod had a head that is good, it is sitting in the shop if you need one..

nimblemotorsports said:

My son's v50 T5 overheated and cooked the rings, and from what I've read doing the head in the car is not that hard.

Having just swamped a T5 from a S40 into my C30, it isn't hard either, but is time consuming.  Coming from someone with a lot of experience.

I'd say "wtf were you thinking buying it in the first place?"  when you have no experience, didn't you check cost to fix it before buying it?

You need to just sell it, and for a loss I'm sure, as cars with bad motors go for cheap, because well, you have learned a lesson right?

And btw, it looks like I will be pulling the motor from my c30 to put in my sons v50, so I will have a c30 no motor, what to do with it?

And bbtw, the c30 motor with a blown rod had a head that is good, it is sitting in the shop if you need one..

That's a fair question! My hope was that the crank/no start condition was something more along the lines of a bad cam position sensor - not an engine that jumped timing. 

Knurled. said:

To be frank, if someone offered me cash for the Quantum, right now, even having spent $bank on buying unicorn parts for it, I'd go down there tomorrow with a U-haul and offer to liberate it for $2k as-is.

It's the perfect testbed for my idea of stuffing all the S60R running gear and electronics in 30/40/50.

I'd happily pass it along at the $1500 I paid for it!

these cars are cheap enough and old enough now, would it not be easier to just plug in a used longblock and not even crack the head off it?  I'd imagine some careful searching for a parts car or partout would yield you a sub $1K complete engine.  Throw a new belt on it, and plug it in with some fresh fluids, plugs, gaskets and such.  I ran a V50 T5 to 235K with no issues on the original engine and sold it in great running condition.  Point being, they're not known to be weak motors, so the cars are more likely to die from other means, collisions, etc.

The T5 / AWD / Manual wagons are a harder to find and hold there value a touch better than your run of the mill T5 V50.  Worth fixing if you can do it cheaper than the $3K you were quoted if you want the challenge of doing so.  

Personally, with your "not very mechanically inclined" comment, I'd be inclined to admit you rolled the dice and lost on this hand.  Cut your loss and move on.  

It's too bad you're in Florida! That's a long haul from the now two people keen on it in Ohio. ;-)

In reply to dculberson :

Someone would have to buy my Quantum first, and the number of people interested in them is exceedingly small.

There's me, the guy I bought it from who already has two or three, and... um...

Honestly I think the only option that makes sense for this car is somebody doing the work themselves. In addition to the 3k quoted, you may find more problems. Imagine you approve the work and halfway through they inform you that the cylinder head is damaged beyond repair. You could consider just finding an entire used engine to swap in. 

I think it's best to sell it for what you have in it and move on. 

enginenerd said:

Honestly I think the only option that makes sense for this car is somebody doing the work themselves. In addition to the 3k quoted, you may find more problems. Imagine you approve the work and halfway through they inform you that the cylinder head is damaged beyond repair. You could consider just finding an entire used engine to swap in. 

I think it's best to sell it for what you have in it and move on. 

That's my main concern at the moment. The fear of the unknown other issues that might appear. 

So consider this a for sale thread now! 

An AWD V50 turbo is probably easier to change head than complete engine.  At worst roughly the same, anyway.  There's lotsa shafts and exhaust pipes and angle drives and stuff in the way changing the engine, and if you are careful, you can leave the exhaust manifold and turbo in the car on a head job.

Probably neither is a good job for a first timer.