Volvo 480 Club Europe

My 480 GT is a bit more problematic that I thought, it will need welding and perhaps even a new engine. I do want to keep the car but it's getting a bit too much... Thoughts and advice?

what needs welding and what exactly is wrong with the engine?

also where are you based

thanks,

william

Rear arches, inner and outer (inner mainly). Runs fine, emissions high, fan not working. Suspected head gasket (could be worse)

Dorset

GCooper wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:00 pm

Rear arches, inner and outer (inner mainly). Runs fine, emissions high, fan not working. Suspected head gasket (could be worse)

Dorset

Does it have any of the tell-tale head gasket failure signs? (i.e mixing coolant and engine oil and/or lots of white smoke out exhaust)

EDIT: Just had a quick look on the MOT history on your car (M641PCW) and that looks like quite a serious MOT fail. So bad that you surely would've known it wasn't going to pass before hand? I suppose it's best to get some quotes done for the welding just to see how much it would be to put right. As for the head gasket issues, I am quite surprised at that - the B20F engines are not known for that and yours has only done 80k....

If you do end up breaking it for parts, I would potentially be interested in a few things off your car. Would give you an offer on the whole thing, but sadly don't have any room for a project

I was expecting a failure because the fan broke but I was surprised by the rust because it had passed fine the year before and drove fine before the MOT!

PS the odometer is broken, mileage unknown

Well for a start, the overheating issues will be almost certainly down to the broken fan. As for the emissions, that could be down to old fuel, car not being allowed to run up to temperature regularly or a dodgy catalytic converter.

Remove the dipstick and take the oil cap off. Do you see any mustard/mayonnaise type residue? Start the car up and give it a few revs. Is it belching out white smoke? Is the coolant boiling over after a few minutes of running?

Having looked at previous mileage on your car throughout the years, I'd say that 80k miles is pretty accurate. Unless the engine has been severely neglected, it shouldn't have a failed head gasket. As I said before, the B20F (Renault F3R) is a very tough engine and can do hundreds of thousands of miles if serviced at Volvo's recommended intervals.

As for the rust, it's difficult to say without any pictures. Looking at previous MOT tests, it looks like the centre you went to in October was unnecessarily harsh when it came to the corrosion.

Is there a single B20F engine in this country? I've been looking online for months with no luck