[Tom Sawyer]

Greetings to my friends on the best Volvo forum,

I had my car towed back to the dealer, they gave me a 2018 S-60 fully loaded Volvo to use while they took care of business. The S-60 has a hefty turbo and I didn't dare to try it out. I'm too old to start a chase with the Highway Patrol ... I already did that with my Corvette - a long time ago.

Meanwhile ... They filled the radiator with coolant, started the car and water was coming out of the head gasket. They pulled the head, sent it out to be cleaned, resurfaced the head, machined the valves and seats, adjusted valves, installed new valve seals, installed a thermostat kit, and threw in a new coil. My Cost = $0.00, including the S-60 loaner for 12 days.

The mechanic said there was no oil in the rubber coolant hoses (causing the hoses to deteriorate) and he checked the turbo and it seemed OK. As part of the head R+R they installed new exhaust manifold gaskets. This is good news cause I think I had one or two bad gaskets. I think the gaskets went bad due to my PCV / Oil Trap was clogged and causing the rear camshaft seal to leak oil - the oil dripped down the manifold and causing the exhaust manifold gaskets to crack / fail. I found a three inch piece of a gasket on my garage floor.

My theory is that the cracked / missing gaskets caused exhaust gases to hit the Oxygen sensor and send a code to the Check Engine Computer / dash light - and - a code for the Catalytic converter. Two weeks of driving and neither of these codes has occurred. Time will tell.

Thanks for taking time to read this.

Best to all,

Tom