Cylinder head cracked on Volvo

[Lincolnbaggie]

My Dad's "classic" (read old) Volvo 244 GLT has got a cracked cylinder head. Coolant coming out just beneath one of the spark plug holes.

 

He's currently trying to strip the head off the engine and was thinking of buying a S/H head to go back on. However, there will be no way of knowing if a scrapyard head has any problems with valve gear/cam etc and I wondered how feasible it is to repair his existing head. Can these things be welded up?

 

Has anyone any experience of repairing a cylinder head and what kind of places would be able to do it. He's located in Buckinghamshire (near High Wycombe) if anyone has any suggestions.

 

All other advice also gratefully received

 

(He'd rather not scrap the car as he's had it from new and it's still in very good nick - plus he's tight as well ).

[James B]

Likely to be more pain that it's worth to fix I would have thought. I would leave it in case it becomes unroadworthy, loses cotrol and crashes into a tree forcing to you claim on the insurance.

[geoff-r]

I don't know about welding up a cracked head due to compression, just guessing but I would either chance it with a scrapped one or go through a Volvo specialist there are bound to be some around especially considering the age of the car, good luck