This is carrying on from my old thread "absolutely frustrating".

As stated in that thread I've given up on finding a block heater that will fit this later style B230 block and am now attempting to install another frost plug. In order to get a decent straight shot at installing the plug I've had to remove the exhaust manifold & turbo. To do that I also had to remove all the turbo related plumbing and the entire oil cooler assy. There is now nothing on that side of the engine to get in my way.

After removing all that stuff last night I set about trying to install the frost plug. I cooled the frost plug off in the freezing cold last night and tried to drive it in using a socket and a ball peen hammer. Not a hope !! I couldn't even get the @#*$%#&#$!! thing started. One of the problems is that I don't have a lot of room to swing the hammer so I can't hit it that hard. If someone were real strong maybe they could hit it hard enough with such a short swing but I sure can't.

So I gave up in disgust just before my BP hit 220/180 and having a stroke.

Today I had a great idea. I went over to Praxair and bought a few lbs of dry ice thinking that the frost plug would go in a little easier if I got it real cold. I had a space heater blowing hot air on the block for a couple hours while I was off picking up some parts and the dry ice as well.

I made several attempts at installing the frozen frost plug but there's just no hope at all. Freezing it down to dry ice temp didn't seem to do any good at all. I still can't even get the @#($#*&#! thing started going in the hole ! It just won't #$*$)*#$! go.

I am SO upset, frustrated and angry right now all I want to do is smash the crap out of something and at the same time cry. I'm at my wits end with this stupid F**king project and I just want it to end. NOW !!!

Is there anybody who could come over here and help me drive that stupid f'n frost plug into that stupid f'n engine block ? I desperately need some competent help. I think the only way I could do it on my own would be to pull the entire friggin' engine out and put it on an engine stand. Then I think I could get a hard enough swing at it to make it go in.

I live just over by the Foothills Hospital so I'm kind of central. The garage is heated so it's nice to work in.

Anybody ?

Roj

roj - if i could take a strong short swing, or knew what i was doing, i'd help ya in a hearteat. does it maybe need a feminine touch?

Air hammer and a socket that is sized to smash in around the edge of the plug worked for me. Egg it out in the middle a touch more if you need to before install, and cold helps a bit...though I didn't get it super cold out of fear it would get more brittle. Then air hammer it to flat (carfully...don't puncture it!) as you get it pretty well seated.

Ford did get the frost plugs right at least. NPT FTW!

I used my digital calipers to measure out the id of the frost hole. It came out to be about 39.5-39.6 mm. The o.d. of the frost plug is ~40.3 mm. It's made of about 2mm thick steel. How the hell is the mortal man supposed to drive that thing into the engine block with the engine still in the car ? I could see maybe doing it if you could get a good swing at it with a honkin' big hammer but there's no way you can do it with the room you've got when the engine's sitting in the car. NO FRIGGIN' WAY !!

I just don't know what to do. Why did I think it would be a good idea to install a block heater ? Why ?!

you should be more like me. my block heater never gets used. bwahahahhaa.

I spoke to Roj and a couple of things to consider.

First the frost plug on this engine is not like "normal" Volvo frost plugs that is a simple dish that sit in a stepped hole and then flattened out. The frost plugs in this engine are the ones typical to most domestic cars, the cup shaped that fit into a straight hole.

Second Roj, the frost plugs you are using is a generic plug designed for 40mm holes, a .3mm interference fit sounds right on. I know the one from Volvo was considerably more $$$ but maybe it is a slightly smaller diameter and that is why the price difference. This would make sense that you cannot use an "off the shelf" frost plug and have to use the OEM part. (re: maybe Volvo use a 39.8mm plug)

It's actually more like .8 mm interference. That's a lot.

Do you actually think they would make slightly smaller frost plugs just for those engines ? I highly doubt it. The cost for Volvo or any of their part suppliers to set up the machinery to make non-standard frost plugs only used by B230 engine equpped Volvos would be enormous. It would be waaaaaaaaaay cheaper to buy standard sized ones off the shelf. I put the Volvo and generic frost plugs together and I couldn't see any size difference. That's why I gave it back to them and said I didn't need theirs at 10 times the price of the one from Auto-Value. About the only difference I could see is that the generic one had 40 mm stamped in the middle and the Volvo one didn't have anything stamped on it.

Anyways, there MAY be some relief in sight. I was talking to Lorne at the Re-volv store in Saskatoon and he said one of his suppliers listed a block heater for '91 and '92 B230s which has a different part number than the standard ones he has for the earlier years. He said they had it in stock so he's ordering it in and will Greyhound it to me if it turns out to be the right part. Should have it by Friday or Saturday. Keepin' my fingers crossed !

Simple answer Roj Yes they would.
The cost of a specific size frost plug is nothing to Volvo, and would force people to buy the OEM one. But as I said it is just a theory.

Good luck with the block heater lead

+1

Volvo changed the dipstick tube on some late B230s. Why? Drill bits are cheap, some in-jur-neer probably drew it that way, they had eleventy billion dipstick tubes and could bang 'em out.

One of the ways volvo made cars relatively cheaply into the early 90sish (depends if you got a fancy more "one-off" one like a 940SE/780 etc of course) was to raid the parts bin. Late model N/A 940s got block dizzys after 1994-1995. Sometimes, I see LH-jet 940 to fix with a block mount, even though the dealership and vadis assures me it doesn't exist. Why does this exist? Volvo quit making the 240 ~1993, they probably had so many block mounted dizzys that they just used up a few on some 1993 940s and never bothered to tell anyone.

I've run into plenty of this working on them every day. Just a little change here and there. Late 1992/all 1993 945s are supposed to have the antenna in the back window. One I did a headgasket on (turbo of course) had the old style electric antenna and was a '93. Other companies like Toyota have really mastered putting a car together inexpensively, making them not leak, and documenting their changes pretty well for the most part. Volvo never seemed to get quite all the way there.

It isn't hard for this to happen in large scale production though. Someone draws something one way, they have to tool up for a production run and it doesn't cost much, and wham! suddenly a bunch of junk doesn't quite work 100% the same! Something like leaning on your supplier for 8 bajillion frost plugs the size you want for a couple years is child's play on that level of production compared to changing your initial design and tooling you just bought to make 8 bajillion cars.