Volvo head gaskets

I've been having some Swedish dirt dreams lately, so I took to Craigslist on the hunt for cheap Volvos.

Turns out every Volvo around here under $3500 needs a head gasket. 

Do they need a new motor with the head gasket or can they be fixed?

I've also noticed a lot of ruined steering racks, or as they put it in the ads, the fluid runs right through. Major problem or easy fix?

Mostly these are S70s and S80s with a few wagons I'm not really interested in. 

Not that I'm in a place to buy, but the similarity of issues has me interested. 

I just bought an 03 s80 with 119k and relatively few issues for 3k. That's sort of top dollar for the year, too. If what you say is true you might want to shop for Volvos in Texas and just drive it home! 

I've done a headgasket on a whiteblock 5cyl semi recently. I don't want to say they'll all be ok with just a headgasket, so instead i will just say there is a special tool to seat the cam cover without cracking it and you semi-kinda-mostly need it. I think i bought mine online for $80 years ago. 

I know of a Volvo that hardly ever blows head gaskets:

White block Volvo's don't blow head gaskets, in my experience.  I've only been working on them forever, so I might not know...The only head gaskets I have installed are for people who have eaten a timing belt, burned a valve, or, once, had a head bolt break.

They can start leaking after getting them to the temperature of the surface of the sun, though.