98 v70 xc, burning coolant?

slammin211s · Post by **slammin211s** » 27 Jan 2010, 18:49

car is my moms. Its got 176k on it.

2 weeks ago the coolant light came on .... so topped off the coolant light never turned back off .. figured maybe there is a sensor problem of some sort

anyhow i drove it today to the gas station (2 miles) because one of the tires was low, and it smells like its burning coolant ... ive popped the hood and it appears that its low again as well

does anyone know what the worst case scenario is as far as having this fixed at a mechanic as far as money is concerned?

the way i see it the kbb on the car is now 4k, so if its gonna be in the neighborhood of 2k to fix, i figure sell the car to one of those guys on craigslist that buys busted cars for the blue book - quote to fix ... and then get my mom something else .. my parents stopped going to the mountains 3 years ago which was the reason for having the awd gas guzzler in the first place.

FCPEURO · Post by **FCPEURO** » 27 Jan 2010, 19:01

Worse case scenario, the headgasket has gone and you are losing coolant there, but that may not be the case.

Is the car smoking at all? Do you see any white crud in the oil? If you say no to both of these questions, it could just be a leak somewhere.

slammin211s · Post by **slammin211s** » 27 Jan 2010, 19:06

car smokes but i havent checked to see if theres white crud in oil

MilwaukeeV70owner · Post by **MilwaukeeV70owner** » 28 Jan 2010, 22:54

I too had mystery leaking coolant once (160k), and it was the coolant reservoir. It had a few hairline cracks in it that once pressurized, leaked. I think for my 2000 v70, the new reservoir was maybe $50-60, and reinstalling it was kind of messy for an amateur such as myself but it really wasn't too bad. I bought a couple of those steel cable clamps to re-seal the hoses back to where they were supposed to be.

slammin211s · Post by **slammin211s** » 29 Jan 2010, 18:24

thanks for the tip ill give that a shot .... im not too far from whats probably the best volvo dismantler ever out in rancho cordova.

Post by **Pauloil** » 30 Jan 2010, 08:25

you said smelling like "burning coolant"

check to see if the carpet is wet on either side under the knee bolster and get a good look at everything, looking for wet spots with engine on and hot. It is not unusual for the heater core to leak, making carpet wet.

look under the radiator also, leaking rads are common also. If you put dry newspaper under the car, where does it get wet?