Volvo 850 Engine Overheat

frootmig · Post by **frootmig** » 25 Aug 2005, 05:33

Hello,

I have a 95' Volvo 850 2.0 20V Estate with 106K miles on the clock. I have had the car for the last 2 years without a single glitch, but last night I drove the car for 30 miles and when I arrived the temp guage had moved all the way to the top and steam was escaping from the expansion tank.

I called the RAC and the engineer added some water to the tank and ran the car for about 15 mins, the temp did not move from it's middle position, he followed me for the last 5 miles of my journey and there were no problems.

On the way home the temperature started to rise again whenever the went up a hill and I had accelerate a little more. I drove the car this morning and during the 20 mins it takes to get to work the temp did not move from its normal position,and the journey includes several steep hills and I drove at 70MPH for most of the way.

I have had several possibilities given to me by friends, ranging from a dodgy radiator, bad thermostat or a damaged head gasket. I cannot see any water or milk present on the oil dipstick but there does seem to be a minute amount of oil present on the surface of the fluid in the expansion tank.

Can anybody with more experience give me any idea as to what may be causing this problem, I love my volvo, it is my 4th (previous 240DL, 740SE and 940) and I hope it can be fixed.

Many thanks

Frootmig

P.S. I would just like to say that the RAC guy was brilliant, it was an awful night (dark,wind,rain, etc) and he did his job well.

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 26 Aug 2005, 05:43

I'd start by replacing the thermostat. A very cheap part and easy to replace. Costs about 18 dollars here in the states at the dealer. I do see the radiators go bad on these cars, but it is not a problem with blockage. What you may start to see happen(usually around 150k miles) is mixing of oil in the coolant and many people freak out thinking this is the head gasket. The more likely cause is that the barrier between where the oil and coolant are cooled in the radiator has broken down, thus allowing the two to mix.

- Cheers

Post by **matthew1** » 26 Aug 2005, 10:14

White850Turbo wrote:I'd start by replacing the thermostat. A very cheap part and easy to replace. Costs about 18 dollars here in the states at the dealer.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/tstat.php

frootmig · Post by **frootmig** » 28 Aug 2005, 13:50

White850Turbo wrote:I'd start by replacing the thermostat. A very cheap part and easy to replace. Costs about 18 dollars here in the states at the dealer. I do see the radiators go bad on these cars, but it is not a problem with blockage. What you may start to see happen(usually around 150k miles) is mixing of oil in the coolant and many people freak out thinking this is the head gasket. The more likely cause is that the barrier between where the oil and coolant are cooled in the radiator has broken down, thus allowing the two to mix.

- Cheers

Just to say that i replaced the thermostat yesterday (took about 20 mins, very easy job), and it has cured all the problems. The old thermostat was bent at angle and would not open.

Many thanks for the info.

Frootmig