What's going on now with this heap!!?? 98 XC

[gulfan]

I'm in Calgary too and have been having the same problem since Monday as well. Car wants to turn over, but just can't quite do it. Sometimes in the past in cold weather it would start, but the engine wouldn't be able to rev up any higher than a bare idle unless it sat running for five minutes. Car has been stuck at a parking lot for a week while I wait for it to warm up and hopefully drive away.

[scot850]

Latest update!!

Turns out it is probably 2 separate issues!!

Thanks to all of you for your help and support!

I warmed the car up and took it up to the local (long suffering) garage and had them pressure test the cooling system to see if the head gasket has blown. The car ran fine going to the garage with no more than 'normal' vapor from the tailpipe.

The disappearing coolant is in fact the heater core failing! Just what I needed in winter in Calgary. I've ordered the parts from FCP Groton and hopefully will get these soon (incidentally the 93 850 has produced a coolant pool under it today so it is off to be tested tomorrow. Looks like the rad area!)

Following up on this and other web forums, this problem with the reluctant car is not uncommon in the great white north when we get steady low temps (-20C + wind-chill to below -30C). The 'best' solution is as stated by others earlier which is to removed the lower turbo feed to the inter-cooler and make sure there is no 'grot' in there and make sure there is a drain hole at the lowest point in the inter-cooler (drill a 1/8' hole Volvo tells me) to help condensation disperse more easily. I wonder if blocking the grill off to keep the freezing air hitting the inter-cooler directly might help? To prevent the inter-cooler freezing over night as the engine cools, it may make sense to use one of the pan style heaters placed under the radiator area.

Still don't get why the drive disappeared? Once the engine and inter-cooler had thawed, the drive returned to normal. Is this because the engine was sucking so hard vacuum valve prevented drive components engaging somehow?

Now the temperature is coming up around 0C in the next few days, I plan to tackle the heater core and still replace the thermostat, top rad hose and coolant reservoir cap (there isn't a separate radiator pressure cap is there?)

And for all those concerned about the Bars Leak, it is being returned to the store unused! You can all sleep better now!!

Happy Volvo'ing!!