VOLVO 850 MANIA

[boonmariachi]

If its not one thing its another with this car. From busted heater core to broken thermostat housing the troubes kep coming. I have 96 850 non turbo and everything is just falling apart at 104000 miles! Fixed everything to get it running when all was good then thermostat opened up and all coolant left the reservoir. Low coolant level light came on and I checked inside the oil fill cap and what do I find?.......good ol milky white. Now if memory servs correctly that can either mean blown head gasket, cracked head or block. Wondering if I should just spend the $500 and time its going to take to do the joband try to save th engine. Any thoughts or suggestions would help. I really like this car and woul love to keep it. Thanks MVS

[jblackburn]

I think you're panicking prematurely.

The reservoir WILL completely empty itself once or twice after you drain the cooling system. Fill it back up again and keep an eye on it for the next few days.

The milky white on the oil dipstick is probably from a clogged up PCV system OR lots of short trips with the car in the winter (you just said yourself you had a bad thermostat - that keeps the engine from warming up and burning off that condensation in the oil). Take it out on the highway for 30 minutes and get it nice and warm.

[boonmariachi]

This is probably a stupid question then but do I refil while running the engine

[jblackburn]

No, you'll scald yourself.

Wait for it to cool down - OR - with a rag over the cap, SLOWLY release the cap and let it let out the pressure. It's best to refill when cold, since the level in the tank expands when it gets warm.

If you do refill when the engine is warmed up, stop a bit before the 'max' line on the tank and check it later when the engine's cooled off.

It may still go down a bit - so keep an eye on the level for the next few days while the cooling system burps itself of air.