1999 S80 T6 Heater core pipes on the engine side

Post by **Riba** » 16 Jan 2014, 05:20

Hello all,

Today I investigated another problem, and that is the cabin heating not working at all. Not a huge deal in Kuwait

, but it does get chilly for a month or two.
I pulled the panels to access the heater core, turned the engine on and cranked the heating all the way up. I felt the pipes going in the heater core and both are cold. Went to the engine side to find the pipes and could not locate them. I am starting to suspect that someone has removed them altogether, possibly because the heater core was leaking.

Anyway, I snapped the picture, is this where the pipes are supposed to go?

shea44 · Post by **shea44** » 16 Jan 2014, 05:44

Yep they are missing big time!! I just changed a heater core in my S80 and the pipe on the right in your pic is leaking. So yes they gone.

Post by **Riba** » 16 Jan 2014, 12:43

Thanks for confirming!

I will check the heater core as I can't imagine why anyone would remove these expect to resolve the heater core leak using the "there, I fixed it" method. Where are those pipes supposed to attach on the engine side? I also have a issue with the engine running a bit on the warm side (see here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 11&t=60958).
It makes me wonder would the missing heater core pipes cause that?

Also, how can you tell the right one is leaking?

shea44 · Post by **shea44** » 16 Jan 2014, 13:52

I can see it leaking when I look under the hood. I am not sure about the overheating may be a thermostat issue. Is the reserve tank full of fluid? It should running out everywhere.

Post by **Riba** » 16 Jan 2014, 15:36

I misread your message and thought you were saying that mine was leaking and not yours and you can tell that from the picture.

I already have the thermostat, it is going to be replaced along with the water pump and all, we'll see...

shea44 · Post by **shea44** » 17 Jan 2014, 20:53

LOL oh nope couldn't tell yours was leaking, I meant mine. Too funny good luck!

MyS40T4 · Post by **MyS40T4** » 18 Jan 2014, 21:03

Riba wrote:I already have the thermostat, it is going to be replaced along with the water pump and all, we'll see...

Hello,

If you're doing the water pump (I just have on my 2000 S80 T6), it's a really good time to do the turbo drain seals - especially the turbo at the cambelt end of the engine. To get the water pump off, I found I needed to take the thermostat housing off, the camshaft pulleys, cam belt idler and tensioner pulleys, and poly belt tensioner pulley (this is a bolt through a pulley with a bearing in it). Once the water pump was off, I took the plastic cambelt cover backing off (bit attached to the engine) which required the crank pulley off. This gave me better access to everything. The cover is likely to be brittle due to the age/heat so needs careful handling.

This is a pic of the banjo with the cambelt backing in place:

When you've got the cambelt cover back off, you have clear access to both turbo's oil supply pipe banjo fitting. Clean thoroughly around the banjo fitting and loosen it (I removed the bolt, allowing the copper washers to fall out... you don't want to go there!). This will hopefully allow the turbo supply pipe to move enough out of the way to let you pull out the turbo return line out of the block and change the seal.

Here's a gratuitous general to view as I'm reassembling (you can see grey, shiny areas where I've repaired the backing with devcon epoxy and metal strips to reinforce, where it broke):

You can also look at the vacuum line for the turbo wastegate while all this is dismantled - it's a 2" long section of black pipe that if it's leaking will lead to a over boost CEL - there's a similar piece on the other turbo accessible from the engine bay.

Hope this helps (and doesn't put you off!)

Cheers,

Chris

majorcode · Post by **majorcode** » 19 Jan 2014, 15:39

Welcome Riba, You seems very enthusiastic with your car. I might help you with lots of stuff as we share the same region along over 55C summer.

I did the same when I purchased my car as you shown picture of blocked pipes to the cabin for heater.

Reason: Coolant was leaking inside the cabin because of heater core leakage. Check you might have some sign of old coolant either driver or passenger side.

Now here's the tip, what to do. If the leakage or sign of coolant on the driver side then you just need to change the pipe seals going to heater, not a difficult job. If you see coolant leakage sign on the passenger side then your heater gone bad which is expensive as per labor and parts charges. Good Luck!

Post by **Riba** » 21 Jan 2014, 00:14

MyS40T4 wrote:
Riba wrote:I already have the thermostat, it is going to be replaced along with the water pump and all, we'll see...
Hello,

If you're doing the water pump (I just have on my 2000 S80 T6), it's a really good time to do the turbo drain seals - especially the turbo at the cambelt end of the engine.
.
.
.
Hope this helps (and doesn't put you off!)

Thanks Chris for the tips and excellent pictures that really help out.

I will be getting the tools I need (camshaft locking tool being the first one!) and dive under the hood as soon as the weather improves a bit. I am leaving oil stains when parked, but so far I identified it is coming from around the oil separator, just behind the alternator. I will remove the intake manifold to check closer. Doing the latex glove test confirmed the problem and of course the camshaft seal on the belt side is leaking in turn. There will be quite a bit of work involved, but not too expensive to fix, and being a tinkerer that I am with some extra time available I am really looking forward to it. I will make sure to include what you suggested.

Post by **Riba** » 21 Jan 2014, 00:19

majorcode wrote:Welcome Riba, You seems very enthusiastic with your car. I might help you with lots of stuff as we share the same region along over 55C summer.

Well, having the local Volvo dealer as the only available service shop who would do it for you at exorbitant prices really helps with the enthusiasm.

No one else wants to touch these things, but I don't mind getting my hands dirty.

majorcode wrote: Now here's the tip, what to do. If the leakage or sign of coolant on the driver side then you just need to change the pipe seals going to heater, not a difficult job. If you see coolant leakage sign on the passenger side then your heater gone bad which is expensive as per labor and parts charges. Good Luck!

I think there is an old stain on the driver side but I will take a closer look at the passenger side just ot make sure. I already read the threads about the seals and the easy and cheap fix it is. Actually I might pull the heater core out and flush it to make sure it is ok (and get all the dust that might be getting in in the mean time).

Still not sure where the heater pipes are getting attached on the engine side, any tips? I guess I will have to get some new ones.