At what mileage did your head gasket fail?

[jblackburn]

Never! 230K.

Cooling system maintenance is essential - overheating due to a blown hose or something is the #1 cause of head gasket failure on these motors.

[obayha]

Running at 325,000 right now, with no problems with head gasket.
Now if you want to talk about rear main seal and valve stem seals, that's a whole nother can of worms
Shane

[Atis]

127000 miles without any HG problem.

[rspi]

NEVER wait 5 years or 150K
Every 30K is a good rule of thumb but no later than 60K

That's why we like buying cars from you, they are over serviced.

http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/199 ... 2.htm#8:16

If you have a Subaru or GM car, do replace your coolant every 30,000 miles. You can always test the coolant to see if it is still good.

I have also extended my oil change intervals.

[rspi]

Volvo says you should never have to change your coolant. Valvoline recommends 5 years / 150,000 miles.
http://www.valvoline.com/products/brand ... ifreeze/42

[northernlights]

And BASF, who actually licenses the coolant to the rest of the world, says 3-4 years!

http://www.glysantin.de/en/application.html#c17

I think Volvo says never change the coolant because Americans hate servicing cars, and it is a good marketing tool. 'Look - just add gas and it will run forever! Or at least until you trade it in!'

And another minor detail....G05 is almost, but not quite it. G48 is actually the right stuff. This is what you get in a BMW bottle, and I assume what comes from the Volvo dealerships also. Does it make that big of a difference? I don't know, but a bunch of someones sitting around a fjord had a choice between G05 and G48, and decided G48 was better.

This SAE paper goes into a bit of detail on different types, including differences in chemistry.

http://articles.sae.org/11284/

(Coolant is more complicated than it should be!)

[mecheng]

And BASF, who actually licenses the coolant to the rest of the world, says 3-4 years!

http://www.glysantin.de/en/application.html#c17

I think Volvo says never change the coolant because Americans hate servicing cars, and it is a good marketing tool. 'Look - just add gas and it will run forever! Or at least until you trade it in!'

And another minor detail....G05 is almost, but not quite it. G48 is actually the right stuff. This is what you get in a BMW bottle, and I assume what comes from the Volvo dealerships also. Does it make that big of a difference? I don't know, but a bunch of someones sitting around a fjord had a choice between G05 and G48, and decided G48 was better.

This SAE paper goes into a bit of detail on different types, including differences in chemistry.

http://articles.sae.org/11284/

(Coolant is more complicated than it should be!)

You are correct, the Volvo coolant is Blue and is probably Glysantin G48 not G05 like everyone claims. I have used Prestone with no ill effects, but I now use Volvo coolant to be sure, and it is only an extra $8.

[erikv11]

I don't claim it is G05, it's just that G05 is something we can all easily get at any parts store, that is HOAT. It is an hour to the Volvo dealer for me, in a direction I almost never go ...

[rspi]

Heck, I guess I should spend the extra $3 to get the Volvo stuff since I pay more for oil every time I change it. I don't care of the light color of the G-05 stuff anyway since it is hard to find leaking.

[polskamafia mjl]

No failure.

224K miles