One week in and my first problem, smoking vents!

DannyB81 · Post by **DannyB81** » 08 May 2016, 08:10

Had my S70 a week but this morning on way home had my heaters on coldest setting and all fine, however when I turned heat up all the dash vents started blowing out smoke

was really like something out of a horror movie.

The only thing that's changed under the bonnet is I forgot to put the fusebox cover on under bonnet but it was definitely coming out of the heater vents and only on warm to hot a/c and plain cold o.k.

Doesn't smell like coolant and I'm going out shortly to check levels. I do know the PVC valve needs sorting as I have smoke from the dipstick tube (no oil leaks) and this is on order but unfortunately I also need to use the car for work

Post by **abscate** » 08 May 2016, 08:49

If there is no odour on the smoke it might just be water vapour from the cabin filter or water sitting in the Climate control unit ( Big white box in front of the dash, you can't see it)

The heater core on Volvos has no valve, it always flows hot coolant through it. When you ask for heat, it changes the air routing to flow through the heater core

DannyB81 · Post by **DannyB81** » 08 May 2016, 09:10

abscate wrote:If there is no odour on the smoke it might just be water vapour from the cabin filter or water sitting in the Climate control unit ( Big white box in front of the dash, you can't see it)

The heater core on Volvos has no valve, it always flows hot coolant through it. When you ask for heat, it changes the air routing to flow through the heater core

There was no sweet coolant odour , more a slight exhaust oily odour and not nice on the throat! I pulled over as my first thought was something on fire under the bonnet. Also the heater vents worked fine but they stopped blowing the screen which misted up.

Once home I switched ignition off and on , the heater control panel flashed a few lights and came back on with working screen blowers. Going to be a nervous drive to work !

Post by **abscate** » 08 May 2016, 09:15

The Volvo coolant doesn't smell as sweet as the old stuff...my guess is the heater core is leaking. Check your coolant level for dropping

DannyB81 · Post by **DannyB81** » 08 May 2016, 09:16

abscate wrote:The Volvo coolant doesn't smell as sweet as the old stuff...my guess is the heater core is leaking. Check your coolant level for dropping

Cheers I'll take a look

DannyB81 · Post by **DannyB81** » 13 May 2016, 01:44

Problem sorted was a leaky heater matrix ☺

Post by **abscate** » 13 May 2016, 04:44

Thanks for the report back...much cheaper and easier than AC work

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 14 May 2016, 14:36

When it is working properly the A/C on these cars is ice cold and I have had condensation out of the vents that looks like smoke but actually it is more like fog. It typically occurs after the A/C is shut off and the blower is still blowing hard.

That is one of those things that just is what it is and it doesn't indicate a problem.

...Lee