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Swedish Auto Parts Heater Core leaking at 25k

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70
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AngrySquid
Posts: 2
Joined: 11 August 2015
Year and Model: 2000 V70
Location: Seattle, WA

Swedish Auto Parts Heater Core leaking at 25k

Post by AngrySquid »

I know the Swedish Auto Parts $40 heater core is fairly popular here and thought I'd share my experience with it.

I replaced the stock heater core in my 2000 V70 at around 125k miles with the SAP ebay core back in 2013. Currently my car has 150k.

In the past few months I started losing coolant and couldn't find any obvious leaks until I was vacuuming my car and noticed the damp floor under the floor mats.

Pulled the heater core and it appears to have been leaking around the corners, there was orange crust on two of the corners. I also happened to find one of the old O-rings I left under the carpet. Based on another post I saw on this site commenting on the undersized O-rings that come with the SAP core I took a few measurements. The OEM Rings are slightly larger at about .81" O.D. versus .78" for the SAP rings. Both fit into the SAP core fine, but the OEM rings are a touch more sung. Also I noticed the SAP rings have more of a square profile versus the round profile of the OEM rings, I don't know that makes any difference, just an observation. It's possible my heater core was leaking at the O-rings as well, but it's hard to say.
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Cees Klumper
Posts: 358
Joined: 28 December 2013
Year and Model: 2002 S80 T6
Location: De Luz Heights, Southern California
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Post by Cees Klumper »

I replaced my original heater core in my 2001 C70 with 160k miles, as a precaution a few months ago. The original one looked like new, no indications of any impending failure. I replaced with OEM quality (Behr I think) so that I don't have to worry just for the sake of saving $40 or so, with all the work and nuisance involved.
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PS78
Posts: 186
Joined: 6 February 2016
Year and Model: 2000 S70
Location: Northeast PA
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Post by PS78 »

That sucks man..Good that you're sharing that important info. I just replaced my heater core a month ago with a nissens unit after the ethylene glycol started wafting around. But I did read alot of praise for the SAP core and now I'm glad I passed it up. I had a lot of fun crawling and contorting and maneuvering during the replacement. It was a satisfying job but I'd rather not have to do it again so soon.
Always first off the line, while all the cool people are still staring at their phones.
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theWIFES_S70
Posts: 1218
Joined: 24 July 2015
Year and Model: 1998 S70 base
Location: Queens, New York
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Post by theWIFES_S70 »

Hey AngrySquid, sorry to hear about this. Just a question, what sort of coolant were you running?
Retired:
1998 Volvo S70, N/A, 5-speed, 187K
2007 Volvo S40, 2.4i, 5-speed, 121K
2015 Volvo S60, T5, 85K
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