94 850 over heating

[cc2times]

I went to go to work today and the car startted smoking and over heating. I picked up collant and within 15 minutes the coolant was gone. Any ideas? Im hoping it's a leak and not the engine but I don't know how to tell the difference. Any help is greatly appreciated


Coops

[jblackburn]

Fill it up again & let the car sit and idle for a few minutes & see if you notice any dripping visibly under the car...15 minutes seems like a pretty major leak; I'm betting one of your hoses probably ruptured & is spraying on a hot part of the engine.

[cc2times]

i fillied it up and it immediately drained.......didnt even have a chance to let it idle

[jblackburn]

Wow, there must be a huge hole somewhere. Is the bottom of the coolant tank cracked? Or there's gotta be a major hole in a hose/bottom of the radiator. I'd have the car towed home until you can take a closer look at it - DO NOT drive it with no antifreeze in there.

[cc2times]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It ended up being a bad heating coil. I traded services with my local shop and they bypassed the heat (going to be cold pretty soon) but she's running well again. Still needs lots of work but with no money I'll have to do a little at a time.

Coops

[jblackburn]

Glad you figured it out. From what I've looked at, the heater core looks pretty easy to DIY on these cars...mine smells horribly like antifreeze when I turn on the heat, so I'm going to be doing mine here in a few weeks. One thing's for sure, it can't possibly be as much of a PITA as the one on my mom's BMW was...I'll let you know how mine goes & make sure I take pictures.

[volvomileage]

it dosent seem that hard

here's a write up i found

http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index.ph ... eater+core

hope it can help

cheers !