1997 850 over heating, leak in coolant system

sk801 · Post by **sk801** » 10 Jul 2015, 08:44

My car has a coolant leak underneath the car on the front passenger side, where a hose enters through a rubber grommet in what appears to be some kind of pan or skid plate. My first car, and first Volvo so we are not familar with the system.

1ezliving4ume · Post by **1ezliving4ume** » 10 Jul 2015, 11:16

Is this a turbo car?

sk801 · Post by **sk801** » 10 Jul 2015, 11:17

T5 turbo

Post by **tryingbe** » 10 Jul 2015, 11:46

Any chance you can get some pictures?

Also, how is the car overheating?

sk801 · Post by **sk801** » 10 Jul 2015, 12:08

It's my sons car and it's 2 hours away so photos will take a while. The coolant just all leaks out of this one area when he drives it. He just bought the car and loves it so we we're hoping someone with more knowledge with the cooling system might be able to help us. We got under the car and it was dripping slow and when he gently wiggled the line leading into the pan"or whatever it is" it started leaking a lot. I do all my own work on my cars but this is our first experience with Volvo. Not really sure what we're looking at and I couldn't find and schematics online that shows that system.

Post by **erikv11** » 10 Jul 2015, 12:48

Be really careful, if the temperature needle gets into the red it can be very bad news for these engines. The heads warp easily. It is super important the he not drive it while overheating.

It sounds most like a cracked radiator so far, I wonder if he is wiggling one of the oil cooler lines and that made the rad crack open up. None of the lines with coolant are located down low on that side of the car:

from http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/199 ... 50_813.htm

Oh, here is an even better diagram:

The number 2 is oil cooler lines, they circulate oil through the side of the radiator.

sk801 · Post by **sk801** » 10 Jul 2015, 13:19

Those are some great diagrams and make total sense in what I was thinking the cooling system should look like. I guess we need to get under the car and do some intense inspecting to get a better understanding of our situation. I really appreciate the help and I'll update when we get more info.

Post by **FLXC90** » 10 Jul 2015, 14:33

A common location for cracks on these radiators can be just under the upper radiator hose on the passenger side of the car. This is the same tank that the oil cooler lives in.

Can he tell if it is leaking ahead of, or behind the front wheels?

Maybe if he looks under the hood, careful to avoid steam sprays, to determine the source

Also, when you get to look at it, there are only two bolts holding the "Air Guide" on the bottom of the engine compartment.
And welcome to MVS

sk801 · Post by **sk801** » 20 Jul 2015, 15:12

Okay, I think we have it figured out. Got the car up on ramps and stands and was able to get a better look under the car. Filled the coolant tank with water and waited to see where the leak was coming from. The water would drain from the tank and we would fill it again. Pretty soon water started coming out of the holes where the rear brake lines go into the skid plate under the car. I know there isn't any coolant lines back there so I put one and one together and asked my son if he noticed his carpet getting wet when he last drove the car ? He said yes, really bad ! Didn't I tell you that ? So then I opened up the car and pulled back the carpet and sure enough the carpet was wet and the heater core was leaking bad. So, the heater core was leaking all the coolant into the inside of the car floorboards and then draining out of the floor drain holes into the skid plate under the car and out the rear brake line holes at the rear of the car ! Mystery solved, and I guess it should have been one of the first places that we checked. Thanks for the replies and willingness to help.

Post by **abscate** » 21 Jul 2015, 02:37

There is a proven cheap good heater core on ebay but.....You must clean the heck out of it or will stink.

Swedish auto parts or something like that.