94 850 turbo losing coolant.

My 220K 94 850 turbo wagon has lit it's low coolant light twice this
year now. It never used to do this, so it's leaking somewhere.

From the top, I can't see any obvious leaks, and, after 15 minutes
idling in one spot, there were no drips on the floor. (too slow a leak
for this).
There is no coolant smell inside the car, and the hoses were replaced
a few years ago, and still look good.

Are there any common leakage points for 850's of this vintage?


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Get an old coolant resivoir cap from a scrapyard, drill a hole in it and
insert a tire valve stem. Pump it up to a few PSI with a hand tire pump and
look for leaks.

 

Look under the heater unit on top of the tunnel. If the heater core
leaks, it can run down the tunnel and under the front carpets.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

I have a 94 850 Turbo with 285k. Don't forget to check on the back of the
radiator. Clip-in hoses cool the turbo and transmission, one set on each
side of the radiator, one hose on top and one on bottom. "Driver's side"
is transmission.

Remove the clip and there is a small clear gasket that appears to be a
weak point. One of mine had a split. I replaced this gasket (about $8 at
the dealer), put a hose clamp on the clip and the leak went away.

 

Well, I found it. There was some suspicions dried spray around the
top main hose. I idled for a while, no leak. I then disconnected the
fan and waited til the temp gauge started creeping up. When I shut
down and checked, coolant was spraying from the crimp between radiator
end cap, where it's crimped to the core.
Time for a new radiator. At least there are aftermarket ones, so I
won't have to pay hundreds for the Volvo-branded item.


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www.fcpgroton.com has pretty good prices on these radiators.

John