Does Volvo have Over-Temp auto shutdown?

While driving the old road along the river other night, in nasty driving
rain, there was a major problem with our 1996 Volvo 960. Perhaps when the
car did the bumps at the railroad crossing, the upper nipple to the radiator
broke completely free. Darn plastic!

Most of this is conjectured later, in the light of day. First, it seems the
Check Engine light came on. Later, with the coolant loss, the Low Coolant
light came on. Later, all of the warning lights came on and the car
completely shut down. The driver waited for the storm to let up but it got
worse instead. After a wait of about 30 minutes, the car started (with just
the collant and engine fault light on). Just two blocks from home, all of
the lights came on once more and the car shut down again.

About two hours later, after then storm passed, the car again started and
was driven the last 2 blocks to the garage.

** Of course, driving with the coolant light shining was not the thing to do
so PLEASE DON'T FLAME about this.

I put in a new radiator in today and changed the oil for good measure. It
took only about 6 qts of antifreeze (capacity = 10 qts). The car starts
fine and runs very well, with no odd noises. The Check Engine light is
still on.

It seems that this Volvo might have a "Master Over Temp" main cut-off that
shuts the car down completely, as seems to have happened twice. Perhaps
because of this switch (if it exists), the engine is not destroyed.

Does anyone know if there is indeed an " over temp safety cut-off"?

Thanks, bill

 

No. Such a feature could open Volvo to a nasty lawsuit if the car
overheated on the freeway and then shut down before the driver could
safely drive it to the shoulder. After the driver ignored the many
very helpful warning signals that Volvo provided the motor simply got
so hot that it either could not fire properly or the bearings
tightened up.

A master shutoff switch such as you suggest would encourage dumb
drivers to not change their ways.

 

No. Such a feature could open Volvo to a nasty lawsuit if the car
overheated on the freeway and then shut down before the driver could
safely drive it to the shoulder. After the driver ignored the many
very helpful warning signals that Volvo provided the motor simply got
so hot that it either could not fire properly or the bearings
tightened up.

A master shutoff switch such as you suggest would encourage dumb
drivers to not change their ways.

. . . . . . thanks for the feedback. The "Check Engine" code was P0118,
which is the high temperature code. With the car shutting down twice with
all of the warning lights on, perhaps I have another issue going on. I had
them clear the code and with everything sounding fine, we'll see what
happens next.

 

The engine shut down twice because it overheated twice. My guess is
that the remainder of the warning lights came on when the engine
stopped turning each time. Hopefully it didn't blow a head gasket or
crack a head. Keep an eye out for coolant loss, bubbles in the
expansion tank, oil suddenly turning a milky tan color, dipstick
showing overfull, etc.

 

There's no cutoff, but if it gets hot enough it may well stall for any
number of other reasons. These engines have an aluminum alloy head on a cast
iron block, and while their durability is legendary, they are quite
sensitive to being overheated and usually the head will warp or crack. If it
heated up to the point that it stopped running, you're probably looking at a
full rebuild with new pistons, bearings, etc. It should at least be
thoroughly checked out with a leakdown and compression test.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Surprisingly, with the new radiator, the engine has been running fine during
three short outings.

But, I followed the thought in the posts and checked compression again. On
all 6 cylinders, it was close (same?) to what i found a while back. Since
this is the engine that had been consuming so much oil, I followed up the
posted suggestions to get the engine checked out. The very good news is
that the head is not cracked. The head is at the machine shop being
re-built, including new valve seals to reduce the heavy oil consumption.
Also, we are replacing the thermostat, water pump, belts and idlers. now as
the valve seals .

Going forward, I will give very close inspection of the plastic outlets on
the radiator with every oil change.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Bill

 

Those plastic radiators are the worst thing ever. Is an all-metal
replacement available for that car?