I have a 95 850 Turbo wagon, with 79000 miles on it. There is a coolant leak at the radiator when the car sits overnight in cold weather. It seems to be coming from the area where the tank is crimped onto the core. Has anyone had any success in having this type of leak repaired or do I need a whole new radiator? I've heard that repairing this type of leak is not usually sucessful. I plan on running the old girl into the ground so I need a long term fix. Thanks!

Donna-

Volvo doesn't supply parts for the radiators. There is a vinyl-type o-ring seal between the core and the tank. I haven't found anybody that can consistantly repair these radiators, so replacement is the only reliable solution. I have seen more than a few leaking at the tank crimps, some at both tanks. I always hook a pressure guage up to the cooling system and drive the car hard to make sure there is not a head gasket problem building excessive pressure in the cooling system and blowing the tanks off. Rare on the white motors- more common on the red motors.

Dave, what is the difference between the red and white motors?

Tucker-

The 'red' motors are the cast-iron four cylinder engines used in the 140/240/740/940 series, so called because they were painted red. The 'white' motors are the aluminum block engines used in the 850/960/SVC70/SV90/S80/SV40 cars, so called because they are bare aluminum, and appear to be white. This is a Volvo reference to distinguish the difference between the different series, since the 'red' and 'white' motors are very different designs and applications.

Red motors are the Old 4 cylinder work horse engine that was in the RWD vechicles. 1993 was the last year (I think)

White engines are the replacement engine used on the FWD, 960, S/V90, to date the white engine comes in 4, 5, 6 cylinder versions depending on the model.

The red engine's last year was '95 in the US (last year of the 940 in the US) but '98 in Sweden from what I've been told.