99 S70..ANALLY maintained..Had to replace radiator at 110K

Heater Core at 115K

Evap at 115 K (Replaced while I was in there.)

99 S70 5 speed.

Hi, yes my rad just went completly out of the blue. Luckily I was in town and was able to get home. My cars a bit older 1994.

If you are going to get a new radiator, get an all metal one from IPD or whoever.

Here's my experience on a 95 850 NA with 119k: Time to time I have tightened either rad hose when there was some seepage (maybe 2x in the life of car so far). Recently I replaced all the hoses when the lower rad hose developed a split - the split was not near either end of hose. All the hoses felt a little mushy. There has been no sign of leakage so far. I noticed the clamps furnished with the original hoses were of a good quality with a backing sleeve to protect the hose. This type of clamp should hold without being overly tight. It was easy to get the old clamps and hoses off. I cleaned and reused the clamps rather than buying new cheap ones which would not grip the hose and joint as uniformly. I tightened them moderately, thinking if one seeped later I would tighten it better. The barbs on the radiator which hold the hoses were not cracked or even very dirty.

Maybe the leak was due to a stiff or failing hose, not a loose clamp? Why not just keep everything in the system clean and not overly tight, and keep an eye on it - then only do something if and when it actually leaks? That is, unless you're in a very remote area or some situation where you wouldn't be able to get it repaired easily.

According to my source, those Volvos with plastic rad tanks are prone to breaking at the hose junctions due to the overtightening of the hose clamps. I had a 740 rad start to leak and eventually break just for that reason; so your mechanic is probably right and it might be worthwhile to replace it as a preventative measure since it is now possibly cracked. Of course, tightening the clamps a bit more probably didn't help in the long run either.

Good luck