Hello ,

I just bought a '95 960 with 190K km on the dial. The car is pretty clean. However the oil looked like chocolate milk...so I promptly changed it out with Penzoil high mileage 10/30. The power steering hose directly beneath the pump looks like it was leaking at the joint at one time. So might have to switch it out too.
But the latest problem is that coolant seems to be disappearing somewhere. If I top up the resevoir it seems to not move.. for days...then 2 weeks later...all of a sudden...the coolant light comes on. I pop the hood...and its back on the Min..line. I had the coolant replaced 2 weeks ago too. Any ideas where it could be going? I looked at the oil cap...no foam..although it still doesnt look completely healthy yet ( i imagine car has lots of sludge build up) I will change to synthetic in a few thousand KM..the latest oil change is more like a flushing out of the engine.
I think the rad is relatively new..no apparent leaks that I can see...Any ideas?

Thanks

Baka

Two easy cheap tests.

When you stop after a trip, sniff at the grille - you might smell antifreeze.

Run the defroster foe a trip and then wipe your finger above the defroster and taste it, you might get a sweet taste of antifreeze.

Warped cylinder head.

The Porsche-Volvo white block B6304 has issues. Read the FAQ. The engine gets sorted by 1995-1997 or so. A frail engine at best that does not suffer abuse well.

Coolant loss? If you do not smell that antifreeze smell in the engine bay consider a warped cylinder head and the engine coolant and engine oil are mixing. Usually, pressurized coolant leaks into the oil sump chambers.

May leave some oily residue in the coolant expansion tank.

Else, how does the transmission fluid look? Transmission fluid is pumped from the trans to the radiator in the transmission fluid section. Though 860/89 models have a separate transmission fluid radiator, yes? I forget.
--
Beh.

it the coolant mixes with the oil when you remove the oil filer cap and look at the underside it might look like it has white froth on it.

run your car and check the tailpipe, if the head gasket blows it will often use water and that water is dripping out of the tailpipe, you may notice the sweet smell of antifreeze.

check the bottle, it has to hold pressure and the old plastic may just fail. a shop with a CO meter might be able to sniff the water bottle , theory is if you have exhast in the water bottle it may show that way.

if you just run it and watch you might see that ti's presurizing the bottle even though the water isn't even warmed up yet. this is an indication the compression pressure is leaking into the coolant curcuit and might mean a blown head gasket but as others pointed out maybe some sort of radiator issue or something related where coolant and oil may mix.

Id drain your oil , you dont want to run it if the pan is filling with water so I'd do an oil change and have a look at the old oil but normally if there is oil in the water you'll be able to see froth on the underside of your oil fill cap

i DID THIS ONCE & IT WORKED GOOD,,PINT OF KEROZENE IN THE OIL & DRIVE SLOW FOR 30 MILES & 30 MPH MAX THEN DRAIN IT WELL & CHANGE FILTER,,
MAYBE THE COOLANT IS SPRAYING ON THE MANIFOLD & ONLY WHEN HOT?

The "chocolate milk" sounds like a clue that your coolant is ending up in your oil. My guess is you need a head gasket-- I've never touched a 960, but there are plenty of folks here who have. Time for a compression test and a coolant pressure test.

Good luck!
--
Herb Goltz, Aurora, Ontario, Canada '92 945t 210K mi

Baka,

It could be something as simple as a coolant reservoir cap allowing pressure to bleed. I had similar symptoms with my 960. I could smell burning coolant when I shut down the engine, suggesting coolant was leaking onto the exhaust system. After checking all hose connections for leaks, I took it to a shop where they found a hose clamp needing tightening from the heater hose at the rear of the engine. They tightened that to stop the leak. Unfortunately, I continued to lose coolant; took it back to the shop where they did another pressure test and found seepage at the rear of the head gasket. So now the car needs a head gasket.

I would start by checking all hose clamps, and perhaps replacing the coolant reservoir cap. If it still loses coolant, a shop can do a pressure test to see if it loses pressure, and perhaps see where the leak(s) is/are. Hopefully, it won't be the head gasket.

Robert

Check your tranny fluid to be sure it's not milky. Seems to be a problem on Volvo's to leak anti-freeze into the transmission. I've never heard of this occurring much on any other make, but it seems to be commen on Volvos.

If it's milky, you might soon have a toasted transmission.

Dear howdy_doody,

Hope you're well and stay so. I "dissected" a Nissens radiator (used in a 940), replaced at the end of its service life.

The in-radiator automatic transmission fluid (ATF) cooler is a double-wall copper tube, about 1.25" in diameter and about 10" long. The walls are not foil-like. Rather they are about 1/16" thick.

At the top and bottom of the tube, threaded brass nipples are brazed to the copper. The nipples protrude through the radiator side-tank's walls. A sealant keeps coolant from escaping around the nipples.

Only if the copper tube corrodes through, can ATF mix with the coolant.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

I remember reading here about this problem; on the later 960 models, the tranny cooler is inside the radiator, if you get even a small hole in the cooler, the pressure in the radiator forces coolant back into the tranny when the engine is shut down. If you don't have this problem, that a good thing; however, it bares watching as the car ages. The fix is simple if you catch it in time: replace the radiator and completely flush the fluid.
'97 960, 120k miles
'70 Datsun 240Z track car, ? miles