I have a 1988 244 non turbo that is running hot. A new thermostat, hoses and coolant was put in about a year ago. Everything was fine until recently when the temp. gauge was running about 2/3. The top radiator hose was warm and the radiator was cold. This car was neglected in its previous life and the radiator had a valeo/volvo sticker on it. I purchased a new nissen radiator and also put a new water pump(graf) on. I took the thermostat out and it had some brown stuff in there. I put a new volvo thermostat 192 degrees and flushed. I put a garden hose in the top of radiator and discharged out of the thermostat housing. Old coolant came out and some brown but stopped when clear water came out. Refilled with coolant and water 50/50. Also a new expansion cap. Started up and took for a test drive. Top hose is warmer than before but radiator is 90% cold. What am I missing? Is this a head gasket or didn't I flush correctly? Heater works great. If I missed something obvious be gentle. Thanks Matt

I would check to make sure:
1. Your water pump belt is not slipping
2. Thermostat installed at the correct position.
3. There is no crud left over in the engine's block (i.e. check your new radiator to make sure it is not clogged again from leftover block deposits being flushed out that you did not get.)

You may want to bypass the temp compensation board if not done already.

The radiator is cold top to bottom. It is a little warm by the top inlet. Double checked the water pump belts, Not loose but not guitar strings. I was thinking about the compensation board but the cold radiator says no. That is on my to do list. Where do you get this , IPD? I was thinking about reverse flushing. Putting the hose in the thermostat inlet and flushing through the water pump. Thanks for the replies. Matt

I would try running it with NO thermstadt in it. If you still don't get any circulation then I would suspect something is up with the pump impeller.

Check thermostadt function in a cup of hot water with a cooking thermometer to see at what temp it is actually opening (if it really IS opening....).

Is there any chance you got the thermostadt in backwards - it's possible to do on some cars.

Is the tiny air bleed hole oriented UP on the thermostadt?
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Current rides: 2005 Volvo S80 2.5T, 2003 Volvo V70 2.4NA, 1973 Volvo 1800ES (getting ever closer to road worthiness)

What about the drain for the block under/near #2 cylinder? You can slide a hose over the petcock and drain/backflush the block if necessary.

Andrew

Check your thermostat in boiling water for proper function
...Did you bleed the air out out the cooling system ?

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to try removing the thermostat and checking position. Will run without thermostat and see what happens. If that isn't good then backflush. I won't be able to try this until Friday at the earliest. Will check back with an update. Matt

Hi Matt,

I was the last responder to your "stuck water pump" post. I don't know if you read it. Go back and take a look, it may be the answer to your problem.
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Bruce S. near D.C.

Took longer to get back than I thought. I drained the coolant and took the thermostat out and backflushed then flushed. Garden hose in the top of the radiator and discharged through thermostat housing. Water came out clear. Heater was on hot. Put it back together with the thermostat in and just used straight water, had a warm 2 days Drove it and seemed ok. Radiator is hot.
Today I drained the water from the block and it came out green, not dark. How is this possible when I flushed and it was clear. Any how , put antifreeze and distilled water in because it is getting cold again. Took it for a ride and after 15 minutes everything seemed fine. Let it set for 20 minutes and when I went home gauge is 2/3 up. I thinking this is either the compensating board or there is a clog in the block. I have never had this much trouble with a cooling system. Is there a special way to blled it? The expansion tank isn't pressurizing.

Your water came out green because you can not get a good flush of the of the heater core unless you remove the hoses going to the heater core.

I know because I've done two cars this year and I flushed the block the same way you described, but when I got to replacing hoses for the heater core, I flushed out via compressed air water that was green and nasty.

I'd be concerned now that you ran tap water through the thing and you haven't flushed it completely out.

Be careful!

Matt
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1989 - 245, 1990 - 245, 1991 - 245, and 1993 - 245

What is an IR thermometer? Thanks for clarifying about the flush. I used distilled water for the refill but there is still enough tap water in the system from the flush. Didn't know how else to do it. God only knows what was put in the system before I got it. It was ready for the crusher and i picked it up cheap. Thanks Matt

Infrared. Has a laser pointer to aid in aiming. Shows digital temp readout.

Get a cheap IR thermometer then you will know if it's getting hot and how well the radiator is performing.

It won't hurt to bypass the temperature compensation board.
Dan

Bruce, I just checked the old pump and it has 3 bolts and 2 studs/nuts. The 6th bolt is for the heater pipe. My mistake. Thanks Matt

If more than a decade old, please replace the thermostat.

For normally 88°C is it for NA normally aspried (aspired). These do fail and winter time can crap[ them out.

Made by Whaler, Calortstat, and I dunno.

Yet, if your maintenance, your tear 20o1 thermostat will fail. As will your radiator as it maybe clogged,from bottom to top, if you use tap water to mix up coolant or more. The radiator clogs from bottom to top. Seek a radiator shop to boil it out and check for leaks. Xerex G05 + distilled, demineralized, or bext demineralized is best at 50/50%. Zerex G05?

The top coolant hose takes hot engine coolant from the engine to the engine to the coolant radiator. The lower large coolant hose carries cooled engine coolant back to the engine through the water pump.

So, you'll have to figure out the failure cause. New thermostat, new under hood (and maybe under-dash, and maybe under hood coolant expansion tank) can solve your problem and prevent you from a street failing failure.








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I can't explain the radiator being cold- Is it cold on the bottom as well as the top?

Has this car had the temperature compensation board bypass done?

Randy