How do you know your water pumps working? I ran low on coolant the other day due to a bustded hose (replaced) and faulty temp sensor (on order) and am worried i may have damaged it. Just driven 12 miles and looked at temps with a temp gun, block was 200 degF (93 deg C); top hose was 185 deg F (85 deg C), bottom hose 113 deg F (50 deg C). Sound about right? Be grateful for an opinion. Pumps are only £25 but the one on there is fairly new sodont wanna change it unnecessarily.

No pressure swoosh when i carefully checked the reservoir.

Thanks chaps

1993 2L turbo manual est

There's not much damage you can do to the water pump short of smashing it with a hammer. The danger in overheating (and from your figures it doesn't seem severe) would be blowing the head gasket and warping the cylinder head. That condition would result in a misfire that would be hard to ignore. Providing the motor continues to run smoothly I would proceed to replace the broken hose (and carefully inspect all the rest for softness or cracking) and as a safety measure replace the thermostat. When doing that--orient the bypass hole to the highest level, be sure it's correct in that it has a "foot" covering a port within the coolant passageway (Jaguars use the same type) and don't use sealant on the rubber "gasket".
When it's all together run the motor at idle until the thermostat opens (top hose will get hot) with the interior heat set to hot. If the heater core is reluctant to fill completely hold the idle speed up (2,000 rpm should do it) for a minute or two--you should then feel heat coming from the vents. -- Dave

Dear Volvo From Heck,

Hope you're well. Good advice is always worth a repeat!!!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

There's not much damage you can do to the water pump short of smashing it with a hammer. The danger in overheating (and from your figures it doesn't seem severe) would be blowing the head gasket and warping the cylinder head. That condition would result in a misfire that would be hard to ignore. Providing the motor continues to run smoothly I would proceed to replace the broken hose (and carefully inspect all the rest for softness or cracking) and as a safety measure replace the thermostat. When doing that--orient the bypass hole to the highest level, be sure it's correct in that it has a "foot" covering a port within the coolant passageway (Jaguars use the same type) and don't use sealant on the rubber "gasket".
When it's all together run the motor at idle until the thermostat opens (top hose will get hot) with the interior heat set to hot. If the heater core is reluctant to fill completely hold the idle speed up (2,000 rpm should do it) for a minute or two--you should then feel heat coming from the vents. -- Dave

Dear pierso,

Hope you're well. The bottom hose temp seems a little low, which suggests trapped air may be obstructing coolant flow.

Did you "burp" the system after changing the failed hose? By "burp" I mean help the system to expel trapped air.

Once you've replaced the coolant temperature sensor, find a steep hill. Park there, with the car's nose pointing up-hill. Bring the engine up to operating temperature. Let the car run for a few minutes. That helps air trapped to move towards the coolant overflow tank, from which it escapes. Then, park so that the nose faces down hill. Again, let the engine idle for a few minutes.

After this, I'll be the lower hose's temperature rises so that the gap between upper and lower hoses is closer to 30 degrees versus the current 72 degrees.

As to the water pump, unless it was run dry for several minutes, I'd guess its fine. If it was slightly damaged, the bearing eventually will "talk" to you. You'll hear a low-pitched rumble, which puts you on notice that the pump will need to be replaced.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook