I've got a slow coolant leak that just screams water pump seepage but I can not see any way it could be getting from there to where it is dripping.

The exact point of exit (we'll talk about the coolant leak on the grassy knowl later for you conspiracy buffs) is the very tippy bottom of the timing belt cover. It doesn't appear to leak while driving and after driving it's not until an hour or so later that the dripping starts. Then it may take several or 4 or 5 hours for it to drip out maybe a 1/4 cup onto the driveway.

Is there some secret passageway between the water pump and the area behind the belt cover? Is it possible I have a head gasket leak of coolant in that area? There are no other head gasket type symptoms that I can find. This weekend I will pull the timing belt cover and see but any input or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

RBM

My 83' turbo had a similiar leak, and I couldn't quite tell where it was from. It turned out to be the water pump was old and beginning to leak. I replaced it and everything is better. Try a pressure test and it might show up for ya.

Appreciate the time you all spent in replying. This leak definitely started about the time I replaced my thermostat a couple of weeks ago so the one idea of it coming across the thermostat seal out of the thermostat housing into the timing belt cover wetted my interest. But I've studied the darn thing and can find no way on my B230F how coolant could creep from the thermostat into the timing belt cover. Just can't see it. As to the leak coming from somewhere else as a small, almost imperceptable, stream and landing inside the timing belt cover (because it is definitely coming out of the cover - or more precisely from between the split halfs of the cover at the very bottom) I not biting on that one either. I'll dig into more this weekend.

Robb

If none of the fine suggestions listed so far cover it, you might want to check for a pinhole in something far distant from the timing belt cover.

The radiator or hose will have a hole that only opens when the pressure is greatest (just after you stop after a hard drive or lots of idling). The hole is so small you may never see the fine stream arcing from it to where you see the fluid accumulate.

I've seen this often enough to pay for my coolant pressure tester...

I've heard that you can check for coolant in oil (e.g., head gasket problem) by putting a drop of oil from dipstick on hot exhaust manifold. Smoke and no "hiss" = no coolant in oil.

"Hissing" noise = coolant in oil.

Check the bottom bolts on the water pump too. BTDT.

It may be the thermostat housing or the hose to the housing. After the car is turned off, you still have pressure in the system but it's not circulating around. I would hope it's the housing, I haven't heard any headgasket stories from volvos. Just every other car manufacturer who is cutting corners on wall thickness of their heads. 4,6, and 8 cylinders.

Tony H '89 240

I heard somebody say that the thermostat housing leaks right into the timing belt cover. Check that out, you may need to replace the thermostat seal, or the whole thermostat if you want to.

Rene