Alright, so i just bought a 86 240DL sedan and within a week of having it i sort of went over a curb. I thought nothing of it at first, but then when i was parked the next day i saw a big drip stain under the car. It doesnt drip very fast, or much at all when the car is off, but once i get her warmed up it drips pretty damn fast. It looks to be antifreeze and the smoke smells sweet and surrounds these two hoses to the front/right of the oil pan. Any clues as to whats going on and or how much work this would be for an amateur. If not, how much do you think a mechanic would charge?

Wolf

Hey guys,
I've got some bad news. I took the car in to the shop yesterday and today i got a call with the estimate: 280$$$$. Thats a scary figure, but maybe with a foreign car i should get used to it. It sounds like the bypass hose (metal hose between heater and water pipe?) is totally corroded and needs to be taken out and replaced. Now, if it was totally corroded I wonder why it wasnt leaking before my little bump...
But I've called around and it looks like the 280's the cheapest I'm gonna get. here's the breakdown: 2 hours to get the exhaust manifold out, so he can get to the pipe, then 2 hours to work on the water pump. All in all, it sounds like this hose is pretty much knotted up in there and the only way to get it out is to pay this guy lots of money.
He was able to open the hood! yay!
So what do I do? I guess I have to bite the bullet and pay this guy. He's still not sure what the part should cost, though hes calling ipd and volvo tomorrow to find out (apparently the junkyard only sells the hose as part of the whole engine block when it gets rid of those). All in all this has been a demoralizing experience, after going in there and getting a "less than 80 dollars" estimate. Anyway...just venting, any comments or answers to my prayers will be duly appreciated.

Thanks.

My wife "sort of" drives over curbs all of the time. Did this cause the hood to go out of alignment? That's quite a "sort of".

The larger coolant hoses have a flat (minus) screwdriver clamp that can be tightened easily. Where you see the "smoke" coming out is where the problem is.

I don't understand your hesitating cutting out the grill and putting it in your trunk until you get to a dealer and pay him $10 for new plastic tabs. At least you get to open the hood.
--
95 854T, 88 780, 88 245

No, the hood was broken before the curb incident. I was actually surprised to see the drip since I figured the little curb I'd gone over wouldnt cause any trouble -- silly me.

I actually took the car in to the mechanic earlier today, he seemed to think it'd be a relatively simple thing to fix whatever got dinged up when I hit the curb. I was definitely low on coolant once he got the hood open. The issue with the hood goes back to the previous owner. The cable is broken. And I had no idea those plastic tags were so cheap. thanks for the tip.
I'll update the board when I hear from my mechanic.

Can I get to those hoses you mentioned from the top of the engine?

Wolfkrang,

It sounds to me like you damaged either the waterpump or the radiator when you took that trip over the curb. Depending on mileage the seals on the waterpump may have been getting ready to go as it is. It's hard to say without looking at your car. Hopefully it's the water pump (around $35.00) and not the radiator (much more).

Replacing the water pump is not a big deal for someone with patience and basic tools. The radiator will be more involved. Take a look at the 700/900 faq pages. Most of it applies to your car.

Good luck.



Mike

Thanks a lot mike. That really helps. Now the question is, whats the next step. Should I crawl under and look for myself, or go to a mechanic? How much should labor be on the water pump? On the radiator? Also, with a leak that speeds up when i drive and the engine gets warm, I'm scared that I could totally run out of fluid and burn out some part, or do worse damage. Is this the kind of thing that I could drive with for a while, or do I need to get first aid right away? Should the dash indicators be of any help here? or might i have lost enough fluid that the gauge is useless? Would topping the coolant tank off every so often be an ok bandaid for a few days or weeks?

Thanks.

I forgot to answer about topping off. You might be okay for a while, but I would check the reservoir under you hood very frequently. When adding coolant make sure you add a 50%/50% mix with distilled water. You might want to premix some in a milk bottle and keep it in the car.

I don't think the labor on a water pump would be much more than $120 or so. The radiator would probably be similar, but the cost of parts would be higher.

I'd get it fixed soon because the leak will only get worse and your engine may be running hotter until you get it fixed. The pressure in your cooling system is lower now and the coolant in your car is more susceptible to boiling.


Mike

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what labor would be on this, but there are several Volvo mechanics on the board who may be able to help. The leak gets worse as you drive because the heat of the engine and the spinning of the pump increase the pressure in your cooling system and increase the leak. I would not drive with this condition for long. The temperature gauges on Volvo's are pathetic. They optimistically point to the middle unless something is seriously wrong and then they peg to hot immediately. To drive like this could potentially cause a head gasket to blow or worse. Replacing a head gasket is in another league where repairs are concerned.

I'm just a weekend wrench so hopefully someone else on this board will be able to give you more information.

On the bright side, a coolant leak like the one you describe is not the end of the world, especially if it can be quickly isolated and I think that's the case here.

Wish you the best,



Mike

1993 944T 109K miles

Ok,
so here's the really embarrassing question: what if the hood release cable is broken? How do I get the hood open? any suggestions? I've tryed using a screw driver to apply pressure to the cable (I can see it thru the grill), in hopes that the pressure would mimic the cable pull. that didnt work. Any ideas?

The top of the grille is held in by two plastic pins that you twist 90 degrees to remove if the hood is open. If you can't open the hood, you can use a hacksaw blade to cut the pins. Then tilt the top of the grille out and lift it out of the lower grommets. With the grille out, you can get better access to the hood release. Find the lever that is connected to the cable and move it toward the left (driver's) side.

About the leak: Sometimes the clamps just need tightening. Sometimes the hoses get pinholes. The solder joints can loosen in the radiator, or in the case of an aluminum radiator with plastic tanks, you can get cracks in the plastic or leaks at the seal around the tank. All places to look. Check it while the engine is warm enough to have some pressure in the system (normal operating temperature), and look for wet places. The leak is generally at the highest, forwardmost place where you see wet.

Don't add "stopleak" to your cooling system unless the engine is pretty much junk already. It often doesn't work, and it plugs up the cooling system and coats the inside of the engine water passages with silica (not a good thing).

Good luck!

awesome! thanks for the advice. Maybe I don't need to go to the mechanic to get screwed. What sort of tools do I need to go digging around to check for these leaks? and as far as the pins holding down the grill, if I hack those off, how do I keep the grill on? There's no other way to get the hood up besides hacking the pins out? Thanks for the warning on 'stopleak' I was actually considering it, but I think I'll take your advice.

Going back to the original question, is a slight bump over a curb really going to take out my water pump? Does the rate of drippage tell you anything about what got damaged or what needs fixing? It drips extremely slowly when I leave it parked, but After driving for a few minutes and parking the drip is fairly fast and theres a bunch of smoke.

Thanks for all your great tips!

You should be able to find replacement plastic pins in any junkyard that has Volvos (while you're there get a hood release cable), but I've seen them replaced with plastic ties and other mickey-mouse objects. Even if you have to buy new ones it won't be that bad. I don't think you'll have much trouble finding where the water is coming from. You might have to take the splash pan off, if it still exists. Then you can see from underneath.

A sharp jolt can shake something loose that probably was about to cause trouble anyway, like a weak radiator.

Maybe you'll get lucky and find a loose clamp...