Hi. Earlier today heater valve on my wife's '93 940 failed and most of the coolant was lost. We did not notice anything until we arrived at our destination about 4 miles away. Then we saw lots of steam from under the hood and when I looked under the hood it became obvious what happened. We let the car cool for several hours, then drove it home. Halfway home we stopped because the temperature gauge went to red. I walked home and brought some more coolant and my S70. Poured the coolant in and drove the other mile or so before getting home and shutting the engine off. I am ordering the new valve and heater hoses now, but am really afraid that some engine damage occurred. There was never any noise or other symptom from the engine at any time during this incident. I am really hoping no damage occurred as this car is our daily driver and kids hauler, etc.

Another question is can I use a valve that is more of a generic type? Rummaging in the various storage compartments of the car I found stored away by previous owner a box marked "Ready-Aire HEATER VALVE 5926 GDI MADE IN USA". I think maybe he wanted to carry a spare in case this catastrophe strikes. Unfortunately, I did not find this thing until after I drove the car home. I could have replaced the valve earlier. The question is does it matter if I use this valve to replace the one that broke? This one looks differently, as can be seen from this picture.