Hi All.

I am a new member in search of some advice from folks experienced in the ways of the Volvo.

I have just become a first-time Volvo owner as of Saturday. I purchased a very clean and seemingly well-maintained 1995 960 wagon with 89k miles. It was a local 1 owner trade-in at the local Audi dealership. I paid $9600 for it. After reading some of the posts on this site I am wondering if I paid too much, however it did come with two sets of fresh Michelin Pilot tires, one for summer and one set for winter mounted on steel wheels. The car appears to have been meticulously maintained, came with a fair amount of service records, was clean enough to eat off of, the engine and tranny felt smooth and capable, and it was overall a very satisfying car to drive. I imagined myself with my wife and our two kids along with all of our "gear" traveling across country (in style) seeking adventure on family vacations in this refined and luxurious automobile!

However, after completing the transaction late in the afternoon on Saturday, we drove the car approximately ten miles before we noticed that it was leaking coolant. The top inlet of the radiator was apparently cracked and the pressure of the coolant in conjunction with my grasping the hose to see if it was tight, caused the inlet to break off spraying scalding coolant in every direction. No one was injured, thankfully. However, both my wife and I were succumbing to a bit of buyer's remorse as the tow truck hauled our "new" Volvo back to the (now closed for the day) dealership where it had come from. Bummer.

I was referred to this site by another Volvo owner, and after reading some posts in regards to other member's radiator problems I figure that this is a fairly common problem. The dealership is going to fix the radiator problem for me, but they are not a Volvo shop, so that makes me slightly wary as I have read some posts here where users insist on using Volvo Brand Coolant, etc.

Any support or advice anyone has to offer, positive or negative or whatever, would be appreciated, as I really want this car to run forever and I am very much interested in performing as much maintenance myself.

I look forward to reading future posts.
Thanks in advance,
kkoch