General: 70: Heating Matrix Problem!

[ovlov girl]

Yes, near there....sorry to hear your this.....puts it all in perspective

[gdphillips]

m4.......not that far away........if you need anything just ask(to do with the car)have spanners will travel.......

[ovlov girl]

Hi Guys,
Just to update you. I picked up the Volvo today, she drove fine but once I reached newbury (5 miles). I noticed that the temprature guare was going above halfway. Which is unusal for her and given my recent posts did not want to risk it, I pulled her over, and called the AA.

Again, they were great and took a look at her and the breakdown report states "check olc o.k, pressure test up to 20psi, no leaks or loss of pressure, run engine, pressure rising up to 14 psi, cylinder head and thermostat housing at 117%. Top hose 83%, bottom hose at engine 97 degrees and radiator at 67% after engine had been stoped for 10 minuites pressure droped to 5 psi. Carried out cylinder head test when hot and fluid did not change. Organise tow to garage in nearby newbury. The temprateure in the radator is not consistant being from the top left to right-

67-top front - 45
72 -73
68 - 63"

Initially the garage she was towed to in newbury (on AA approvaal) said, the radiator was blocked and needed to be replaced and quotes £369 for the job, I then had a call a short time later and they said she needed a new cam belt and water pump and quoted £340 as they were able to flush the radaitor fine. 25 min later they called and said that they had done all the tests that they could do and suggested a needed to go off for diagonistics and there maybe a crack in the engine, they questioned wheather she was worth this much and they offered to dispose of it free and not charge me for the initial inspection.


I don't know what to do, and am under pressure to make a decision from the garage! What I do know is that if this is my best option then I would prefer to offer the car to fellow enuthastis who have helped me.

My dad owned her for 10years (I have had her for 18mths), there body and seats are in very good nic, the carpet in the front is discoloured from the coolent leaking, and she's done 119 542 miles. Ofcorse I am happy to proveide AA reports, service history, from when I owned her (dad liked to do everything himself) I don't know what else to say.

X

[Chopster]

Sorry to hear it's turned into a big job for you

If you put up some details of the car and if poss a couple of pics it might help with any sale

There's a product called 'K seal' that should keep you on the road for now (a friend of mine was running a Toyota power van with a cracked block on it for 3 years! ) and all for the princely sum of £8 every couple of months

[ovlov girl]

Thank you, Chopster

I will raise this option with the garage tomorrow.

I grew up in Australia, when i got my first car Datsun 1600 the first thing my my uncle taught me was to check the radaitor and coolant regulatly and every day in summer (you have to on 40 degreees plus temps)!

What I find hard is I that don't understand what happened to my car, on the first visit the AA said, pressure tested her said all ok, she has been to the same garage for 4 years. I drove her 34 miles to get there with no change in temp gauge etc. On the second vistit the AA looked at the previous report and reported in writing "pressure tested all ok" and confirmed that he should have written the tempratures down, but did not over write the previous breakdown report, or confirm in writing that there was a problem with the head gasket etc! There is no point in repeating my previous posts.

Everyone makes mistakes, maybe it was me, AA, my garage did, or perhaps its easier for the current carrage to profit on selling her. I don't know.......... I don't want to off load my car, but she deserves a bit more than going straight to the scrap. I don't want to make any money off her.

I would perfer her to go somewhere that could make good use of her! And would be more than happy to recoup my MOT and a short diagonstic.

PS: On the postive side potentially found a new buiness opportunity with good looking tattoed blok with A TEAM. I have a spanner and I an't getting on no plane.

Looks like I have to advise the garage what I want to do by noon tomorrow, can text photos if you want to PM me?

[ovlov girl]

whoops, I mean remaining tax

[mikealder]

What year is the car? if its 99/00 then its possible to drive the car with a data logger attached to see exactly whats going on with the engine temp, if the water pump is shot then this would explain the high temp and result in higher than normal pressure. This still shouldn't explain the damage to the heater matrix as the expansion bottle cap should have protected against a very high pressure.

Seems strange for a garage to think its water pump then switch to a "cracked block" something doesn't ring true there to me, if you change the water pump then the cam belt and pulley kit has to be done at the same time. Did you leave any receipts/ information from the previous garage in the car? Just wondering if the two places had been "discussing" the car (note I don't trust many garages at all, thankfully we have a couple of decent ones local but plenty of rogues such as the muppets I bought my V70 from in Fleetwood).

Is auto/ manual and does it have air con, if it has air con was this switched on, the air con will make the engine radiator fan run and provide more cooling - Mike

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by mikealder

Seems strange for a garage to think its water pump then switch to a "cracked block" something doesn't ring true there to me,

+1, couldn't agree more. There's just something about this that tells me there probably isn't actually a lot wrong with this car, just the garages you're going to don't seem to be able (or want) to diagnose the problem properly.

A decent pressure test and a sniffer test should prove conclusively whether the block is cracked and/or the head gasket's gone. This is half an hour's work if they have the kit, and if they don't they shouldn't be in business. If it's the water pump or a dodgy rad, (much more likely IMHO) then both of these jobs are not too difficult or expensive.

You just need someone you can trust to give you an accurate diagnosis. It's far too early to be thinking of scrapping the car, if you don't mind my saying.

[deathrider311271]

if u take "one" of the A team u take us all lol

PS hope u get sorted soon

[ovlov girl]

Hi Mike, yes she is 1999 she is, volvo estate.

I agree and am really uncomfortable with the explanations given to me (ok I am not a mechanic but I would like to think that I am not stupid either)!

Yes, I am too honest and mentioned the previous garage.............thinking about that , that was really stupid.

But they have me by the balls, they can charge me for the consultation and I can't drive her from site without being towed.

Any tips on a cheap recovery to my home until I find a garage, and recomend a mechanic's course so I am percieved as a muppett!!

Thank you