A Very long overdue Coolant Change

[Jebus]

Afternoon all, (Slightly long post but plenty pretty pictures)

My recently acquired 940, has a good few issues, and appears to have had little love apart from the distributor being replace at some point last year a couple owners ago, not much seems to have been done..
Short story is, I gave it the beans up a hill on the way home a few weeks ago, and its made a hole in the exhaust and started leaking a lot of water somewhere under the Turbo, I knew it needed the coolant changed since it was pretty much just water as there is a slight leak and had not been topped up with coolant, but it was a little worse than I expected, and wasn’t a sign all was healthy with the cooling system.
It had lost a lot of coolant but didn't overheat and was shut off quickly, I topped it off and left it until had time to do something with it, ran a few times and didn't leak again.
Took the expansion bottle off, and well it was grim (was this colour all over the inside of the tank)

Jebus, on Flickr


Jebus, on Flickr
Not a good sign, I had to ram a small screwdriver through the hole to clear anything, ended up pulling out the metal sleeve as it was so gunked up.


Jebus, on Flickr

This was last night, brought it in filled it with several cleaning stuff, which didn't do a lot so stuck some rice into it and shook it around a lot and got the majority of dirt/rust/mank out of it, extracted the rice out and given a general scrub down again left to dry overnight.

Onward.....To my Sunday afternoon, took the thermostat out decided to give it a basic flush to get as much gunk out as I could for now, tried a system via the thermostat housing but it was leaking and annoying so went to draining via the block drain... it started off as a very slow pathetic drip but I kept blasting water in via the top rad hose and expansion bottle and it eventually started working properly.

Jebus, on Flickr

Flushed around 25 litres through the system, till the water was pretty much clear in the drain pan, the water in the container dumped it into was a lovely orange shade.
This was the gunk that was left in the bottle of the drain pan, some on the rag and the big blob in front of it.

Jebus, on Flickr

Reattach everything and refilled with coolant, ran it for a few mins have just over 7 back into it so the engine drain gets nearly everything out, since still need to run it up properly to temp and drive it to get rid of any sneaky trapped air.

How it should look!

Jebus, on Flickr


This is mostly to stop any more damaging being done to the inside of it, have just used the cheap blue concentrate (diluted around 50/50) from ECP as treating this one as a flushing change to clear out any other goo in the system, offer some protection and make finding leaks easier, plan to change the two hoses for oil cooler and water pump when I do the cambelt and front oil seals, but that will need to wait, untill get some time off work and saved some wonga.

If you have made it this far, thank-you for reading my badly grammared ramblings!

[volvo always]

I'm sorting out the issues with my 1996 940 LPT. It's done 183,000. I still haven't had time to get the downpipe fitted, as so busy with work. So just driving the car. Hopefully get it fitted end of next week.

Most likely a leaking hose/ rotten jubilee clip. Mine were well rusty so replaced them all.

I may replace the cat too as well rusty and holed around edges.
I certainly find him comfy and smooth and one up to scratch just standard maintenance/ age related wear.

James

[Jebus]

Mine is on 187 ish just now, not got under the front end properly yet, it a project to doesn't need to be used daily at least. Assuming a dead hose clip, and with the return to the expansion bottle blocked pressure might have just pushed a load of coolant out, will find it.

Our cars are seeming to have similar issues, Mine needs a new pipe right by the join onto the car has hole, and think it had a special fix to get past the MOT not long before it was mine.

Bank balance/credit card going to to a large hit later this year I think, but at least with a bit of love and care it will be worth it and should live another 25 years without massive issue

[Alasdair1]

With that amount of gunk in the system I would be tempted to use rad flush or something similar and also keep an eye on the temp as the rad could be clogged. I don't know why folks let the cooling system get in such a bad way. Its false economy as a regular change isn't that expensive compared to cooking an engine etc. Well done for getting it that clean so far. I would also check over all the jubilee clips etc and hoses.

Alasdair

[Jebus]

Thanks for the advice, I am thinking of using a rad flush, before new pump and rad goes in. just don't want to flush to much stuff through the system like that, might open up up some holes. I know why people don't change it, because people dont give a crap about looking after cars these days, the majority of problems with cars these days are caused by this!

Hoping the fresh coolant will help do the job of cleaning some goop out, and a mild rad flushing thing ran through it next change in a few months catches the rest.

The clamps overall look ok top side, and still silver under it but they will all get replaced with some stainless steel mikalor t-bar hose clamps as well, not the cheapest option but a lifetime job and one less things to worry about. the hole in the exhaust is far more annoying as it makes a lot of noise and its about wafting down the road not making a load of noise......that's what my S40 is for lol

[Laird Scooby]

Don't laugh but extra strong denture cleaning tablets are amazing at cleaning filthy expansion tanks. I had one very similar to yours and soaked it overnight in hot water and a few tablets in a lidded tub (Wilko sell one for a couple of quid that's just about the right size) giving it a shake every so often.

Next day it was near new in cleanliness. I'd rinsed a lot of gunge out before this "Before" pic :



Now for the "After" :



Quick temporary fix on the exhaust - dog food tins and Jubilee clips and it is MoT legal too!