Coolant Change

[Jebus]

This was my coolant flush adventure

A thread showing what I did on mine, for some reason some photo went wonky but they are all still on my flickr account.

Agree with what people already ready said, just take time doing it, not much to go wrong.

[mocambique-amazone]

Hi James, you own a turbo!
Under the oilfilter is a short pipe located, on both sides with a rubber tube.
On the lowest point is a drain screw, 13mm head (maybe 12mm, I don't remember 100%) Open this first! It will reduce the mess. If I remember right the coolant is brown and not clear anymore. After running out the existend coolant of the drain screw and out of the cooler by remowing a pipe you should flush the system. First with pure water. After this I fill up the system with citron accid and pure water, running the engine 2 or 3 days. Flush with pure water again two times.
Now you have a clean engine inside the coolant department ;-)
Add the blue stuff in 50/50 or with ready mix. Be a happy Volvo-guy :-)
Regards, Kay

[aardvarkash10]

^ This is interesting - the slightly acid flush will clear out any calcium deposits (and a range of other mineral deposits) from using "hard" water.

This by way of a caution only - if the acid you use is relatively low concentration, a couple of days is not going to cause any harm. Don't leave it in there long though - the acid is an electrolyte and in effect you have turned the engine into a battery (two dissimilar metals and an electrolyte) and it will increase corrosion.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by James_N

presume i need 5 litres of this:

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Vo...f3b7cb9&000397

is that OK?

That stuff is only a 2 year coolant , get a 4 litre bottle of proper volvo coolant for only a small amount more money and it will serve you well for many years ...There is none better .... ,

[aardvarkash10]

^ meh.

Volvo states this isn't necessary, but its good practise to change the coolant on a 2-year cycle anyway.

Buyer's call though. I suspect (and act as if) Volvo wasn't anticipating 22 year old vehicles when it gave that recommendation.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by aardvarkash10

^ meh.

Volvo states this isn't necessary, but its good practise to change the coolant on a 2-year cycle anyway.

Buyer's call though. I suspect (and act as if) Volvo wasn't anticipating 22 year old vehicles when it gave that recommendation.

yes they were , they were advertising that their cars had an average life of 23 years way back then :-) The coolant going back to the 70's is fundamentally still the same , no need whatsoever to change it unless it goes off colour or is not clean and clear . I've used it in a variety of cars since the 70's . My 1988 340 still has the original coolant , bright clear colour still protects to -37C..

Of course the current volvo cars will not be around in 23 years ... but they will go to scrap with fine coolant :-)

[coolpurks]

I just bought 4l volvo coolant from marshalls volvo- they gave me 10% discount so about £21 all in- not much more than the generic stuff

[James_N]

well immediatly there is a problem! I couldn't quite get to the bottom rad hose to with a screwdriver to remove the jubilee clip, so i thought i'd try a socket on it to remove it (it is bloody welded on i'm sure!!), however, rusty as it was, it has scapped the screw off, so now the jubilee clip is stuck on there and i have no screw to unwind it.

Any suggestions?

My cooling system just has water in, and it looks pretty murky so certainly in need of changing soon!

[Laird Scooby]

A socket (or nut-runner) is the best method of tightening and loosening Jubilee clips. Normally if the clip is a bit old, i give it a squirt with WD40 or similar so it at least has a chance of moving.

Probably a bit late for that bit of advice i know but something to remember for the future.

The easiest way of removing the "dead" Jubilee clip now would be a cut-off disc mounted in a Dremel or similar, from a point of view of access best done from underneath with the front end on ramps or axle stands. Slice through the clip being very careful of the hose underneath.
If you do "nick" the hose, depending how bad you've done it, you can normally get away with taking 1/2-3/4" off the end of the hose to not only get rid of the nicked bit but also the squashed bit where the Jubilee clip has been for a couple of decades.

There are other methods but this is the safest method and least likely to go wrong.

[James_N]

bummer! i'll have to get round to this another time! Thanks for the advice though, i'll save this thread for when i eventually get round to it!