Volvo 940 losing Water

[zeitghost]

I know how cars work; however mine leaks oil not water...

[max1972]

Ok Sorry Ive obviously made a Mistake I will go away now. Thanks anyhow

[DimPrawn]

[ladymuck]

Take all the hoses off, seal the ends up and stick them in a bucket of water. Bubbles = leak! Cruddy ends on the hoses where the rubber cracks can also lead to a leak, they're not expensive to replace and could be done yourself.

Check the cap on the water reservoir thingy, sometimes the seal goes.

After that, it's the radiator or the water pump.

[zeitghost]

Sorry we couldn't help.

When my Volvo started losing a little water, I put some of that radweld stuff in the header tank... worked wonders.

[DimPrawn]

Take all the hoses off, seal the ends up and stick them in a bucket of water. Bubbles = leak! Cruddy ends on the hoses where the rubber cracks can also lead to a leak, they're not expensive to replace and could be done yourself.

Check the cap on the water reservoir thingy, sometimes the seal goes.

After that, it's the radiator or the water pump.

You're no lady.

[ladymuck]

You're no lady.

I am too!

Other half had an elusive leak on his old Audi 90 and those are basically the steps he went through to source and fix it. I wouldn't get my hands dirty on a car, that's what hired help is there for!

[chock]

Any suggestions would be helpful I have a Volvo 940 which has an inconsitant problem of losing water it dosent happen all the time. Its been into a garage today and hasnt lost a drop so they can not pin point the problem has anyone ever had simular problems? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have a Volvo 940 which has an inconsitant problem of losing water <full stop> it dosent happen all the time.

[Clog II The Avenger]

Any suggestions would be helpful I have a Volvo 940 which has an inconsitant problem of losing water it dosent happen all the time. Its been into a garage today and hasnt lost a drop so they can not pin point the problem has anyone ever had simular problems? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Your car has either a cracked cylinder head or a blown head gasket, The failed head forces air into the coolant intermittently. Your garage mechanics sound craap.

[Gold Dalek]

I have just fixed a similar problem on my Shogun

The worst case scenario is as stated a cracked cylinder head - if you can see an emulsion in the water or water in your oil and get clouds of white smoke then that is a likely pointer

Mine was actually a weeping water pump - £ 50 repair and an afternoons work - I saw that one side of the engine bay had rusted, traced it back and saw that overnight a puddle of water would be standing under waterpump

Other things to try are remove your fan assembly (not sure how easy this is on a Volvo), run the engine & look for leaks to hoses etc.

You could try adding a can of radweld or similar to see if your radiator has pin holed

or replace the radiator cap which is meant to allow water to pass into the expansion tank at a set pressure

It really is a matter of trial and error - start at the cheapest option and work up to the cracked cylinder head.. for which a compression test is a good pointer

Some of the MOT garages use the emission sensor for exhausts to sniff around the tank rad for combustion gasses... but I'm told it's not a very reliable method