Bizarre!

[the-man-that-can]

HI all well seems i have a mysterious water leak that i cant seem to find! weird thing is the car only seems to lose water from the expansion tank when the car is parked up and not driven. Then i top it up (with 50 50 mix ionized water and antifreeze) and can drive the car all day without any water loss at all. Car does not overheat at all and i have done the heater matrix test where you stick the heater on full when the car is hot! (no smoke through vents) and the foot well carpets are dry as a bone. All the hoses look good and are tight and i have fitted a brand new genuine volvo expansion tank too along with a new cap! there does seem to be coolant on the floor when car is left for a few days! (appears to be from the drivers side) but i just cant seem to find where the leak is coming from

[partsforvolvos.com]

mine was like that, and it was coming from the corner of the radiator only when the car was cold. the connection between the end tank and core is where they usually go.
it dripped onto the undertray and only appeared onto the floor if parked at a certain angle.
I assumed it sealed itself when the radiator became hot because I never observed a loss after a long journey.

[the-man-that-can]

Hmmmmm thanks for that! i was wondering if it was the rad when i had my last volvo a gul 854 the rad gave up the ghost too! i literally went out to get into the car and noticed the entire lot of coolant from the rad was spread all over my parents drive the plastic end cap this time on the passenger side of the rad had completely pushed itself out from the tabs dumping all the coolant on the floor! I have already bought some bits from you guys and seems like im gonna be buying the aluminium rad you guys sell too! As im guessing its a lot better/stronger than the OEM ones? Just gonna have to save up some penny's as getting sick of spending money on the volvo at the moment

[partsforvolvos.com]

yes the alloy ones are well worth the money.
especially if you fitted an alloy intercooler as well since they sit on the rad and are much heavier than the oe part.
have a look down the back of headlights onto the undertray and see if any coolant can be seen there after if has been left for more than 2-3 hours.
I bet some is there.

[martin_r_smith]

Yep have exactly the same problem, although very minor in my case, and it is as mentioned the rad leaking ever so slightly from the bottom right corner as you look at it.

[the-man-that-can]

Ok thanks a lot for that info guys

[partsforvolvos.com]

mine was minor as such about half the way between max and min on the tank every few days, but it bugged me and I ended up changing it for peace of mind.

[the-man-that-can]

Hmm seems I have a little bit of water leaking.

[the-man-that-can]

Is the above a gasket maybe gone or on its way out?

[weagie]

I had a problem with coolant loss for a while and could never find the sorce, turned out to be the water pump in the end.