Volvo 850R 140k Temperature probelm

[bonnietiler]

Hi, just back from a crosscountry trip to Derby..car ran like a trooper as usual...but....
Stuck in a monumental traffic jam and I noticed the temp gauge start to rise a little, normally occupies the bottom third..it crept up to over half..and I could see steam emitting from the expansion tank side.
I stopped and had a look see and couldn't really see a lot of coolant loss...any ideas..I've bought an expansion cap....
any help much appreciated
Bonnietiler

[Nealevo]

Did the fans cut in???

[bonnietiler]

Now that is a very good question... I don't know. I shall start it up tomorrow and leave it ticking over and check.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers
Bonnietiler

[Biff]

It will take a while for them to cut in.
Could well be the cap on your bottle, the seals are crap & can loose water through them. Therefore steam would escape also.

[martybelfastt5]

or a cracked bottle they crack round the base of the lid thread neck

[Ettienne]

What cap you got? Green one?

[bonnietiler]

Yes it's a green one.
Bonnietiler

[kyboy]

Green ones the up grade from the grey one apparently I've also had a tank crack around the base of the threads too making it look like the caps failed!

[Shinsplintz 101]

Sounds to me like you've got a stuck or faulty thermostat. The temp gauge should sit at half way all the time once the car is up to temp, not down at a third as you mentioned in the op. Try changing that if you haven't already.

[mitchyboy01]

Hi, as above, I'm 99.9% sure your thermostat is sticking open. It should run half way or just above in normal running. Your thermostat will be staying open which is allowing the car to over cool. I had the same problem. The heaters always took ages to get hot and the only time the car would reach full operating temperature was when I was stopped in traffic. New thermostat was only about a tenner or so.