I have a 2001 V70 Cross Country AWD that just started leaking antifreeze randomly. It doesn't do this all the time. I will get a msg on info that coolant is low. Filled twice. It was FULL and I had to drive the car at high speeds to get my dying Pet to the ER 40 miles away. When I pulled off the exit, the car stalled and almost not restarted. I did get there by continuously having to restart the car and maintain a high idle at stops. I drove it only once since then and again, it kept stalling with me and difficult to stay running. Only by keeping high idle/acceleration will the car even try to move. Coolant is normal and hasn't leaked anymore. I do smell antifreeze in the vents however. Gauge indicated it is normal temp. Does anyone know what could be causing the car to continuously stall and the smell of antifreeze with rare leakage? When low, it only takes about a quart to fill up. Even when car is cold, it is difficult to stay running and hard to leave from a 'stopped' position. Will not idle by itself for longer than a couple of minutes after warming up. Thank You so much for your help.

 

Sounds to me you need a head gasket. When the car warms up the coolant is under pressure causing it to leak even more. The coolant enters your cylinders fouls up the spark plugs and causes misfires. The exhaust should have a funny odor to it as well.

Have you seen any coolant on the ground?
Is there any contamination or residue in your coolant fill bottle?
Are you mechanically handy?

 

OP, though your post didn't mention it, I kind of assume that the car overheated during that 40 mile drive. Chances are that you blew a head gasket (like John suggested). Of course, when the head is off it should be checked for cracks and/or warpage caused by the heat. Not a good prognosis, but it is what it is...

 

Thank You for your knowledge and help. The exhaust does have a strange odor but the antifreeze bottle doesn't have any appearance of any contamination. The car has actually only leaked fluid approx. 3 times in a month. it is not constant. It does run like a fouled plug which is what I first thought. Your description is most likely the case. I don't understand why the TEMP gauge is Always 'NORMAL' even when I smell antifreeze in the vents. Do you have any idea how much replacing this head gasket would be. I just had the rear seal replaced and I thought they replaced the pump but not sure. On a freezing morning, I hear what sounds like bad bearings in the pump. Just an odd noise until it warms up. Thank You again.

 

No, the car never overheated according the TEMP Gauge. It did keep shutting off and difficulty starting just like it was overheated however. I just wondered if air was in the system causing the gauge to malfunction. Thanks for your input.

 

Antifreeze only leaked approx. 3 times over the past month. OH BTW, it hasn't leaked while running and standing still but only when I cut the car off it has leaked about a quart or so. No apparent contamination in the reservoir. Only handy on a chevy, this car completely stumps me.

 

Hi again Bradford The reason I asked you if you saw coolant on the ground was because you mentioned that you had a coolant leak and just the be clear that you saw an actual leak and not just the fact your losing coolant. Sometimes these older cars may have a few issues to deal with. The fact that you said you smell coolant concerns me as well, just like any old ahem chevy the coolant and heating system are much the same. Check your floor boards and see if they are wet ! ( I am thinking a heater core as well maybe??) Both a heater core and head gasket can be pretty major if you don't know what your doing and you may want to diagnose all the problems so that you can properly estimate your repairs.

Also you must have a check engine light on have you had that checked?

 

Thanks for all your information. Yes, I have had a Check Engine light on for a very long time so this is nothing new. It never would pass an inspection for some reason. The only information light that ever came on was a message that said "Engine coolant low, pull over and safely add fluid" The Red Triangle light would illuminate but go out once I added fluid. Strangely, no matter how hot the car was, I could open the fluid cap without danger of exploding pressure. I found this odd. Most cars spew fluid if opened while hot. Mine did not. It would only hold about a quart of coolant to top it off. I actually saw the drip when I would park the car after a long trip but it never leaked just sitting while it was cool or driven on a short distance.

 

Ok well...the first thing I would do would get a hold of a scanner, I am assuming you don't already have one. Get that thing scanned and post back here. The codes stored in there will help alot.

Second thing you need to do is get under it and find that coolant leak, check all the hoses and specially the clamps I have seen a lot of sweaty clamps. This may require you to remove the skid plate but we need to now where exactly the leak is coming from ....Coolant won't evaporate so there should be some moist evidence somewhere . The reason you can open the cap is because your losing coolant pressure via leak somewhere.

Unfortunately I don't know what the cost of the repairs would be at a shop I am still trying to help you figure out whats wrong with your car and how much it needs...I am hesitant to tell you to fix problem A then to have you get bit by problem B because we did not do the proper diagnostics.


How is the over all cars condition and how much are you willing to put in to make it a good reliable car again?

 

I think you have 2 issues, the coolant and whatever is causing your stalling.

Go get the car scanned. It is NOT good to drive around with that light on because you have NO indication of new issues. You may have had 1 issue 2 years ago, today you may have 4 error codes.

First off, get under the hood and check all of you intake tunes real good. I mean take them off and put them back on. You likely have something as simple as a loose or torn vacuum. You could also have a bad ETM. The car will tell you.

As for coolant leaks, you really can NOT fill the coolant system if the car is warm/hot. You need to do it with the car cold, like first thing in the morning. So check the level cold and fill it to the max mark with coolant. See how much it takes then. Coolant leaks do NOT just go away. These cars have strange head gasket situations to where the motor can and will empty itself of coolant through the coolant reservoir keeping the reservoir full while the motor is emptying. Then overnight, after the motor cools and the combustion gasses bleed off, the coolant left in the reservoir drains into the system and you get a low coolant notice. Chenaces are, you have a heater core leak and you are loosing your coolant UNDER the carpet in the car. I'm not sure if your core replaces like the '93 to '00 cars but if so, it is a very easy job once you have the part. Search YouTube and Google for "Volvo heater core replacement".

 

One recent revelation I'd add to this thread is that you CAN'T trust the temperature gauge. I was recently troubleshooting an A/C problem that turned out to be due to my radiator fan not coming on. I thought it was odd that the temperature gauge never varied from dead center after warming up, even with the fan not running. A quick scan with my bluetooth/OBD/smartphone system showed that the coolant temperature was going WAY above normal, without any indication on the dash gauge.

Don't know why, but suffice it to say that it's very possible to overheat a V70 without seeing the results on the gauge.

 

Thanks for this advice which is what I was thinking. I often thought the car was overheating but the gauge never varied past the 'normal' mark. I suspected this and is something I will address with the mechanic. They resolved the stalling issue but says he doesn't know anything about Volvo's so may have to take to another shop. Thanks for the info.

 

What was the reading of the temperature?

 

I let the temperature get up to 215-220 degrees idling in my driveway. The needle on the dash gauge never left the dead center location. I'm not really sure WHAT that gauge reports, but it really isn't coolant temperature. It's too bad, since you'd really have no indication that your engine is getting too hot until something REALLY bad happens.