Just spent a whole lot of time rebuilding my 96 850 platinum edition's motor, turbo, suspension, radiator and heater core and put about100 very fun miles on her. The other night I took her out for a quick drive, backed her into the driveway let her idle a minute or two (very proud of my car as my neighbor told me how great she sounded, looked and fast she seemed) while I was checking a code, then turned her off to reset the code. A few minutes later "BOOM" huge stream venting through the dash, coolant pouring out on to the floor soaking the carpet, amplifier, etc.

Maybe it was my installation so get right to cleaning up and pulling the core. This is what I saw.



No over heating, installation looked great but the upper tank split

I'm not mentioning the manufacturer yet because I have dialog but the retailer I'm ready to slam and here they are

http://www.partsgeek.com/

and I recommend that you never buy a single part if you want "ANY" sort of customer service.

I took the failed core to work and had some Mechanical Engineers I work with evaluate and they gave me some very good ideas as to why it failed.

I now have a Behr that looks much better and will install this weekend.

Stay tuned because I will mention the part manufacturer if and when it's in the interest of the public.

 

I think you should mention the two above mentioned since this might help someone NOT go thru this again! That sucks man, but I know why I only order from FCPgroton.

 

I will bring names in, however I can't put too much blame on a manufacturer who's parts are being ripped off by some place like this

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/20...showimage.html

perhaps, or maybe they've decided to source part from a low cost builder.

And when a retailer will not respond to your repeated messages, well perhaps "they" have something to hide.

Yes, FCP is my very first choice, I've purchased in the neighborhood of $4000 in the past few months from FCP, had an issue or two, but Mike R will pick up the phone and listen and help (and has genuine concern when a part has an issue ) as well as all of the staff.

FCP....do those rear bump stops really cost that much???? almost as much as the springs What's up with that?

 

Man that sucks. How long was it installed in the car?

 

10 days it was in the car and was okay, car ran great, drove her hard for over 100 miles and had so much fun. The car did get hot the day it failed as I learned after I installed a new Behr when the car got hot again. What could it be all things point to the Tstat that I didn't replace(hey it looked good and actually worked well for a few days). Pulled a brand new one out of my 96NA and put it in the turbo and everything seems okay.

Except that I still think the heater core should be robust enough to take a bit of heat and not be the weakest link in the system. So here are pics of a good core vs a bad core.





The Behr uses a nylon based plastic that is much stronger, especially at high temps, than the others ABS type tank( I can't say these are the exact plastic composition but this is what they look like to me and a few others). And note the added reinforcement webbing in the exact area that the previous tank failed. And if you look at the core dimensions and the passages 9 vs 11 in the behr (and many more fins as well). The behr is a superior product.

I'm still trying to dry out the under carpet foam rubber sound insullation. Volvo "really" did this car right, absolutely beautiful, and most people never get to see just how great it is beneath the skin. I want a huge barn full of them.