I just bought a 1986 Volvo 240DL Wagon this evening that's having a small issue...when you add coolant to the radiator (with the car off), it goes through the engine and stuff and it ALL leaks out somewhere around a red/orange thing around the middle of the car/back of the engine...all 3 gallons or so within about 3-4 minutes...I'm taking it to a repair shop tomorrow (it's currently 3AM here) to have them take a look at it...does anyone here have any idea what it might be?

Thank you very much for your help
Jeff

 

Bad seal?

 

On my '92 240, there is no petcock underneath the radiator to drain it. Instead, near the bottom rear of the engine is a 1 inch metal tube with a nut at the base. The tube is made to accept a rubber hose for drainage purposes. By turning the tube with the nut at the base it allows the antifreeze to drain out. The orange black thing might be your oil filter?

 

actually, the oil filter is semi-near the front of the engine and yellow, so i didn't believe it was that

 

OK, you're losing your antifreeze so fast, I'm just thinking that the drain plug is in the open position.

 

yeah...that's partly why i'm thinking it might be the freeze plug...the only other things i think it could be are some little hoses, the water pump or a blown head gasket/cracked head (which i REALLY hope it isn't)

 

well, i officially found the problem and i'm probably going to fix it tonight myself...there's a HUGE gash in the upper heater hose...as soon as my dad gets home with MY car, i'm going to drive to Pep Boys to get a new hose

 

Also make sure the Metal pipe for the Heater hose isn't rotted out as well.

 

Tech: It isn't

OK, the battery that the car came with was VERY dead, so we replaced it and now it's running perfect...i must say, i rather like this car

 

Cool glad all is well.