I have been out of the country for about a month, and left my car sitting. I was driven once while I was gone and that was it. On my way home from the airport steam started coming out of the vents and coolant leaked out all over the passenger floor. The leak was sufficient enough that I lost about a gallon of coolant within about 10 minutes. I'm assuming the heater core is done for, and I'm not looking forward to the huge process it's going to be to get a new one in there. Right now I have my coolant lines tied together at the firewall, and the car is driving fine (it didn't overheat) I didn't think it was too common for this part to fail on the 960's so I'm in a bit of shock. Is there anything I should double check before I tear out my dash and attempt to install a new core? Would it be worth it to try some Bars "heater core and cooling system stop leak" that I saw at the auto store the other day? Or should I just keep driving it as is, and fix it when I have the time and money? I love how the car does this after I put in new front suspension bushings, stiffer rear springs and a chassis brace. Maybe it was upset that I did all these nice things and then left it to sit for a month. LOL.

 

If it lost that much coolant I wouldn't think that stop leak would help. I would keep it going like you have it and find out what it takes to replace the coil. Some cars do not require the dash removal.

 

Sorry to say but the heater core swap on this is almost a 2 day job. Yes it is very rare that they fail on the 960's.

 

yeah I looked it up on Brickboard. There is a pretty good write up on there that goes into detail on how to replace it. I saw the time is anywhere from 10-20 hrs depending on if you've torn apart the dash before. Looks like it's not going to be very fun........especially that automatic climate control stuff. grrrrr

 

Quick, sell it and purchase another. JK

 

yeah, no one in So-Cal needs a heater right? I could sell it for sure! haha nah, after all the work I've done to improve it I am not planning on getting rid of it anytime soon. Just the very thought of a car payment really scares me.

 

I know what you mean. The thing that gets us Volvo owners is that our cars hold up really well so it doesn't bother us to hold on to our cars until someone smashes them for us. A while ago I read that the average life of a Volvo was 17 years so you are right at that. Heck, being in southern Cal I would probably just park it in the sun on those cooler days.

 

for 17 years, it looks better and rides better than cars half its age. I love it. Thankfully my girlfriends brother in law has a pretty loaded garage, and has offered to help me fix things. With the two of us working maybe we'll be able to get it done in a day?

 

You might be able to get it done in 1 day with both of you.

 

1 day would be good. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I was planning on getting my new one from ipd or fcp. any other suggestions?

 

I think one of those 2 would be the best places to get it from.

 

FCP has a Nissen for $138. Seems fair I guess. Before I order are there any other associated parts I should consider getting with it?

 

Not really but check the control diaphrams while all is apart. That would be the time to replace them if they are bad.

 

haha funny because the control diaphrams were replaced right before I got the car. I guess that's good. One less thing to worry about.

 

My recommendation, don't buy a Nissens. I had a brand new one explode because the car got just a bit hot. Thankfully the car was in the driveway instead of being driven down the road because the windshield was just covered with steam.

The tanks are not strong enough and they should not be the weakest link in the cooling system. I replaced it with a Behr and it is superior.

 

thanks bobec, I'll have to look into that. This is definitely something I don't want to have to do twice