Hi all. I just picked up a 1995 850 Turbo, a beat up little thing but it seemed to drive alright. On my home, however, I had the infamous 20 minutes or so of mainly highway driving and then it began to overheat. It started overheating less than a mile from my house, so I was able to get home in one hitch.

There's a catch, though. I, used to my previous car that handled water in lieu of coolant like a champ, topped the reservoir off with water from just below minimum to max before driving home, thinking it would be alright until I could fill it with coolant later.

How likely is it that the water (specifically, the amount of water) caused my overheating issue? Would it have been more likely to occur sooner than it did (20 minutes) or not? I'm not sure yet if it has a coolant leak (as I said, I had to fill it up when I got it) but it appears all the water either leaked out or boiled out; is it possible for all that water to have boiled out? I read up quite a bit on here about the possible issues that could have been part of the car's 20 minute overheating problem when I bought it, but everything seems so expensive and complicated to fix on these cars that unless it was a fluke with overheating, I'm considering cutting my losses. I've ruled out issues with the fans and the ECT at this point.

I took it around for a one-mile drive today and it seemed to drive alright. It doesn't seem to sound any different than it did before. Obviously, it's still working, but from what I've read, the ones with faulty head gaskets do too. When one of my old Mazdas overheated like the 850 did the other day, it was dead on the spot. But my coolant tank seems to be "oily" and there was some gunk on my oil stick, but it didn't seem excessive, rather just the result of a less than optimally-maintained car with 190,000 miles on it.

Also, my mpg readouts in the digital display seem off, is it normal for them to go bad? Could someone differentiate between the two "mpg" and "mpg>o"? They were jumping around (after a fresh reset) from 7 to 32, so not sure what to make of that.

As another piece of information, I tried to turn on the heat about halfway home (hadn't tried it prior) and it just blew out cold air. Not sure if this is separate or related or would be caused by the water issue, but I turned it back off and it drove for a few more miles before the overheating started.

One more thing: is this just plastic covering the cam/timing belt or is this actually part of the engine?

 

If your car was low on coolant (water) the heat wont work. Check for leaks if it is losing coolant, and if you cannot see any, it may be leaking internally, which would explain the oily reservoir, sludgy oil.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Hi Mikelo, welcome to the forum.

These cars are not much different than others, if you over heat it, it can destroy the head gasket, crack the block, blow a hose, etc. When you said it over heated, what does that mean? The needle got a little above 1/2 way? The needle hit the red? You being someone with driving and maintenance experience, I hope you didn't drive an inch with the needle near the red line. Just not worth the risk. Common issues with over heating;
- little or no coolant.
- massive coolant leak.
- broken or leaking water pump.
- thermostat stuck close (somehow).
I wouldn't worry about a little oily looking stains in the res, just actual oil in the fluid. You have no idea of the history, that bottle may have been a junkyard transfer from a car with a bad head gasket. Our S70 has had an oily res tank for over 2-1/2 years.

As for the trip computer, nice feature. There are several settings, they go like this (from full counter clockwise going clockwise):
- Average MPH. Keeps track from last reset, no matter how long it's been since the last battery disconnect.
- Live MPG. This gives you real time MPG and will varry from 5 mpg to 99 mpg.
- Average MPG. Since last reset or battery disconnect.
- Outside Temp. Has 1 sensor just under the radiator.
- Trip Miles. Since last reset.
- Miles to empty. Keeps track of the gas in the tank and tells you how far before empty.
When you get low on gas, 3 gallons or less, the low fuel light will come on and the gauge will display miles to empty without selecting it. It can be over ridden if you turn the ****.

Maybe the car did NOT warm up because you didn't have enough coolant in the system. Also, there is an AIRMIX vent just to the right of the cluster. If that is dialed down, it will let cool air in the upper vents when the system is on. If you want only warm/hot air, you have to dial that up (off).

The timing belt cover can be removed with the one 12mm bolt in the middle of it. Pull the bolt and lift the cover off to inspect the items behind them. If the car has no timing belt history, you should replace everything behing there at those miles, prior to driving it again.

 

How much water did you add (Qt, Gal) and was it below freezing where you are ?? Any chance the water froze in a hose before it had a chance to mix with the coolant?

Seeing as you just picked it up you should take a little time to find out what the cause is before you jump to "considering cutting my losses".

 

You might also want to check the thermostat it might be having issues.