My car has a problem ive never seen before, i usually drive a 300 mile trip every other weekend, on this trip ill get going with no problem, but about half way through the coolant level light turns on and stays on, ill pull over and open the cap for the resivor tank just slightly and bam the water comes back up and fills the tank, i also found a leak from the turbo coolant outlet hose, so i replaced that today thinking it might have something today, as well as the inlet and upper/lower radiator hoses, filled it up with coolant, and drove off about 20 minutes into the drive the same problem came up, i opened the cap a little bit and the coolant filled up when the car cooled down tho the tank was empty i filled it up again. does anyone have any idea whats going wrong?

 

Do this test.before you start ur car next time when its cold, open the reservoir cap, start the car and see if the coolant creates bubbles. Also before you start your car in the morning check the color of your oil, make sure it doesn't look milky. Plus check for oil in the coolant reservoir. If you see one of these symptoms, ur head gasket needs replacing.

 

 

update, no bubbles in tank when i turn the car on, oil is clean and so is the coolant..

 

If it's not going into the engine it's dripping someplace. Try putting cardboard under the car when you park it while it's still hot and try starting it up cold and idling it over the cardboard to see if you can see any spots.

You can also get a pressure tester from an auto parts store and pump up the pressure to see if you can find a leak and there is always automotive cooling system dye to use with a black light to locate a leak too.

The pressure tester is a loaner tool so you don't need to purchase and keep, just use and return. If you get it make sure you get the adapter for the screw on cap 850s use.

 

First off, you should NEVER open the coolant reservoir cap when the car is warm/hot. It is a pressurized system and will push fluid towards any open port that is cooler.

Now that we got that out of the way, if fluid is leaving the system, it's going somewhere. What people don't realize that coolant dries and evaporates very fast in a hot engine compartment. So, you can add a dye to the system and find the leak that way or you can find it another way like Kiss explained or look closer while the car is running and hot.

You have a leak somewhere. You need to find and fix it. Fill the system before you start the car and if it gets low within a few days, get the leak fixed before you blow the motor playing engine roulette.

 

i dont think i said that the car is NOT overheating, according to the temp guage, even when the light comes on not sure if this changes anything but anyways ill go ahead and rent the tester and find out whats going on

 

Given you have already located and replaced your leaking / suspect hoses I cant help thinking that this is down to a substantial airlock in the cooling system.
Does your 850 have an air release bleeding screw in the lower radiator hose as S/V40's do?
Also, have you run the heater on hot since you renewed the hoses and replaced the coolant afterwards? This helps rid the system of air also.
Even squeezing the bottom radiator hose helps move air locks along, hopefully to rise up to the reservoir highpoint of the system.
I recently renewed my own coolant in my V40 and had to burp the system a couple of times to fully top off the coolant and get rid of the air in the motor / heater /turbo.
Browsing thru all the forums its interesting to note that several others are having very similar issues at the moment to you.
Another possibility, have you checked all the water jacket welsh plugs on the engine block, head for signs that one or more my be seeping water when hot under pressure.
The water could be drying on the hot outer surface of the engine therefore undetectable as a leak. Some dry coolant salts / residue may give it away on the surface around a suspect plug.

 

The coolant low level light has nothing to do with the car's motor temperature, unless of course you run out of coolant. Then the car will over heat. The temp gauge in the car will tell you that real quick. It will also likely blow a hose or something.

These 850's do NOT have any kind of bleed valve in the coolant system. The system does pretty good getting air out through the coolant reservoir. Usually filling the reservoir when the car is cold will put 90% of the coolant back in the system. A day of driving usually gets any air out and the bottle will be lower the next morning. Then you top it up the next day or two and you're good to go.

What I usually do to fill the system the first time is pull the upper radiator hose and pour coolant in it until it fills and starts to over flow. You can also fill the reservoir with the upper hose disconnected and it will overflow from the hose and that will usually fill the system the first time.

Again, if you fill the bottle while the car is cold and it gives you a low level light while driving. something is leaking.

 

Again, running the heat doesn't matter in these cars since the heater core gets coolant 100% of the time. These cars do NOT have a heater hose valve that blocks coolant from going through the system. NO NEED TO RUN THE HEAT WHEN ADDING COOLANT OR TRYING TO CHECK COOLANT LEVEL.

 

It is summer time. Record breaking high temps all over the country, not to mention a lot of these cars have 18 year old coolant hoses on them. There will be a lot of coolant/over heating issues. Then people run to these forums for answers (which is good).

 

Based on rspi's response above and useful tips for airlock free filling of the coolant system one must assume that the water is most probably disappearing out thru the exhaust.
The oil apparently ?? isn't milky and the coolant isn't sludgy/foamy looking.
Is there a small trail of water behind the car or a lot of white steamy smoke with a slight coolant smell from the tailpipe?

 

For some reason these cars don't seem to blow coolant out of the tail pipe when the head gasket is breached with the combustion chamber. There may be coolant escaping through the turbo and leaving the exhaust there.

My daughter's S70 had a head gasket leak where the combustion chamber was leaking between the coolant passage and it caused combustion air to go into the coolant passages. Not sure if that is because the coolant system is pressurized or not but the hot combustion air was forcing coolant to fill up the reservoir and out of the cap. The entire motor was empty of coolant and the bottle was full. NEVER A LOW COOLANT light except for when the car was started. Here is our story on our bad head gasket.

Head Removal and Installation, Volvo 850 / S70 Turbo B5234T, B5254T, Head gasket replacement, valve replacement.

If the head gasket breach is bad enough to cause coolant to escape into the exhaust the car would be missing, not firing.

I don't know, just think he has a leak somewhere. Better find it soon or he will blow the motor.

 

okay, so i found the leak it was from the heater line leading off the main coolant metal hose, tightened it and so far so good!

okay no my next question is my steering seems extremely sensitive especially at highway speeds and little bump in the road and i can feel it in the steering, it doesnt seem like there is any play in the steering it just seems sensitive. thoughts?

 

Have the alignment checked out; may be worn components in the suspension too.