Hi guys,
My name is Steven and I have a 1996 Volvo 850 GLT. I was taking a friend home the other day. About a 10-15 min drive out of town. Driving down the back roads I noticed my temp was in the red. Then I saw smoke coming out of the hood. I went to check it out and let the car cool down. I then got some water in the car and was able to limp it the rest of the way to my friends house. When pulling into his drive way the car started to overheat and smoke again. Put water in it again and it started to boil over. I was able to get it home by towing it most the way. I let the car sit for a few days and now when idling it sounds ruff. Can anyone help me. I need to figure out what is wrong with the car. Oh yeah and when it overheated the coolant reservoir cap melted and so did the actual reservoir.

 

It sounds to me like you blew he headgasket. One way to tell is if there is oil mixed in with the coolant in the resevoir. Also ifyou start the car, pull the cap off the reservoir and if you see the fluid bubbling like it is boiling, you blew the headgasket.

 

Okay thank you. I will try that and get back to you. I did forget to mention in my post that when I give the car a little gas.... I noticed an the exhaust was very clear to see and very white.

 

Quite possible you need a new head gasket now but you need to find the root cause as it may have a failed water pump/bad thermostat. The one time my 850T boiled over, it was due to a failed thermostat and it blew out the coolant tank cap (as it should have). Check the thermostat first, then if good you will probably need to start pulling the timing belt etc to get at the water pump (which means you're half way done on replacing the head gasket)... if the pump looks good (ie not spinning on its shaft or seized) keep going and pull the head.

 

The head gasket is definitely blown. Boiling water doesn't melt the reservoir. What melts the reservoir is exhaust coming out through the reservoir.

These Volvos typically will warp the head when they overheat, and yours is about the worst case I have ever heard of. So you probably will need a new head.