2006 Volvo s40 2.4i

Short Story
Heater hose broke and car overheated (but pulled over IMMEDIATELY and got it towed, then fixed it. Then Radiator hose broke on next drive, coolant got on engine. I replaced. Car cranks normal (nor slow nor fast) but won't start.

Long Story
So first a heater hose connector cracked causing a small leak and caused the car to overheat. Pulled over IMMEDIATELY and got a tow truck. I replaced that hose and connector. All was well.

Then a small crack in the coolant expansion tank (reservoir) cracked more spraying coolant all over the engine. Replaced that and drove the car, all was well.

Then when arriving to a friends house, at a stop sign, the oil pressure light came on. Turned off when I proceeded. Drive for a block to his house and when I parked the light came on. At idle it felt like it was lacking power when I was parking. I turned it off and noticed there wasn't any coolant. I poured some in and then it all came out from the bottom. The upper radiator hose totally broke and coolant was getting all over the lower half driver side part of the engine! I left the car there order the part. I replaced today and no coolant leak BUT the car won't start.

Questions
I'm not sure what to do. I was thinking that coolant got on some connectors and they needed to dry. Then I was thinking ****, it overheated, blew a head gasket or cracked the head, and it got worse with driving. But there isn't any noticeable oil in coolant, no coolant in the oil, and no white smoke or steam coming from tailpipe when cranking.

I'm going to go get a compression gauge tonight, but is there any other place I should start or check out in the meantime?

Thanks in advance!

 

Pull the plugs and see how they look after cranking for a bit.
If it has compression, spark and fuel, should start. Even 1 bad cylinder shouldn't prevent it from starting. Connect 1 of the removed plugs and ground it and have someone crank to make sure you have spark. Hopefully plugs aren't wet with coolant. If you get it running well, replace the thermostat and any remaining coolant hoses.

 

the fact that different parts of the cooling system continue to suffer ruptures strongly suggests that you've got pressure build up. All signs point to a blown HG but I'm just an amateur. Let us know how your compression testing goes. You could also pressure test your cooling system to see if it holds...good luck.


I'm told that test kits exist that allow you to test your coolant for presence of exhaust gases although I've never seen one first hand. I think this would be a good way to confirm whether or not you've got an HG issue that matches up with your symptoms.

 

I'm inclined to agree with you. Just one thing. The pieces that failed were all plastic. They seemed degraded/corroded. Brittle to the semi-pressure squeeze.

I let the car sit for a couple of days and it started right up (well a little hesitant on the first start, but normal on every start thereafter). I do have a misfire in cylinder 3 now which is new. Going to change spark plugs as if was time to do that months ago anyways. I'll inspect then.

 

So the car ended up starting, I guess some connectors got wet and probably had to dry.

The blown HG was also correct. More issued after I got it up and running. I replaced the HG and now my timing is all screwed up. Pretty sure I'm hitting valves as there is a loud knocking sound when I started the car up. Made another post here:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...se-help-86439/

 

if the car starts up, you're pretty close on timing - if you hit the valves you'd lose all compression. could be a notch off...