I recently started noticing in the morning that there is a small wet spot below my car, near the rear of the engine bay on the driver side; sometimes I could see a green liquid droplet above the area, which appeared to be coolant. I checked the engine bay near the area, and also raised the car to take a look up into the engine bay, it appeared that the leak was coming from the area where there the two copper color tubes going into the firewall. The two tubes are hooked up to some kind of connector made of bright yellow plastic; the two tubes can rotate somewhat in the connectors.

I have checked the Haynes' repair manual, and think that these two connectors are what the book refers to as the "heater matrix stubs on the bulkhead", but I am not certain.

I have taken a look in the driver side footwell; without removing carpet, I did not see any sign of wetness.

Has anyone encountered this kind of coolant leakage? Is this something that is better left to a professional or I could try to fix it myself? So far the kind of work I have done on the car include oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, pollen filter, spark plugs, brake fluid, and thermostat replacements; I also installed the turbo gauge kit from IPD.

Thank you in advance for any pointers.

Chie
1998 V70 T5M

The hoses are hooked to the heater core through the bulkhead connector.
The reason why the hoses can be rotated is due to the design of the connector.
The design was "borrowed" from Ford, they have been using it since the middle 80s.
Needless to say that the connector is prone to leaks because of the movement that is inherent in the design.
I have never removed the one on my 95 850 or 98 V70.
There should be one or two "O" rings sealing the hose to the bulkhead connector.
That would be the most logical point of failure.
A special tool is required on that type of connector.

Also, check the heater core hoses... You can replace those in 30 minutes or less, and it is cheap!

Mike

Thank you for the replies!

I am leaning towards taking the car in to the shop to have it checked. At this point I am not completely able to tell whether the hoses themselves are leaking or the connection into the heater core is leaking - the amoung of leak is fairly small, and it appears that it only leaks after the car has been driven and cooled. A couple of times I could feel wetness on one of the hoses, but I also saw some dried stains that were possibly from coolant on one of the copper (?) pipes leading into the firewall connectors.

Chie