Hi Everybody - I have to say this car is frustrating me. I installed an All Season (I think thats the brand) heater valve about three years, replacing an OEM heater valve installed by a professional Volvo shop, it was installed incorrectly and before that was another All Season heater valve installed by a different Volvo shop. I know the OEM HV was damaged by the installer by having the hose clamp to close to the junction and overly tightening it but the other two?, is something wrong or is it just bad luck? Is my car running hotter than what the gauge registers ( the needle is just barely pass 12 o'clock )? It's been like that for as long as I can remember and I've driven this car from Houston, TX to Seattle, WA and back to Houston and then back to Seattle with no over heating problems in the dead of summer.
When I installed the last heater valve I replaced the water pump and thermostat. It was about five months ago I had a garage replace my antifreeze so it was fresh but they didn't do a complete flush because they said the old antifreeze looked good. Should I be using the Volvo antifreeze and maybe something else to make it run cooler? Any ideas what might be going on?

Thanks again!

GothM