Yesterday I had the hood up on the teenage volvo killers 240, and noticed

a slight bit of moisture around one of the freeze plugs.....is this a disaster waiting to happen or does this just happen w/older B230's...

it's got 175k on it.....Thanks in advance for any insights,.

I must be a lucky guy. In all the dozens of 240s I've owned, a few with the B20 motor, I've never had a problem with a freeze plug (core plug). My reactionis that they're trouble-free.

But absence of proof is NOT proof of absence.

If this were my car, I'd carefully wipe away the observed moisture, corrosion, dirt, grime, crud, and accumulated stuff. I'd even wash it with clean water (and carefully dry it). Over the next few days, I'd examine it when the engine's cold and again when it's hot.

If the crevice has any accumulated road salt, you might be seeing the moisture that naturally occurs on a cold damp morning in the presence of a hygroscopic material.

Honestly, the only freeze plug trouble I've ever had was on a B18, and was a direct result of OEM. Operator-Equipment-Mismatch.

The killer part of freeze plugs is that the one that goes is behind the starter. Or under the exhaust manifold or something. Only fail at night at 50 below zero. etc. etc.

I see two choices.

The first is to drain the coolant, replace the freeze plug, and put in nice clean anti-freeze.

The second would be this idiot's choice. Go to Joe's Auto and get the stop leak that looks like little metal flakes. Dump in about 1/2 of the stupid plastic cylinder. Some would add a couplt tbls of black pepper instead.

Since it is yours? Pop the leaky plug and fix it right.