Hello all. I have a 92 240 that has about 250k on the clock and have a slight problem with it. When I am bogged down in traffic, the temp needle starts to go up to just below the red zone. Then I turn on my heat and it comes down a little. Once I get up to 40mph or so, the temp goes back to normal. I hope one of you Volvo gurus might shed some light. Thanks in advance and good day!

Your Majesty,

I echo the recommendation to just take that radiator out and give it a good washing. I did this not long ago on my '86 245 for the first time because it too seemed to be a little more inclined to heat up. You would not believe the amount of sand, mud and crap that I washed out of the fins with nothing more than a garden hose! It didn't look all that dirty to me when it came out but holy cow was it carrying some accumulated stuff. I'm sure that inhibited heat exchange. I've had no problems since. It was that simple.

Keep cool,

John M.

check the condition of your rad. The fins can corrode quite badle on OE and OE style rads, whilst leaving the core intact.

Mech fan or electric fan? Check operation/drivebelts of whichever one you have.
Could possibly be the thermostat on it's last knockings. They don't cost a lot so treat it to a new one and coolant change if all else fails.

As Don Foster correctly pointed out in an earlier posting, whacking the cabin heater on full can often draw enough heat away from the engine to save it's life in an emergency (IE stuck on a freeway with nowhere to pull over, etc).

A healthy brick typically runs with the temp needle in the 9 o'clock position, maybe a needles width higheron some.

Regards,

Big Rich.
--
'86 245, B230A. 161k. Old 200s never die, they just live on in other cars.

"A healthy brick typically runs with the temp needle in the 9 o'clock position, maybe a needles width higheron some"

-does this mean that the temp needle in the 7 to 8 o'clock position is unhealthy? mine was on 9 for the first 2 hours of a 6 hour trip, then dropped to about 7:30 for the remainder. no significant change in outside temp or anything (just installed that gauge)

Well, sorta. If the engine runs cool, like without a thermostat, the ambient temperature sender tells the ECU "I'm cold" so the ECU makes a richer mixture. You see/feel little operating difference, only a 2-3 drop in miles per gallon.

You experience matches one of mine. Halfway through a 160 mile trip the temp needle wandered down from 9:00 to 7:30. I imagined that the water level had dropped to below the temp sender on the block, and went into 3/4 flap. (Full flap equals panic.)

Found a place with water, pulled in, checked it - everything perfect. Drove home and bought a new thermostat. Upon pulling the old thermostat I found that the little pin in the flange of the T-stat (supposed to be mounted at 12:00 to clear air bubbles) had dropped down and jammed the T-stat open. I re-installed the same T-stat with the pin at 10:00, and the temp is back at 9:00 all the time.

The temperature compensation board is, I think, supposed to smooth out the needle fluctuations which are visible as the engine heats up. My pre-86 bricks all did the same dance. In the first few miles of driving the needle gets up to 11:00, just below the red. Then it drops down to 9:00. Perhaps the folks who have no clue about car stuff bothered the service writers soooo much that the factory put in this money-making temp comp board. I printed out the post on how to by-pass the @#$% thing.

Good Luck, and get back to normal soon.

Bob

:>)

Ahh, this is the reassurance I was looking for regarding the needle position of the temperature gauge. After changing the thermostat (it was apparently stuck open) I watched in fear as the temperature gauge shot up high in the first 5 minutes, praying that soon the thermostat would open and spare the engine the 200 degree plus temperatures. Of course, it did, and now it seems like the temperature gauge just locks in to the 9 o'clock position, which seems to be slightly higher than it was with the stuck (open) thermostat. Apparently, though, things are back to normal.

Victor

Check for an improvement in gas mileage. And, in my experience, the needle will indicate rise - as on a longer dirve - when the 10-quart system is down by 3 or 4 quarts. It is a very efficient system.

Is your coolant 50% antifreeze and 50% steam distilled water? That and a full flush every 2 years, things last nicely.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

Yours have that temp comp circuit? You know, the one designed to keep the needle at 9 no matter what? (86-93 I think)

Art Benstein

temp comp circuit? what's that? (mine's an 87) so are you aying that the temp readings that i'm getting could be wrong? the gauge doesn't fluctuate or turn on and off. . .it just stays at 9:00 for a while, and then lowers to about a quarter inch (vertically) from the bottom

Well your symptom doesn't exactly match the one most commonly reported, but I can envision the temp comp board working for a half hour until it warmed up itself. It is located at the rear of the cluster and in a place that would collect heat from the cabin heater in season, or the sun on the dash too.

There is lots on the board about this little circuit, its failure, its loose connector, and its palliative purpose. Make a post, I guarantee you'll get lots of advice and maybe even Mr. Foster's picture.

BTW, I think there's a faq posting suggesting a re-tightening of the sender for better grounding through the threads. Sticky thermostat?
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

We had the exact problem with our 1982 245 GL wagon - changing the radiator solved the problem as it was getting plugged and restricting the flow of coolant through the system. The other possibility is the fan clutch - if the fan is not turning, or is turning too slowly, it won't draw enough air past the rad when the car is standing still. Start driving again and air is forced through the rad by forward movement cooling the engine again.

I suspect the radiator though. Ours started heating up at the 250k mark also.

Kevin - 1980 242 GT

try washing the radiator before replacing. That helped me, but I have a lot less miles (120K)

First off, thanks for the responses. Let me add a few more clues. The radiator is original. Overflow res. cap is also original, as is the fan clutch. The coolant has been flushed on a bi-yearly basis since 1996. Therefore, I assume it is not clogged (is it possible for a rad. to go bad externally?). It doesnt leak, either. I replaced the belts about 4 months ago, so maybe one is too loose. I will check. I have an electric fan in front of the rad. (which was replaced about 1.5 yrs ago)and the large fan on the water pump. Is there a way I can check if the fan clutch is bad? Like spinning it by hand or putting my hand behind it and rev the engine to feel increased air blowing? By the way, I spend most of my time on BMW and Rover boards because my Volvo is so damned reliable!

Thanks again to you all. It's boards like this that make car maintenance fun (and save me a few $$ too!)

If you were driving fast through muddy grasshopperville, bugs and mud, etc. can clog the fins preventing air from flowing through the rad. Check that?