Low coolant warning light suddenly came on today. Checked all hose connections and didn't find any visible leakage. Any suggests will be appreciated!

I have the CR-814 head unit and purchase a Blaupunkt CD receiver but need to somehow bypass the factory installed amplifier by the steering column.

Important : My Volvo (1994 940 Turbo) has 8 factory speakers of which only the 2 dashboard speakers are driven by the CR-814 and all the other 6 speakers are controlled by the factory amp.
I want my Blaupunkt Montral CD34 (4x40 Watts peak) to take over completely and control all 8 speakers, however the Crutchfield harnesses only offer 6 little cables for the speakers. Do I have to splice and put 2 pairs of speakers on the same cables ?

How do I bypass the factory amplifier ? Do I have to disconnect it completely or just unplug some connectors and then connect them to the Crutchfield harness which then connects to the Blaupunkt harness ?

I just don't get it and any help is appreciated.

If you have no leaks at all, it could be the cylinder head gasket....that happened to myself about 4 weeks ago. My coolant kept disappearing and it drove me nuts, until the engine started running really rough and finally barely started.
I have a nice, clean refurbished Volvo head ($ 180.00 from the shop) with all new seals and my car is driving like brand new - it had lacked power for a while which I did not really notice that much, until now - it's flying again !
The throttle response is great !

If you have a turbo, be careful with the coolant hoses between the Turbo and the engine block.....mine blew out twice and the cooland is lost within a minute or 2. My car overheated back then (approx. 1 year ago), which is probably why my head gasket failed recently - other than that I've had no irregular problems.

Cold weather really seems to take it's toll - mine is leaking also, around the top hose connection - maybe somewhere else too. Dash light on 4 or 5 days ago. Any one have any luck with stop leak?

96 960 110k

As always,
RocknVolvo.

Unless you are planning to dump the car to an unsuspecting idiot, a real
fix is MUCH better than stop leak.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

The light came on quickly but when is the last time you checked the fluid. A small leak adds up to a lot of fluid. Check per Spook’s advice. Check the turbo cooler hoses if you have a T. If you can’t find a leak get the cooling system pressure tested. I will not have to mention head gasket because you are already thinking about it. Post back with your findings.
--
Tom F. Couple of Volvos Mods, RainX & cup holders.

Dear 940 4ever,

Good p.m. and may this find you well. What model year is this car? How many miles on it?

I'll presume you checked the coolant level, and found it actually to be "below normal".

Here are some things to check:
(a) Coolant drain. It is on the passenger side of the engine block (USA/Canada models), towards the rear of the block. It looks like a small tube, about 1/2" diameter and about 3/4" long. It can leak.
(b) Check the end of the oil dipstick and look inside the oil filler cap (atop the engine). Is there a brownish foamy material (sort of like a mousse/froth)? If so, this is a sign of water in the oil, which suggests a headgasket leak, which is allowing coolant to get into the oil;
(c) Check the area around the water pump: the gaskets rarely fail, but it is possible. When was the water pump last changed?
(d) Check the coolant overflow tank, at the bottom, where the hose runs to the radiator. The plastic hose port sometimes cracks
(e) Check the heater control valve, which at the rear of the engine, close to the oil dipstick. These valves definitely fail with age, sometimes catastrophically (i.e., they burst, dumping the coolant). The heater hoses also can split, if not changed in a timely way.
(f) Check the sides of the radiator, especially where the hoses connect to the radiator. 940 radiators have about a 10-year working life. After that, as the plastic gets brittle, you're on "borrowed time". These may leak, or - like the heater control valve - may suddenly fail, and dump the coolant in under a minute.
(g) Check the front carpets (both sides). If they're damp/wet - and there's a small of anti-freeze - that suggests a heater core leak. These are time-consuming to fix.

Please post back with your findings.

Yours faithfully,

spook

I don't know if you're familiar with 240s, but when I replaced my brake booster on mine recently, I noticed that the heater hoses coming off the engine were leaking. In one of the lines to the firewall, there's a plastic fitting that looks to me is just a removable cap access. What is this for, and do all 2,7,9 series cars have it?

You mention that the 900 heater control valve is in the engine bay. I guess Volvo must have changed it at some point; on the 240, it's in the passenger compartment.
--
David Armstrong - '86 240(350k km?), '93 940T(270k km), '89 240(parts source for others) near

Thought I'd comment as I too have been losing coolant. Today, I took it in and put it up on the rack and was told by the gent who ran a pressure test that I needed a new radiator ($360.00). He pointed to both sides of the radiator and from what appeared to be a black thin hose (one on each side) indeed there was leaking coolant.

In response to Spook's posting (to whom I am very grateful)is it possible that it's the hoses and not the entire radiator.

Last year in Feburary after driving 60 miles I pulled off I84 and when I came to a stop, the brick conked out. Yep, the head gasket was gone and a 35 mile tow and 1400 hundred bucks later I got to drive the best car I have ever owned once more. With my 740 Turbo (89) as my only car and a limited knowledge of repair, I shudder to think of my consequences should the same thing happen this year as happened last.

I'll follwo this thread carefully in the hopes of learning something. Thanks to those kind responders, I am deeply grateful.

Rich

try looking at the coolant reservoir cap. sometimes the pop off valve gets gunked up and stuck open, or with the green caps, check for crust around the inside of the cap. it cal also allow coolant to boil and evaporate and you don't even see it.
--
cjregensurger@yahoo.com '86, '88 740 GLE; '88, 89 740 Turbo, '88 760 Ti