Hey guys,

My V90 has been sitting in our garage all winter (I bought it late in the fall). I didn't do much to it during the winter, but now I'm getting it ready to drive for the summer. Anyway, the driver's carpet has been damp all winter and it's had me pretty confused as it was only slightly damp and it never dried (the garage has been fairly dry and the V90's sunroof vented and window cracked open). So, I decided that I would remove the seats and carpet to see what's going on. Today, with the help of a firend of mine, I did so. What I found was coolant underneath the front and rear carpets on the driver's side. The driver's foam/carpet was the most wet (oozed when compressed). Anyway, what I can't figure out is that it doesn't seem to show other signs of being an active problem. It also doesn't appear that the heater core has been replaced (nothing around the heater box has tool marks on it) and there are two of three dried coolant trails on either side of the gas pedal just to the left of the heater core outlets. I could only see what looked to be like one dried up coolant trail in the driver's side rear heat duct and it was full of dust so I don't think it's recent. Two more things I have noticed; An odd smell from the vents when I start the car (doesn't smell like coolant, a more sharp smell). Also, the two heater hoses have crusty coolant around them where they attach to the heater core. So, I guess the problem is (or was) one of two things; The heater core is leaking (only on the driver's side???) OR coolant is leaking around the heater hoses and leaking down inside a firewall. Just to clarify; There were NO signs of coolant on the passenger's side, there also seems to be no sign in the front floor vents. While I had most of the interior apart I decided to disassemble the rest behind the rear seats and apply a rust preventitive product called Fluidfilm that my Volvo mechanic likes to use. I coated all the interior panels in the rear and the front and rear floors except for the driver's floor (I was able to dry the driver's side rear floor sound deadening enough). The floor was like new, no rust. I reassembled the interior except for the driver's front carpet and seat. Oh, I let the car run two or three times today for over 15 min each time and there was NO coolant running down the firewall anywhere. Any suggestions, ideas, experience etc?
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 86K mi. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).