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oil and water don't mix!

Hi folks,

I haven't posted here before, but I'm not currently a Volvo owner! All this is set to change. I'm looking at getting a second-hand Volvo estate, V40 or V70 something like that.

I live on an island and am not spoiled for choice in terms of dealerships or even private sale.

However, I've found one around the right price - a 1998 V40 1.9TD for around £3500 GBP (around 6,251 USD)

Car looked in good order except for oil in the expansion bottle. I was immediately suspicious of this and they said they'd have their garage look at it and get back to me (a friend had suggested it may be a faulty oil cooler and that whatever it was I should definitely be sure it was OK before buying).

They got back to me just now and their garage didn't do anything to the car. They said: "It's OK, the Oil was just around the top of the expansion bottle (it looked pretty messy when we saw it)" "the oil cooler is fine - they'd have known very quickly if anything was wrong with it" and "oil and water run round the engine in a diesel, it's not like a petrol engine you know"

I smell a rat. Is this a common problem with this power plant (it's the Renault Laguna diesel engine isn't it?), and not to worry about or could it be something serious - a cracked head or block for instance?

Please help. If we can find a good Volvo that doesn't give us endless grief, I promise to not be lurker and visit more often :)

Rachel

ku.oc.tenfeer@lehcar (reverse to mail)

Reply to
Rachel
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Walk away from this one. This is utter nonsense.

At no point should oil and water meet. If there is oil in the water, and it is not a leaky oil cooler, then it is a blown head gasket at best, possibly a warped head. It could even be a crack in the head or block. The only way to establish which is to take the head off the engine.

Reply to
Stewart Hargrav

The whole thing sounds suspicious and that last statement sounds ridiculous. Before you even consider buying the car, you would need to get an inspection report directly from a reputable expert.

Reply to
L David Matheny

Hi all;

I have had this on two seperate Volvos I have owned. In each case the transmission is automatic. Volvo have a weakness in the way they connect the Auto gear box oil cooler to the engaine radiator. In each case the I have chnaged the raditor and solved the problem. In the last case (my 960) I forgot to change the transmission oil and lost the box. So I had to replace the gear box!

If the car is an Auto and you want the car then my money is on a new rad, which is about £250 if you do it. Its quite simple, you just need a nice days wheather. New rad and a galon of Auto Gear Box oil, and some patience in filing the gear box through the level pipe.

Regards Ian

Reply to
Ian Pellew

It is not really a "weakness" to put the tranny cooler in the radiator. It is a common procaticve in the auto industry. The weakness comes from the Volvo cooler being a POS.

Oil in the overflow tank not only means that there was a problem with the cooling sustem, but could mean the car will soon need a tranny rebuild because of water in the tranny fluid..

Pass on this one and give those mechanics a page from the phone diorectory of auto technician schools becasue they seem to know little about cars. Then report them to the authorities.

Ask them for a 1 year 15,000km warranty and watch their attitude change. from Randy & Valerie __ __ \ \ / / \ \/ / \__/olvo 1993 960 Estate

Reply to
Randy G.

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