Cause of coolant leak in the 850 cabin

Why do I only get heat after the car has warmed up?

What do you expect?!

Yes the heater core is on its way out this is what supply's heat to the cabin since you do not really say how long the engine was running before you touched the heater hoses they should be hot you may have 2 problems if you never have had the thermostat replaced now is the time along with the heater core there are still another 2 months of winter & if you live in a cold climate then you really do not want to be without heat now Glenn K Volvo Certified Technician ASE Certified Technician

It's not that unreasonable a question. I get heat in my 850 before the temperature gauge has even moved, in only about 3/4 mile to a mile. It's got heat incredibly quickly, faster than my Hondas were, faster than my BMW is, much faster than anything I've ever owned before, in fact. (Hey, ya don't think it gets cold where it was built, do ya?)

And...once the car is fully warmed up, the heater will not-so-slowly cook you in your own juices here in upstate NY.

JRE

Hi Frederick,

I hope I'm not too late with this warning: Don't try to dry out the coolant soaked carpet within the car by applying hot air from e.g a hair dryer. I've just experienced a similar leak in our '93 240 Classic and, like you assumed it was water. I pulled out all loose carpets and mats and propped up the main carpet in the driver's footwell. I then placed a hair dryer under that carpet to dry it and the floor below. This had proved effective on previous water leaks. The loose carpet and mats were hung up to dry indoors. The result some hours later, despite having all the windows ajar, was a coating of antifreeze on the inside of all the windows and other surfaces of the interior and this has proved to be very difficult to remove completely. (The car was outside in frosty weather. The antifreeze on the carpet had been vaporized by the hot air and had then condensed on the cold surfaces in the car.) The loose carpets failed to dry. The retained an oily coating of antifreeze.

The only solution seemed to be to first thoroughly wash and rinse the loose carpets and mats and then allow them to dry. The main carpet was washed and rinsed and mopped up, with difficulty, in the car and then dried.

Lesson learned.................................

Good luck with your repairs. Andy I.

OK - sorry - it sounded like you didn't realise that the hot water in the heater comes from the engine - which has to be hot before you can get any heat out of the heater.

But it now seems as if there is a delay in the engine heating up. This is most likely caused by a jammed open engine thermostat. The stat is supposed to stop the water going through the radiator until the engine is hot. If water goes through the radiator from the outset, it takes a very long time to get hot - which is probably what is happening.

You're confusing me with the OP, who might or might not understand how the system works.

In any case, I agree that if there isn't heat very quickly it's probably thermostat time. My mom gave us the 850 (she was tired of it after 11 years and they didn't want to give her anything significant if she traded it in). We drove it home from FL, stopping in Raleigh to replace the thermostat...which had apparently forgotten how to close after living in FL for a few years. ;-)

JRE