Its raining coolant, hallelujah - '90 740 Turbo

Mar 13, 2007 3 Replies

Took a very short trip the other day and came home to discover that coolant was leaking all over the place. The car didn't overheat, and I believe I've isolated the source of the leak - the water pump, or the gaskets therefrom.



My question is, since it leaked from the pump and got sprayed all over the fan, should I be worried about coolant residue on the alternator, or anything else in that area? The timing belt is covered, obviously, so I don't think there's a problem there, but I've heard about problems arising from this situation.



Also, when I pulled into the driveway, the power steering seemed to go out. Would that be a side effect of the coolant going everywhere? I'm gonna install a new pump (or gaskets) myself, so I'll be able to do anything sort of cleanup necessary. Any advice on the coolant cleanup and/or pump install?



Thanks, Volvo-Community-At-Large.



A

PS- I'll assume most of you have seen this, but for the overseas types, here's a fascinating link about old Volvos and our former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Weird, I know.



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Grab the fan/water pump shaft and give it a wiggle, if it wiggles up and down the pump is definitely shot. The coolant shouldn't have damaged anything, that stuff is all pretty resistant to liquid since the area under a car's hood is quite a harsh climate in general. I forget what layout that year uses but the power steering pump may be on the same belt as the water pump so bad bearing means loose slipping belt as well as coolant leak.

If it turns out to be a faulty water-pump or gasket, then there is a good idea to change the timing belt when your in there. The belt is probably full of anti-freeze which could speed up the aging prosess or eat up the rubber. You dont want that belt to fail on You.

Good luck..

Per Mathisen Norway

-88 780 w/350SBC

"Skonnie" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@c51g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

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My SAAB 9000's and 5 series cannot take this abuse. I know. I finally bought a Hepu water pump this week.

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