Coolant leak front centre of car
 

I've been losing a bit of coolant for a while and checked all the hoses and obvious places but not been able to track it down. Now it seems to have got slightly worse and having looked under the car I can see its dripping from the front of the engine on to the short undertray section. Not quite central, slightly off to the drivers side. What's that likely to be? Can't get under the car at the moment to have a proper look because don't have trolley jack and stands to hand. It's not overheating and ran absolutely perfectly on a 250 mile trip last weekend during the hot weather.

The water pump is more or less where you’re describing.

or more likely the top waterpump sealing ring where it joins the head ...
Unlikely to be the main waterpump shaft seal unless its a non volvo pump ..

Open the bonnet and look at the waterpump, like clan says it is usually the top seal that leaks, I've not had one leak from the gasket or the rear seal, you will have to change the lot as a set though.

All available from Volvo individually, they don't sell a kit anymore. Don't use aftermarket stiff as it will leak in a year's time.

Another place to check once you get under the car is the hoses to the oil cooler near the oil filter. These are a bit further back, so more likely to drip from the back of the undertray, but are another notorious weak point.

Ah, ballacks - garage (who I trust, mainly because every time he sees my car he drops everything modern to work on it) says HG. On the plus side, timing belt needs doing anyway and he reckons only around 4 hours labour - if nothing else is found.

Make sure they use new head bolts as they're stretch bolts and get the head skimmed.

Thanks - will do. I might be teaching grandad to suck eggs on that one as he's in his '60s and been working on "proper cars" as he calls them for 40-odd years :)

Dont get the head skimmed, Have you badly overheated it ? Have it checked for flatness by all means ... volvo forbid skimming as the clearances are very small and you will reduce them there are about 6 different thicknesses of gasket, you fit the same one that you already have, you can tell by the hole pattern on a tab on the gasket.

No overheating as far as I'm aware. No steam out of the back, no obvious mixing of oil and coolant, clean coolant dripping out, temp gauge has never gone above midway. It's gone at the driver's side front corner of the head above the water pump.