Quote:
Originally Posted by McGandalf
Hi Laird Scooby - I followed your instructions to the letter. Flushed the system initially with Prestone Coolant Flush, followed by a drive, then anything up to an hour of running a hosepipe through the system. I then fitted a new Volvo OEM thermostat as directed and poured around 4 litres of new blue coolant into the coolant expansion bottle to the LHS of the engine. At that point, the coolant expansion bottle was almost full - over the max mark. I pumped the lower radiator hose which produced some air bubbles, but didn't reduce the coolant level in the bottle.
I took the car for a drive and got it up to operating temperature (maybe 10 mins). The temperature needle rose to a midway point - so the new thermostat is working here. However, the air coming out of the vents continues to be cold (cool-ish - certainly not hot) with the heater setting turned to max.
Questions - I appreciate that no amount of draining/flushing will remove all the residual coolant or water lurking in the radiator or engine block, but surely 5-6 litres shouldn't be lurking there?
Also - do I need to give the car a considerably longer run to get hot air to come out of the vents? I have an idea that the concentrated coolant in the the system won't assist warm air coming out - that's the job of the water you top it up with.
The car is currently parked with the front end on ramps - maybe coolant is going to drain backwards from the radiator to the block and reduce the level in the bottle?
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I'm pretty sure you missed "Remove the bottom hose from the bottom of the rad to drain off excess water from the rad and block and then refit - having a new Jublee clip for it is a wise move as they often rust." from just past the green section above.
*** EDIT *** this is after the flushing!!!
That would have made room for more than 4L of coolant!
You may have a massive air lock but i doubt it if you followed my directions. Can you find the two heater hoses feeding the heater matrix on the bulkhead and trace each one back to where they join the head and/or inlet manifold and the metal pipe that leads round the back end of the bloock, under the exhaust manifold and into the water pump? I suspect they may have been swapped at some point if you're still not getting heat out of the heater or the temperatue control isn't moving the flap and/or the heater valve on the inside.
To check whether the heater valve is opening, push the heater temperature control to hot and then look at the heater valve. If memory serves where the cable attaches to the valve, the arm it attaches to should be in line with the two stubs for in and out.