When I got this thing the coolant level was under the min line, a day or two later the reservoir was bone dry. So I put it up on ramps, ran it for a little while and then pulled off the bottom radiator hose (the **** that came out looked rank) to drain what was left in the block. Then I filled up the reservoir with distilled water and left the cap off and the funnel in and turned the engine on (a Chrisfix video said the engine should start sucking the water out once it gets to operating temp and you can pour in the remaining capacity of water). I only managed to get about 4-5 litres in though, and rather than it sucking the rest down it started to boil up and gush out of the funnel.
I then topped it up with some radiator flush and took it out for about 15 mins. It maintained operating temp, no issues. Let it sit for an hour and pulled off the radiator hose and got out roughly what I put in. Tried to put the remaining water in (the coolant that came out after the initial flush still looked pretty nasty so I wanted to flush until clear) and again, struggled to get 5 litres in and rather than suck it all down it started boiling over the top.
I noticed a very small hair line crack at the top of the reservoir that a bit of fizzy water came out of, and I could very clearly hear hissing coming out of the cap when the water in the tank got super hot. So I presumed the closed system was not in fact closed and replaced the reservoir and cap with one out of a wrecked XC90. System now closed, but pretty much the same thing – couldnt get more than 4 litres in before it was at the max line, it didnt seem to suck much down even with it running, lightly revving and heater on blast. It’s almost like more gets sucked into the radiator after I switched it off and it’s cooling down than when it’s running.
I’ve never owned a car before, am not mechanically minded and really just want to get this thing filled with 9.5L of coolant so it’s one less thing to worry about. I need to take it into Volvo about an hour away next week to get the airbag recall done, I’ve also got a torn seatbelt at the back that I need to replace or it wont pass roadworthy. I thought the dude I bought it from would help me out because he is mechanically minded, but then he said I was completely retarded for only wanting to use distilled water to mix with the coolant concentrate, that wanting to replace the transmission filter and fluid was totally insane, and that he’s never seen a coolant tank cap fail on a Volvo and even on 23 year old cars it should be indestructible and I must’ve done something wrong when trying to flush it.
Could it be the water pump or the thermostat? Apologies for the novel, having some bad times over here with no one to help me : /