> Does the interior heater work properly? If yes the waterpump should be
> OK.
I checked it today, it took about 7 minutes to reach normal temperature
and then all of a sudden the needle started to climb quite fast.
For my surprise the interior heating is not working this time ( it did
before, although usually it takes some time before it starts to heat, I
would say 10-15 minutes of driving with the winter) but this time I did
not dare to let the engine run so long because of the overheating.
>Make sure the thermostat isn't installed upside down, arrow should
point up.
My dad warned me, so I did extra care to put back the thermostat the
way it was there before, the springy part pointing towards the engine
and the other end upwards (it wouldn't go in any other way anyhow).
> If you've never changed a timing belt before, this probably isn't a good
> engine to learn
I suppose you are right, I'm more familiar with taking apart and
repairing notebooks than cars.
> Does the engine start properly and runs the same? If not they might have
> removed the injectionpump and put it back wrong and messed up the timing.
> Do you have a lot of white smoke, either during startup or by the time
> the thing starts overheating?
The engine starts very easily and runs well, some blue smoke at the
beginning but it's 21 years old.
There's no water in the exhaust if that's what you mean by white smoke.
> IS the radiator cool all over or is there a single row at the bottom
> which is hot?
It is cool all over from top to bottom.
As well as the bottom hose coming from it, to the thermostate.
I called the Volvo service, who installed the glow plugs to see what he
suggest. He thought it was still the problem of thermostate. He
suggested to take it out and drive without, saying that with the winter
it would be OK.
I was quite surprised with the answer because I always heard that
running the engine colder than the normal is really not good for it.
In any case there's no way I could drive back the car to the repair
shop in this state, it's simpl too far away.
bullshark - 08 Jan 2007 19:53 GMT
> I called the Volvo service, who installed the glow plugs to see what he
> suggest. He thought it was still the problem of thermostate. He
> suggested to take it out and drive without, saying that with the winter
> it would be OK.
Running too cold is way better than running too hot, and it would
determine the thermostat's part in the problem with certainty. Take it
out and see. If your engine still runs hot you can be pretty sure that
the water pump is the problem; if it runs cold then replace the
thermostat.
Your mechanic is very strange. Winter is the time you need the
thermostat the most, or your engine will never get warm enough to run
efficiently.
Never underestimate a Volvo repairshop's capacity for evil.
bullshark