white smoke/steam ?

[joe_keefer]

hi guys,

thanks ahead of time for any help or ideas. so my 2000 v70xc continues to have a fair amount of white smoke/steam from the exhaust even after its warmed up. the other issue which may not be related is the smell of coolant in the cabin when the heat is on. it only has about 45k miles on a new long block.
no oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil. i just put in a new radiator this summer(the passenger side had a leak). the only oddity i noticed was a little bit of oil in the intercooler.

the heater core is not leaking, the area around it is spotless. to top it off, i rarely need to add coolant.


is there anything besides a bad head gasket that it could be?

thanks, joe

[hogie50]

Hi Joe. I'm pretty certain that your heater core is going. The syptoms of the smell in the cabin are ususally the sign it is starting to go. Check and see if you have a slimey/greasy feel to the lower edge of the windshield. I'm sure there is a write up on how to replace. Not too difficult, but just take your time. Not sure of your first problem though. I get a similar problem with my 98 XC when it gets around 0C or lower in Calgary in Canada. Every time I step on the gas I get a plume of 'smoke' out the back. Again, don't lose any water. Have you replaced the PCV recently? Could it actually be an oil mist you get? I'm still not sure what causes the problem with my car, I've asked many 'experts' also asked on various websites and no replies. My next things to do are to pull the inter-cooler and give it a good flush (or replace) incase there is moisture getting trapped in the oil that gathered from a blocked PCV system when I bought the car, and also I'll check or change the PTC nipple on the turbo intake as it is supposed to pre-heat the intake air to reduce condensation in cold weather. When it gets really cold here, the turbo Volvos of this era just won't run as the intercoolers freeze and block air from getting to the engine.

Does your muffler tip run clean or white after a run? If it does you may be loosing water somewhere. Do you have a SAS pump in your car? Does it work? They can fail and fill up with water and it can get sucked back into the system.

Don't know if any of this helps, but maybe it will stimulate some discussion. Good Luck! Neil.

[joe_keefer]

Hi Joe. I'm pretty certain that your heater core is going. The syptoms of the smell in the cabin are ususally the sign it is starting to go. Check and see if you have a slimey/greasy feel to the lower edge of the windshield. I'm sure there is a write up on how to replace. Not too difficult, but just take your time. Not sure of your first problem though. I get a similar problem with my 98 XC when it gets around 0C or lower in Calgary in Canada. Every time I step on the gas I get a plume of 'smoke' out the back. Again, don't lose any water. Have you replaced the PCV recently? Could it actually be an oil mist you get? I'm still not sure what causes the problem with my car, I've asked many 'experts' also asked on various websites and no replies. My next things to do are to pull the inter-cooler and give it a good flush (or replace) incase there is moisture getting trapped in the oil that gathered from a blocked PCV system when I bought the car, and also I'll check or change the PTC nipple on the turbo intake as it is supposed to pre-heat the intake air to reduce condensation in cold weather. When it gets really cold here, the turbo Volvos of this era just won't run as the intercoolers freeze and block air from getting to the engine.

Does your muffler tip run clean or white after a run? If it does you may be loosing water somewhere. Do you have a SAS pump in your car? Does it work? They can fail and fill up with water and it can get sucked back into the system.

Don't know if any of this helps, but maybe it will stimulate some discussion. Good Luck! Neil.



thanks neil, i will check all of that out. i hadn't considered the pcv because of the low miles. it has been a little over a year since i checked the heater core so i will look again. dont know about the sas pump. i'll have to find out. going to ipd today for brake pads. i'll pick their brains to. othats one good benifit of living in portland!

thanks again!

[P Hartmann]

could it be you are just looking as new head? I note steam coming from my 99 on cooler days and think it is normal, one of the products of compustion is water.

[williambbaudinet]

Changed the heater core and I still see the smoke. What else could it possibly be?