Coolant flush question

[Voldog]

Has anyone ever flushed their coolant? Thinking about doing it on my 04. 155k. Thought maybe it would make the heat stronger. By flushing i mean using a flush solution like prestone to descale the system. Just not sure if it's a good idea. I did this on the brake lines 2 years ago. The braking was much improved.

[Astro14]

I doubt it will make much difference unless the system was really neglected. The OEM coolant is good for ten years. I’ve had a couple of these apart, and never found even a hint of scale.

Drain it - don’t forget the drain point on the back of the engine - refill it. You should be good to go.

[vova]

I would never ever put any cleaner into my coolant system. Some of those "cleaners" can be aggressive to aluminum and instead of getting some benefit you will create a night mare. If you are concerned about heat output I think you should ask yourself a question what is the issue here? If you suspect that your heater core is plugged-replace it(just imagine that all the junk from plugged heater core goes around the system and plugs now your radiator, etc..) However unless you or previous owners were mixing/adding any different types of antifreeze or not distilled water-you should be good there. It is always a good idea to replace antifreeze periodically (not sure about 10 years unless it is some newer stuff with extra long life, but usually most services will recommend every 2 years or 30k). If you don't want to make your hands dirty, volvo dealer charges $185 for coolant flush. You want to save $130 then get a jug of oem concentrate and gallon of distilled water from any pharmacy and do it yourself. If you don't have dealer around-advance sells Pentosin brand antifreeze which is same as oem,just make sure you buy correct type.
After flush(or before) get yourself a good infrared thermometer and compare temp at the vents with what your settings are. Also don't forget to clean a sensor inside climate unit). But at the end of the day-it is your car and your money.