volvo thermostats

[tbennett]

Hi, I have a 4.3 liter, 190 hp volvo new in 2000 and I have trouble with the thermostat staying open. The dealer has charged me $150 to repair it and it lasted one day till I happened again. They say that it keeps getting plugged with dirt and it would cost $1500 to have it changed over to a sealed system. Does any one else have this problem or am I the only one. Thanks for any help.

 

[Don S]

Re: volvo thermostats

It depends on what kind of dirt is clogging the thermostat. If it's rust, and you put on a closed cooling system like your "Dealer" suggest, you will be plugging up a heat exchanger you can't clean out instead of thermostat. If it's mud or sand, you need to boat in the water and not on land. If it's weeds you could put in a sea water strainer.<br />You may also have more "Dirt" in the engine that has to be flushed out before the problem will go away.

 

[butlp]

Re: volvo thermostats

For $150 learn to remove the thermostat yourself! There are only 4 hose clamps and two bolts, but it's best to disconnect the ground on your battery as the connections on the back of the alternator can make contact with a socket extension.<br />I had problems with mine and found that the thermostat had actually broken. I replaced it with a new VP part which turned out to non-functioning. Bottom line, once you have done it once and have the correct socket & screw driver handy, it's a 5 min. process.