crazykn

I do speak Cantonese (commonly spoken in Hong Kong). I'm not fully fluent (I was born here in the US), but I do have enough to have a conversation.

I'm bored...

Ok, I've read almost everything I can on the Nissens... i've decided to cough up the extra $$ to get the OEM. So my next question is: Where can I get the cheapest Volvo OEM radiator? IPD has one for $285, but it says OEM... is it really the Volvo OEM or another Nissens? I think its like $325 from the dealer... and being near-broke... i'd like to save as much money as possible while avoiding a aftermarket product that might fail me again in the near future. I guess i'll be doing this job myself, so i'll want the best chances of good fitment. So far this will be the biggest job i'll be attempting so far. I've only been doing basic stage zero stuff and this feels like a "coming-of-age" DIY... . I was supposed to tackle the PCV soon, but looks like this gets top priority.

Anything that will last two weeks will do fine... I don't do long hard drives, just quick ones around the city. My current plan is to pick up the parts from eeuroparts (cheaper than FCP). Nissens radiator, new upper and lower hoses, thermostat and coolant temp sensor. Figured it be best to do them all since the coolant will be drained and such...

Well I found a leak in my radiator today... seems to explain why my coolant is slowly disappearing. About a two inches under the the upper hose entry is where the leak is, and its seems to be a very small crack... probably sealable... Now I know that I can't just seal it up and leave it... but i'm wondering if there is a type of sealant or epoxy or whatever can temporarily stop this leak (something I can just apply outside of the tiny leak) that will hold for a week or two until payday so I can get myself another radiator? It not leaking horribly... the coolant level doesn't drop considerably, just gradually over the few weeks.

My uncle's S70 was in the same state after a headgasket repair. Still to this day there is a bit of residue around, but a majority of its gone and the coolant is green again. Unfortuantly the mechanics who did the job had to run the car for hours and hours idling and flushing it each time. They ran through two tanks of gas for idling and cleaning out the system. Too bad I don't know the specifics of what they did.

Yeah... A DEAD man....

The airbags in the S70 vary... in 1999 they changed the location of the sensor to the B-Pillar and it was no longer in the seat. I would suspect that only the 1998 models, pre-ETM models would work. Assuming you want the side airbags...

The two guy's with the last name Hutz are father and son! I've read that somewhere...

Well I have a 95 GLT model 850... no turbo, just NA... and well safety wise, and I can tell u straight out that there are many safety features that aren't even mentioned and sometimes overlooked. For example, head rests... do you really wanna snap your neck is someone rear ends you? In the Volvo, ALL the passengers have excellent headrests... compared to some NEW cars today that only provide them to front passengers only... My uncle has a S70, and so far he's been rear-ended in that car about three times (some ppl out here really don't how to drive....), and everytime, those headrests safely protected the head and neck from snapping... I've studied anatomy, and if you neck snaps back, it can lead paralysis or even death (because the Cervical Bone 1 can be pushed forward and cut the spinal cord). So having well designed and well covered head rests are critically important. Good seatbelt pretensioners... well the Volvo is interesting, it has electronic ones up front and mechancial ones in the back seats. Well pretensioners help the seat belt pull up the slack in the seat belt so that in a sudden stop or crash, you won't move forward and smack something. I remember in my old car (93 Mazda 626), I got into a minor rear ending and well my car rear ended a van up front and well... I almost smacked the steering wheel with my head, because my body went forward. Not to mention that in a crash, the forces on the seatbelt will cause the seatbelt to stretch, to reduce the forces on the body. Crumple Zones... sorry, but the 93-94 850's frontal crumple system isn't the same or as good as the 95+ . I know this because I did a study on my old car after I got destroyed in a frontal crash. And discovered a interesting manufacturing design. The front frame isn't 'solidly' connected to the cabin of the car. Hence thats why I survived my car accident, the cabin was perfectly intact while the front was gone... the design that Mazda used was superior to Nissan and Honda of its time (which made me thankful that I didn't buy a Nissan Alitma when I bought my first car). Unfortuantly for 93-94 Volvo's... the front frame is 'solidly' connected to the cabin and if a frontal offset crash were to take place the cabin would become part of that first crumple zone. I remember I found a document on this a while back... too bad I can't pull it back up to show. Speaking of crumple zones... the 850 wagon's crumble zone's seems a bit contradictory... if you could have a third row seats for kids and you put them there... if you get rear ended... guess where the crumple zone is... . Well I think I bored everyone with safety talk... I bought my 850 used from a used car dealer. It had 165K on it and now it has 173K. So far, the only things i've done are just maintanance items, the car hasn't given me any trouble... and never once have left me stranded. Although I didn't have the service records of the previous owner, I ended up doing preventive mantanance to keep the car going as long as possible, such as a whole timing system overhaul (water pump, belt, pullies, tensioner, etc), tranny flush, brake system overhaul (because I somehow mysteriously worn out my pads and rotors in less than 6 months ), regular oil changes, silicone everywhere , cap/rotor, silicone wires, spark plugs, just preventive maintanance stuff. Pretty soon, i'm considering a PCV job, to replace the whole PCV system, because even though the RMS isn't leaking now... I don't want to take chances. Luckily my RMS isn't leaking and the AC evaporator was good and is still good when I bought the car ! Although I had a chance to get a 93 850 with way less miles for the same price, I don't know why I didn't take it... I guess this 95 was just calling out to me or something...

Do I count: http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index.php?showtopic=45575 Hey it covers more than just 850, it does apply to any P1/P2 and some RWD, that have that connector, which some do. On the bright side, i'm making a Alpine CD Changer to Volvo soon.