Volvo 480 Club Europe

Hello folks,

Currently sitting at the side of the A580 near Warrington, where Nilani has unexpectedly blown a hose and marooned me with no coolant

AA are Jon the way, but being a middle aged male in an old age car I am waaaayyy down their list of priorities..

There doesn't appear to be any sludge under the rocker cover, so hopefully not head gasket related...

Which hose? You sure it’s not just a clip?

I’ve had a couple of clips fail, never a hose.

Oops! I think my cat (Richard Parker) has been at my laptop and double posted my original post...

Ho hum..the hose situation sorted with a bit of wiggling and a new circlip

I think that hose is a weak point on the 2L engine. I was at a meet years ago and following a 2L 480 on the motorway. This hose let go and a cloud of steam billowed from under the car
We flagged down the driver and she managed to stop in time before all the coolant escaped and the engine cooked

Funnily enough I know two other people hunting for this hose, so yes, could well be a weak point…

I think it might be a case of looking for a specialist hose supplier and updating, rather than cannibalising another ancient (and presumably equally decrepit) part from a scrapper. It can't be beyond the wit of man (or woman or those who prefer not to be categorised) to find a solution.

Till then it will be local trips only for Nilani, I'm afraid

Can the hose be made up from off-the-shelf hoses and adapter pieces? There are good supplies at Car Builder Solutions https://www.carbuilder.com/uk and ASAP Supplies https://www.asap-supplies.com/.

The metal sort of Y-shaped metal pipe at the back of the engine and the one that bolts to the engine, which both corrode: I had these copied at PD Gough. They cost a fortune (£175+postage+VAT, plus I had to get it electroplated elsewhere) and reduced the diameter of the pipe slightly without telling me, so I wouldn’t say they did a good job, but also couldn’t find anyone else to do it! It still doesn’t leak although the hose clamps did have to be tightened more than I’d really like!

Lastly, I’d recommend at least filling with deionised (and not tap) water and coolant and ideally switching to Evans waterless coolant to avoid any further corrosion to metal parts of the engine— like this pipe and the core plugs. Mine runs a little hotter now but engine happy with it.