Volvo Repair: 92 /960 wagon/ Staright 6, coolant leak, head gasket

Question
Pin hole coolant leak in block behind exhaust manifold just under head. Pulsates from stream to dribble. "who ever hoide of such a thing?" Alum. blocks do this? Not in a freeze plug. Use a coolant sealer? whose? I just put a rebuilt head on for $3500. Breaking my heart and wallet. Thank you,Rob

Answer
Is it at the mating surface from head to block?  If the head was just replaced and it wasn't like this before the shop did that, and now it is, they are liable to fix it.  There is a time limit that you have to tell them other wise they don't carry liability for it anymore because they could claim you did it.  Just by itself it sounds like a head gasket maybe?  If it is coming through the metal then the coolant was probably NEVER changed in the cars life time.  With the heat/cool cycles a car goes through, the coolant can have electrostatic properties and pull small particles of metal off of the block in the coolant passages.  going as far as creating a hole on the outside is rare and almost unheard of.  Hope that helps.

James