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The heater core gets full flow at all times. Coolant flow regulation valves are not used as they leak. Now air dams are used around the cores. (So use of heater probably is not a factor for leaks which vary by season.) Using air dams also allows for different temperature settings for the passenger in vehicles so equiped. But heater cores do fail, not often.
The gear type hose clamps loose there clamping pressure as the rubber under them yields. And the Saab OEM clamps, while being well contructed, do a really poor job on the smaller OD hoses where the rigid gear section has a rather flattish contour.
So, as always, re-tighen all of the cooling system clamps that you can find, don't miss any small ones. Never try to reuse a Saab clamp on a used small hose when things have been appart, get gear clamps from the hardware store. Remove the cover or plenum at the TB to get at things there. Get at all of the hoses near the thermostat housing and the end if the head. Examine the stat housing for signs of leakage.
When using the gear clamps from the hardware store, put a strip of folded over (non sticky then) duct tape between the clamp and hose to stop the rubber jacket of the hose from extruding through the sharp edged slits in the clamp's band.
Get a flash light and look at the water pump from the direction of the exhaust manifold, from above. The pump couples to the block with a floating aluminum coupling with o-rings at each end. Those 0-rings get hard and useless. The pump and adapter move around with temperature changes. These will all leak in time. Search drs<underscore>install for pump R&R posting and others. You are looking for stains. The coolant seems to run down the block and dribble out around the oil filter mount. The pumps do fail sometimes, at the shaft seal as expected.
The first to leak is probably the two clamped joints for the hoses that go to the plastic expansion tank.
I aways re-tighen gear clamps on a new vehicle and again every year or two. Now guess why these are not used very often on new vehicles?
Sometime a coolant loss can be caused by a bad expansion tank pressure relief valve or its rubber gasket ring.
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