Your help appreciated oil cooler

[macp]

Hi all

Feeling a little disappointed this evening.We are off on holiday to Cornwall next week and wanted to be sure the car is in tip top condition.Car has done 72,000mls with FSH.

I had noticed it looked a little sludgy in the radiator expansion header tank of my 97 S70 T5 auto and just thought it needed a flush.So went out and bought the coolant and took it round to my mates house who is actually a fully trained VAG technician.
He dipped his screwdriver into the tank and it came out as a thick Greyish sludge with the texture of gravy.Infact there did not appear to be any actual water in the tank at all.The car had been left for about 10mins and there was a good bit of hissing when undoing the cap on the expansion/header tank.We also checked the top hose which was very hot but the radiator was quite cool.The temp guage sits bang in the middle ?

Its his opinion that the oil cooler is goosed and having seen this several times before he said the oil cooler can be replaced but you will never get rid of the the sludge without replacing the radiator,heater matrix,relevant hoses and he also has concerns about the turbo too. No traces of the sludge on the oil cap though.

The car was purchased 2 or 3wks ago and has a 3mth engine & gearbox warranty but Im wondering how much the bill would be to fix this as Im thinking that the dealer would not have had a great deal of profit in the car.My mate recommends I dont use the car for the holidays in its current state.What would happen if only the oil cooler was replaced ?

Sorry for the long post your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

[t5 stealth]

i just done the same with mine on sunday...
oil cooler is built into the radiater...
u gota change the rad.
i got the rad for £98.00
& my time lol.

[macp]

i just done the same with mine on sunday...
oil cooler is built into the radiater...
u gota change the rad.
i got the rad for £98.00
& my time lol.

Thanks
I guess you flushed the system through ?

[Diesel64]

Had the same problem myself and had to change out the Rad, as per T5 Stealth. Not the worst job in the world to do - the Hanyes manual describes the procedure pretty well.

[macp]

Ive been phoning around this morning and gone from possible HG failure to agreeing with our diagnosis of oil cooler failure.Cost is the issue though as we are looking at the thick end of £500 quid for the rad repair icluding flushing and replacement of hoses etc.Worse still if its the HG.

Im waiting for the dealer to respond although he could turn round and say its wear and tear and there has been no actual failure as yet.

[Rufe]

i got the rad for £98.00

I supply most genuine volvo radiators at that price, well plus a tenner for delivery, which is a good price i think, in comparison to similar priced (and sometimes more expensive) non genuine versions.


(some radiators can be a bit more, but the majority of them come out at £107.99 delivered anywhere in the uk)

[mattp]

on the subject of rad replacement, the connections for the oil coolers at the rad (4 in my case, 855 T5 Auto) do they just pull out? or is there some way of releasing the connections?

[jdavis]

Simon thats a cracking price!
I paid more than that for a pattern. if only i knew about you, lol!
does sound like the rad though mate.

[t5 stealth]

on the subject of rad replacement, the connections for the oil coolers at the rad (4 in my case, 855 T5 Auto) do they just pull out? or is there some way of releasing the connections?

its a sprung clip,you just open it up with a screwdriver etc...keep your fingers away from it cos if it slips of it bites.....i know this :(
....but you mite want to get atleast 1 new clip before you do the job as the bottom clip was rotten away & nothin left of it wen you remove it,& iv heard people say the clip rots away & the oil pipe pops out thus causing a seized engine as it pumps out the engine oil wile your unaware wile drivin....

i did flush my system but its still bringin out small amounts of oil still from the system but it collects in the resovoir so you can just catch it from there.

also the haynes manual wont tell you that the 2 bolts that hold the rad to the body may spin the cage nut (spot welded) thus makin it difficult to remove.....both my bolts spun....i had to cut my rad out with an air saw....i was like a surgeun lol................bought her back to life tho lol.

[macp]

just checked the dipstick in the gearbox and the oil is a Reddish Brown colour but clear if you know what I mean.No sign of any sludge.

[Diesel64]

Hey, £500 for a garage to change the rad? :eek:

If your at all handy with the old spanner set, I'd say save your beans and DIY. It's really not that hard a job to do - can be a bit fiddely with some of the bolts holding the intercooler in place to the front of the rad and yes, the oil cooler clips tend to rust - Rufe can supply new clips as well as the Rad (circa £5 ea IIRC).

When I changed mine, I got it done in about a day (well, two long afternoons actually), including a flush out, using a set of axle stands and a decent socket set (with extensions). Didn't change the hoses, but instead washed them out (plus the header tank) with loads of hot soapy water, ran the car for a few days, flushed again and put a salvaged header tank on (you'll never get the old one properly clean as the sludge will stain the insides). Coolant has been clean ever since but for a few bits of sludge which can be fished out (they'll tend to get left floating in the top of the header tank). Had the same problem as T5stealth with the rad retaining bolts, one snapped the weld and I had to drill the nut to split it. My advice would be to clean the threads really well with WD40 & a scouring pad before attempting to remove the bolts and not to force them if they're start to stick (just wind them back in and repeat the cleaning of the threads).

Don't get suckered into it being a HG issue, I'll bet my left B*****k it's not. lol. I keep getting rediculous quotes for work on my T5 from local garages, simply because they don't know owt about Volvos and (as I've recently learned from chatting to a mechanic mate of mine) they're considered to be full of 'obsolete' technology that was cutting edge when they first came out. His advice to me was to get a Honda! :rolleyes2
I wonder what someone like RTMechanics would charge to do a rad change?

Anway, enough of the diatribe - let us know how you get on fella. Good luck getting it sorted!

[macp]

Well its good news guys as the dealer has taken responsibility for it all and is replacing the rad and flushing it through as well as giving it an oil & filter change.The car will be spot on after that which Im very pleased about as I will be selling when I find the right estate.

[Diesel64]

Good news fella! Nice to know there are dealers out there that will 'fess up and look after their customers after they've taken your cash.

Glad you got it sorted.