'96 850 leaking oil cooler lines, and a dilemma.

mulletman1004 · Post by **mulletman1004** » 11 Jun 2010, 09:52

Hey all,

So I have a problem, I'm a *cough* frugal Volvo owner, and a college student to boot. I want to save some money, but I have two concerns with my car, one more immediate, and one I'm unsure of.

1. My oil cooler lines are leaking pretty bad. If I've never had any experience working on cars, is this a repair I could attempt/ learn on at home without screwing too much up? I saw some other threads, and it looked a bit intimidating. A shop gave me an estimate of $500 which also seems pretty standard.

2. I bought this car used, and the previous owner did not know whether or not the timing belt was replaced. The odometer broke at 137,776 so its probably likely that it wasn't. I know that labor alone on a timing belt repair is killer, so I was wondering if there was any way to visually inspect the belt to asses if it needs replacing?

Thanks

Post by **jblackburn** » 11 Jun 2010, 10:29

You need to change that timing belt before it lets go, ASAP.

The tensioner needs to be replaced as well at that mileage.

The oil cooler lines seemed like a pain to get to, I took mine to a mechanic who ended up dropping the subframe. That was the only way I saw to do it, and I didn't feel like dealing with that on the weekend. Apparently you can get to the connection at the thermostat through the fender liner, however, which I would definitely be willing to attempt at home.

Post by **vjaneczko** » 11 Jun 2010, 10:43

Hey, Mullet; welcome to the site and the world of Volvo’s.

If you search here and at a few other Volvo sites (I use this one, http://www.volvospeed.com and http://www.volvoforums.com a lot, but there’s gotta be a dozen others), you'll see plenty of write-ups for both repairs. It's the best way to "become intimate" with your baby! If I recall, the oil lines are about $100 a piece, and you'll probably want to get new clips for them, but I've not done it so I can't comment on it's difficulty.

For the timing belt, it'd be best to bite the bullet and do it ASAP. I guess you could say; if it doesn't look brand-new, it needs to be replaced. For the price of getting a shop to do the belt, you could probably buy a decent set of tools and fix most of the issues yourself.

On your ’96, you should be able to use the diag box (under the hood, front passenger area) to find the actual mileage. Again, do a search for the proper process (I have a ’97 which doesn’t have it so I can’t give you tips on how to use it). Odds are that your odometer gear broke, which is common. Repair (well documented here and elsewhere!) is pretty easy and cheap to DIY.

While you’re at it, look into doing a “Stage 0”:
• Plugs
• cap/rotor
• oil/trans flush
• filter (oil)
• hoses (the little vacuum lines)
• hose kit
• 02 sensors
• fuel pumps
• clean injectors
• clean IC/IC plumbing
• Air filter
• plug wires

Post by **holler1** » 11 Jun 2010, 15:25

mulletman1004 wrote: 1. My oil cooler lines are leaking pretty bad. If I've never had any experience working on cars, is this a repair I could attempt/ learn on at home without screwing too much up? I saw some other threads, and it looked a bit intimidating. A shop gave me an estimate of $500 which also seems pretty standard.

2. I bought this car used, and the previous owner did not know whether or not the timing belt was replaced. The odometer broke at 137,776 so its probably likely that it wasn't. I know that labor alone on a timing belt repair is killer, so I was wondering if there was any way to visually inspect the belt to asses if it needs replacing?

mulletman,
You can replace the oil cooler lines without dropping the subframe. I did it on mine. You have to remove the rear ends of the lines by going through the passenger's side wheel well. There are some threads on it on this forum from a couple of months ago with some pictures. The new lines are pretty expensive, as I recall around $140 each, and you should get replacement O rings too. It's a little tricky to get the rear ends of the lines back in the oil thermostat under the crank pulley without cutting the O rings, and replacing the bolt that holds the lines on the engine is tricky and you need a long 1/4 socket extension to get to it (or maybe strong fingers to get it started). Someone on the forum was going to try to repair the lines by cutting and clamping them where the flexible part joins to the metal part, but I don't know how that turned out. I think that might be worth a try, or you might find good used lines.

I have not done the timing belt replacement myself, but I think you can remove the top cover and inspect it. If it does break apparently it will damage the engine (valves etc), so checking on it is pretty important.

Meanstreets · Post by **Meanstreets** » 11 Jun 2010, 18:29

I did the oil cooler line a couple of weeks ago. The lines were about $100 each from eeuroparts.com. I had the car on jack stands and removed the wheel. The connections at the cooler end were a pain to get off, but the new ones snap on nice n easy. I didn't drop the sub0frame. I took off the part that the lines connect into on the bottom of the engine, . Make sure to get the seal for that. Removing the oil filter made the job a lot easier.

mulletman1004 · Post by **mulletman1004** » 12 Jun 2010, 09:54

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I know I'm going to have to "bite the bullet" on the timing belt, but I'm still very mad about it. Who ever put on the last sticker just labeled it 137000, so I don't know if that means they replaced it at that mileage, or thats when it needed to be replaced. I would hate to replace a brand new timing belt! I may try doing one of those VIN history lookups a la Carfax.

I may just go for the oil cooler lines. Doesn't seem to hard in theory.

Post by **cn90** » 12 Jun 2010, 11:04

Remove the Plastic Cover the Timing Belt (12-mm bolt, 2nd pic in link below).
Then take a detailed pic of your TB area and post it here for the guru to look.

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/timingbelt.php

mulletman1004 · Post by **mulletman1004** » 14 Jun 2010, 09:52

Here are the pictures of my timing belt, hope someone can give me a prognosis! I tried to get detailed pictures of the belt itself rather than the whole area.

whoa · Post by **whoa** » 14 Jun 2010, 11:02

Has anyone ever seen that sticker filled out with the NEXT time to change the belt rather than the mileage at which it was just changed?

My only worry is that since your odometer is stuck at 137K, the fact that this sticker says 137K gives no information about how many miles have elapsed since the belt change.

Post by **jblackburn** » 14 Jun 2010, 12:11

Mine has the mileage that it was changed AT...and within 35,000 miles the sticker's all beat up and peeling off.

But your belt actually looks to be in very good shape, if not new.

This is why we try to pressure buyers to get a car with a well-documented service history, but I know sometimes they can't be avoided if the car is just too nice. You might try the Carfax thing, though I'm not sure if they list all services done to a car there. I believe the ones I looked at only had emissions inspections, accidents, and title changes on their histories.

If you can't find any more information, my advice would be to change both the belt and the tensioner. That way, you'll definitely have peace of mind about it.