Turbo Oil Cooler Line(s) - Is aftermarket safe?

[Bikerdoug]

I'm going to post here.
I've just spent the better part of a day and a half replacing a defective brand new Dorman hose that leaked (weeped) oil out of BOTH hydraulic crimps. Not a happy camper. Not at all.
I paid $90+ for it and broke the bank to pay a mechanic to put it on. Didn't have time to do a mail order exchange, so did the changeover myself.
Check the other forums regarding the replacing these hoses. Do what they say.
You have to:
A. Put the vehicle up on jack stands - the higher, the better;
B. Pull the Right Front wheel off;
C. Peel the wheel well skirt back (I used a couple of bungee cords, anchored them over the fender on one of the power steering housing bolts - be sure and put a towel of something soft between the bungee cords and the paint to keep from scratching it);
D. As said in other blogs, you can use a 1/4" drive extension and a universal joint to get to the 10mm bolt that mounts the stabilizer brackets on the two oil cooler lines to the front of the engine block. You have to go in over the subframe with the extension in order to access it. To keep the universal joint and socket from flopping around so I cold stab it on to the bolt, one of the blogs said to use duct tape. Good suggestion. I used some blue painters tape I had left over. It comes off easily and doesn't leave a residue.
E. Clean the h#!! out of the oil thermostat area - use PB Blaster and let it sit overnight on the T40 Torx bolts. Follow the instructions on the can. Use this stuff liberally - my bolts were almost welded in. You DO NOT want to strip out the Torx head on these bolts. As you face the oil thermostat, the left one (towards the rear of the vehicle) is pretty accessible, but I had to buy a 1/4" drive long Torx socket for the right (front) one. My 3/8" drive socket was too big to fit over the thermostat "hump". I found a set of Pittsburgh 1/4" drive long Torx sockets from Harbor Freight, Item #68015 (prefer Craftsman, but couldn't find any long sockets). And even after 4-5 soakings with PB Blaster and setting overnight, I still had to use a small cheater bar to break these guys loose. BE CAREFUL !!! DO NOT STRIP THE HEADS ! Anyway, they did break loose, thank the Good Lord.
F. When you carefully pull the oil thermostat housing loose from the engine block and lift it out towards you and up a little bit, you can then access the T30 Torx bolt securing the clip that holds the two hoses in. I was able to use the Harbor Freight 1/4" socket for this one, too. The hoses will pull straight out from the housing.
G. Carefully remove the top part of the hoses from their respective radiator nipples by loosening the holding spring clips. I strongly recommend using a set of snap ring pliers to loosen and remove the stainless spring steel clips. Don't pry them off roughly with needle nose pliers and screwdrivers. You will need them later. After you move the spring clips off the radiator nipple and down their respective tubes, you can then pull the hoses straight out. Do I need to mention that you should mark or write down which hose goes to which radiator nipple?
H. As said in the other blogs, take care when you pull the hoses out not to harm the O-rings. Older hoses might need new O-rings - you can get these from IPD or FCP-Groton. Or Ace Hardware, for all I know. Anyway, to protect my new ones, I wrapped a plastic sandwich bag over both hose ends and secured it with rubber bands.
I. I used a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel and made a longitudinal cut (parallel with the hose) down the metal crimps, then pried them off. Remember, I had new hoses with new O-rings. There was nothing wrong with the metal connectors that went between the radiator and the oil thermostat housing, the defective crimps were the problem.
J. I didn't have time to let the vehicle sit while I sent the defective hose back for warranty replacement. Therefore, I was going to take the defective hose down to the local farmer's supply house or NAPA to have them crimp a new hose on. This is probably preferable. This being Saturday, however, I went to the local parts house, got a 15" length of 1/2" internal diameter 500 psi hydraulic hose, and double-clamped each end with parts house radiator clamps. Tight (I figured if they used radiator clamps for air hose carrying 200 psi, they'd work for hydraulic hoses carrying less than a 100 psi. As it turned out, I was right, just like "KLS" suggested).
K. Leaving the plastic sandwich bags on to protect the precious O-rings, work the hose(s) back into place over the A/C compressor hoses and ready to insert into their respective radiator hole. I had to alternate between the bottom and the top of the car to work them in.
L. I decided to secure the lower part of the hose where it goes into the oil thermostat first - got it into the oil thermostat housing, re-installed the hose hold-in clip with the T30 Torx bolt and tightened it.
M. Carefully re-install and tighten the oil thermostat housing. I cleaned the thermostat housing gasket and inspected it - it did not need replacement. To make sure it stayed put in the groove, I put a tiny dab of black gasket sealant in the grooves with a Q-tip to hold it in. Make sure that it's secured in the groove before tightening the bolts.
N. Then got the hoses re-attached to the stabilizer bracket and re-installed the 10mm bolt with the 1/4" drive extension and universal joint over the subframe as before.
O. Put the top part of the hoses securely back into their respective nipples on the radiator, and re-install the spring clips.
P. At this time, I suggest that you crack a cold beer and say a quick prayer before you start it up. In my case, it worked like a charm! Hallelujah! '
Started it up, checked for leaks, and NOTHING !
Took it out and down the road - rechecked and still nothing.
Then out on the highway and horsed it a few times. Not a drop!
(Of course, the Volvo mechanic might wonder about the red hydraulic hose when he changes the oil but who cares?)
My independent mechanic was going to charge me $350 labor + Tax for this job, half what the dealership was going to charge. And I don't blame them.....
It was Miller Time.

Here are the other forums and pics I used:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... &view=next
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=32671
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=33214
http://picasaweb.google.com/11338459745 ... 2289842258

Holler 1, your pictures (Picasaweb) above were lifesavers! Bless You !! You Da Man !
JelloBMW, your comment, "Pain in the butt job. Having done it once, I'll have someone else do it if ever needed again." You hit it right on the head, Brother.

A VERY SINCERE "THANK YOU" is due to the above forum posters for your help and comments.
I hope mine are useful to someone as well.

And the Moral of the Story is, "This is just one of those parts you are better off buying OEM" from Volvo.
Ride to Live.

[Bikerdoug]

And the REST of the story -- bad news --
1. one of my "homemade with hydraulic hose and clamps" turbo oil line started leaking/weeping within a few months. So much for Southern Engineering. At least this time the removal went much faster - I had some time and a spare car, so pulled them off and took them to a local farm/ranch/industrial hose builder. You probably have one around that will repair hydraulic hoses. They told me that the reason the cheap replacement DORMAN hoses leaked to begin with was because their hose nipples have no ridge, flare, or anything else for the clamp to "bite" onto to hold the hydraulic hose. Their exact quote was "cheap Chinese junk, poorly designed, poorly engineered, poorly built". Took pictures, wrote DORMAN customer service, but no reply. Now I agree wholeheartedly with my local guy's opinion.....
2. Asked the farm hose rebuilder if he could rebuild it. No problem - they did the following, all in an hour and a half:
a. flared out the nipples;
b. brazed on heavy-duty connectors;
c. attached flexible couplings with heavy duty hose (remember, it has to be able to rotate or be that certain angle when you install it);
d. guaranteed them for life; and
e. charged me a grand total of $78 + tax to do both sets of hoses.
3. They resemble hydraulics that came off a Case backhoe -- but FIT AND WORK LIKE A CHARM. That's been a year now, and no leaks or weeping. The local Volvo dealer commented favorably on them and may use the rebuilder themselves for rush jobs.

Moral -- Don't use the cheap hoses; either pay extra for the Volvo real deal, or take the original equipment leaky hoses off and have your local hydraulic hose dealer replace the rubber.

BTW, the Volvo OE hose nipples have flares and ridges to hold the rubber - had I used the originals rather than the cheap replacements to begin with and did the same "Southern Engineering", my repair would probably have worked. The hose clamp would have had something to bite onto.

Sure do hope this helps someone avoid my problems. And THANKS to all who post on here. Even considering my hose fiasco, this site has saved me a LOT of time, money, and effort. And now to the ElectraGlide oil/filter/tranny fluid change. At least THAT always goes easily........

[cn90]

Actually, if you keep the factory hose, you can re-use the metal part.
- Remove the rubber hose part.
- Remove the metal crimping part.
- Attach new rubber hose.
- Use Oetiker or screw clamp to clamp it down. Use 2 clamps at each end.

Or find a farm equipment shop, they can rebuild hydraulic hoses for you.
Just make sure you mark the orientation on the metal connectors first.

Example:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche- ... stion.html

[Cliff2012]

Hi fellow Volvo believers! I have an oil leak somewhere near the oil filter and the oil cooler metal lines and connections that attach below near the filter. I change oil every 3,000 miles and the 1991 940 turbo engines runs well and has plenty of power! I recently changed the timing belt! Woops! Got lost so hard to replace / start from scratch. Can anyone guess where the oil leak is coming from? When the car is stopped or just on idle, I got under the car and cannot find a leak coming from anywhere? While driving it must shoot out from somewhere as there is fresh oil all over from the metal oil cooler lines and oil filter all over everything back and onto the muffler which of course smokes like crazy and unsafe? Any ideas! I'm guessing the pressure is greater when driving and leaking from the metal oil cooler connection? I took them off and cannot see a hole, crack or pin prick on the metal oil cooler lines? All help is appreciated on this one!!! Driving me crazy ?!, lol thanks Cliff