98 V70 AWD Coolant System Failure - Turbo Fried

quadzillabill · Post by **quadzillabill** » 02 Jun 2014, 15:33

Daughter was driving the V70 and had the coolant light come on. She was a mile or so from her destination (when she noticed the coolant light on) and in a remote area, so she continued to drive to the residence where the car shut off as she pulled in the driveway.

I headed out later that night and threw in some coolant. Engine started, but it was running right out and I shut it off after 10 seconds. Obviously some kind of hose other cooling component failure on the backside of the engine.

I had the unit towed to a local non-import shot to have it looked at as they have been very fair with me in the past. My local independent import place would probably charge me $200 to look at it and these guys will do it for free. Their diagnosis was that two coolant lines blew in the back of the engine and that the turbo overheated and was toast.

$1100 repair estimate for a *used* turbo and labor to replace it and the hoses. But these guys are not super-experienced in Volvo is my guess and I'm more than hesitant to spend that kind of cash on a truly used part. Would you guys suggest a remanufactured, new aftermarket or something used in a case like this? 104k on the car and it has had a lot of money put into it by a previous owner (plus $1600 by me in April for a PCV retrofit, brakes, accelerator cable and what not). I certainly can't replace the car for $1000, but if I'm going to spend it I want to make sure it lasts a while.

I guess its possible it just happened to be two hoses bursting at once, but that seems unlikely to me. Any other thoughts on making sure other components/systems are not involved?

Thanks,

Q

Post by **cn90** » 02 Jun 2014, 16:13

You are lucky the engine is not fried (yet).

The 2 Turbo coolant hoses are:

* Turbo Coolant INLET Hose PN 6842190, about $8 at dealer.
* Turbo Coolant OUTLET Hose, PN 30713305, about $5 at dealer.

The parts are cheap as you can see, but the labor is not. Most of us here are DIYers.

If you want to DIY, then it is about 2h labor. I replaced them a year ago and here it is. It is already difficult on a FWD car, your AWD is more challenging:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=55306

Personally, I'd replace these 2 hoses first and see how it goes. Even without Turbo (which I think may still be alive and not R.I.P. yet), the can will run like a N/A car.

quadzillabill · Post by **quadzillabill** » 02 Jun 2014, 17:11

Thanks. I DIY a lot of my own stuff and was going to do the PCV changeout based on good instructions found here, but I ran out of time and had to bite the bullet. The turbo itself is probably outside of my skill level, but I frankly haven't done the research on performing that repair.

I have no problem running it without the turbo as a NA car. What are the implications of letting the turbo run if damaged or failed? Will it simply stop working with no other impacts, or does something need to be removed/disconnected?

quadzillabill · Post by **quadzillabill** » 02 Jun 2014, 17:12

Also, any other areas that should be wrung out since it got hot? Should I be worried about the head gasket? Anything else?

Post by **abscate** » 02 Jun 2014, 17:59

It is going to pretty gutless without turbo. Lower compression ratio and gearing as well.

you can't have that turbo just spinning if it is toasted - that will end ugly. The turbo rebuild looks easier than a PCV job frankly - the hard part is getting it off. I think I would go that route.

Post by **erikv11** » 02 Jun 2014, 18:53

The turbos on these cars are extremely durable. Which is to say, one easy solution is to just buy a used one that has been checked for shaft play. You can check it by hand.

It is not feasible to run the car without a turbo. You can start it up and drive it around the block to be sure nothing else is awry, sure, but you're going to need another. The turbo is not very hard to pull, there is less disassembly than a PCV job. But it will take some time, especially your first run through it. By removing those burst coolant hoses you are partway down the road to turbo removal ...

Post by **j-dawg** » 02 Jun 2014, 19:03

if i'm not mistaken, for the AWD cars you have to get at that turbo coolant hose from above, by disassembling some of the intake piping.

i did this on my car because of some shenanigans involving the turbo coolant inlet fitting and the previous owner's custom exhaust. if you go at that hose from above, you will have the opportunity to check the turbo for smooth operation.

are you sure there was no damage beyond the turbo? did the shop do a compression test? it sounds like the coolant could have been gone well before the engine stopped. one might reasonably fear some further damage from overheating, like a failed head gasket.

Post by **cn90** » 02 Jun 2014, 22:46

This is why I recommend replacing those 2 hoses first (cost $13) and go from there.

- If the turbo is bad (you are not sure about this yet, just your mechanics' words), then rebuild it later (info in forum or volvospeed).
- If the head gasket is fried, then it is another story.

But it does not hurt to start with the 2 hoses that cost only $13 total.

Post by **tryingbe** » 03 Jun 2014, 07:46

Turbo will be just fine with coolant, I'm not convinced the one on your car is bad just because of no coolant flow to it.

Post by **jblackburn** » 03 Jun 2014, 07:57

tryingbe wrote:Turbo will be just fine with coolant, I'm not convinced the one on your car is bad just because of no coolant flow to it.

Especially since it is also cooled/lubricated by oil if the water coolant lines fail.

Fix the coolant lines first and see if it still spins/boosts.

If not, pick up a used turbo at a junkyard. Check it for play - if there's little-no horizontal play, stick it in the car and don't worry about it.