Massive hole in the large heater core hose as shown by the screwdriver. It was big enough I could stick my thumb through!! I ended up just replacing everything. I was already down there so why not...
Couple of tips I picked up
You can get a few more millimeters of room to get at the large heater core hose by removing two 12mm bolts that hold a hose bracket onto the side of the head. Remove those bolts and you should be able to push the bracket up and out of the way as the bottom of that bracket will be all in your way otherwise.
The heater hose coming from the head (the bigger of the two) had the clamp screw facing directly back towards the firewall. There is NO way to get any tool at it from above so what I ended up doing was shining a flashlight right on the screw and then using a little 7 mm socket attached to a swivel then about 3 feet of extensions and went up to it from below. I used my hand to feel right where I could see the light shining (you can't see the actual clamp from below) and then once I had my fingers on it, I carefully guided the socket up to it and used my hand to secure it onto the clamp and then was able to easily loosen the clamp screw that way.
Don't bother trying to pull any of the hoses off. They were all fused on. I used a razor blade to just cut them all off. A single slit along the tube will allow you to peel it off the metal barb.
If the screw for the clamp on the turbo coolant hose is facing away from you (if you're under the car) which is how mine was, you can easily get to it by removing the short heater core hose and then use an extension and little 7mm socket. Mine was comically easy to get to this way. If the small heatercore hose were still attached, it would have been impossible to get to so I can easily see why it would frustrate guys if that's all they're trying to replace.
For the banjo bolt on the turbo, I found it easier to remove from below. I just had a towel under it to catch the coolant dripping out.
With all the hoses removed, I then discovered the yellow clips on the o-ring kit for the two heater hoses were different from my original ones.
When I pulled the original ones out, there was a small plastic yellow washer, a really thin (cracked) plastic washer and then the two o-rings.
The replacement o-ring kit didn't come with that extra yellow washer and the replacement thin washer was black instead of yellow. I decided to reuse the thicker of the two yellow washers that came out but quickly discovered that the new hose didn't want to go all the way into the firewall.
After looking more closely, I discovered that the yellow clips that came with the new o-ring kit were longer than the original ones and that basically they were longer to eliminate the need for that thicker plastic washer that came out so just make a note of that.
Edit: THIS
Another tip is to replace your radiator petcock while you have it loosened. At the age of these cars, we're all too familiar with what happens to volvo plastic and a replacement petcock is super cheap and will give you piece of mind. It's part number 3547226
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... ck-3547226
Other notes:
The replacement hose for the lower turbo coolant hose is shorter than the original and has a different part number. DON'T WORRY! This new hose will fit just fine and the dealership confirmed that the old hose is depreciated and that this replaces the older part.
A right angle pick tool can be used to easily pop open the funky Click-R clamp. Insert the point of the tool right where the claw wraps over the stubby part and apply some pressure. The claw should pop off releasing the clamp.
This is the one I used
https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6943-Preci ... B000NPPBQK
I used the same method to get the other two click-r clamps off the top turbo coolant hose.
to reattach the clamp, just use a pair of pliers to squeeze the clamp back closed and the claw will catch and latch on locking itself on the hose.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!
There is a specific order to putting these hoses back on that makes life easy. Here's what worked best for me.
Install the lower turbo coolant hose first. At first it will seem impossible to get it back on but what I ended up doing was going under the car REMOVING the vacuum line off the turbo compressor housing to give me a few precious mm of space to work with and attaching the banjo bolt (don't forget your copper washers) and leaving it a little loose. It was freezing cold yesterday so I found that using a heat gun (hairdrier would also work) to heat up the rubber hose and a light coating of KY jelly on the barb made slipping the hose on super easy as the hose will be pushed right up against the barb once you put the banjo bolt in. I also took that opportunity to point the clamp screw DOWN so it was easy to tighten from below.
Don't forget to re-attach the turbo vac line. Replace it with a fresh silicone hose if you haven't done so already.
NEXT, attach the short heater core hose. I elected to point the screw up on this one which is how it was originally pointed so that the screw is on the bottom of the hose pointing up out of the engine bay. Makes getting to it very easy.
Lastly I attached the larger heater core hose. I really don't see any other easy way to orient the clamp on this one.. just a shitty space to work with all around if you ask me. I ended up leaving it the way it was when I removed it so that the screw is on top of the hose and pointing back towards the firewall angled down just a little to make it a little easier to get the socket on fro below. Again, going up from below with the extensions and swivel were the only way to access it and again, proved to be pretty easy once I was able to fumble the socket onto the clamp.
For the top turbo coolant hose, like I mentioned, pop the clamps off with the little pick and then just use a razor to split the hose all the way across length wise and peel it off.
Heat the new hose and lube up the metal barbs and it should slide on without too much trouble. I slipped it onto the barb pointing TOWARDS the passenger side of the car first and then wrangled the other opening of the hose onto the barb pointing towards the driver's side. doing it this way allows you to slide the hose farther onto the barb than is necessary so that you have enough room to squeeze it onto the other barb.
After that, it was just a matter of buttoning everything back up, filling the coolant back up, turning the heater on full blast and just monitoring the coolant level in the reservoir and topping off as needed. It took around a gallon and a half of coolant so far. It may need a tad more as my wife drove the car last night and to the office today so I'll check when she gets home and top off if needed.
Overall this was a pretty awful job and I'm really glad I decided to just do all of them. If I had to get back down there again, I'd be super mad that I didn't replace them all because in the grand scheme of things, the way the hoses are attached and seeing how removing both heater hoses makes life easier for the turbo coolant hose, it's worth the price of the new heater hoses and o-ring kit to just replace them instead of trying to get them back on and worrying about them splitting any time soon.
Hopefully this helps anyone else having to do this.
