I discovered a weeping leak at my radiator side tank awhile back and resolved to put together a near complete overhaul of the car because of no service records aside from the heater core system as that was documented as replaced last year. What i also discovered during the job was that my lower rad hose was weeping onto the transmission and evaporating there, so I never saw anything on the ground. After all was said in done my cooling system is essentially brand new with OEM coolant for ~500 dollars and 6 hours of my time.
Tools:
I found that I didn't require anything extraordinary. Metric Sockets and open ended wrenches, Torx 40 driver for thermostat housing, My dinky 2 ton floor jack from harbor freight, jack stands, $3 snap ring pliers from Harbor Freight, and 2 catch pans (One for old coolant, other for engine oil/ATF)
Parts:
I did it all as it makes sense if funds allow in my opinion so the job is done once. I sourced my parts from FCP and IPD. IPD is local to me and I try to support them, but FCP's prices were a lot better on some of the OEM components such as the rad hoses and ECT. They were also amazing when it came to shipping the items, they don't guarantee shipping the same day parts are ordered, but when they didn't and I called to upgrade to air freight so I could complete the task this weekend they upgraded it at no cost to me. Thanks!
I purchased the following:
Nissens Radiator: (MVS helped me decide not to go OEM here, I found this radiator to be great. Just be aware the drain cock, while being a stout, quality part is designed differently and in my opinion is inferior to the OEM design.)
OEM Rad Hoses, Turbo Inlet/Outlet hoses, both Expansion tank hoses, ECT, and 1 gallon of Volvo Coolant.
Wahler 87c thermostat.
Meyle Expansion Tank: (Tank is solidly constructed and being in the plastic industry I am confident the material used is not "cheap" or prone to early failure.)
4 of (http://www.ipdusa.com/products/4771/105 ... 2-mm-width) and 8 (http://www.ipdusa.com/products/4768/105 ... 12mm-width) Great worm clamps that don't serrate the hoses during tightening.
2 New Radiator mount bushings: (Mine were corroded and falling apart, glad i replaced.)
2 sets of Cooling line kits (https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... 0-6842411k) I initally balked at the cost of these seemingly tiny parts. I cannot stress enough how pleased I purchased them. My lines had been on for a long long time I imagine and despite not leaking the orings and the sealing rings looked absolutely terrible. Snap ring pliers made removal and installation take less than 20 seconds per line. The snap ring clamps for my 98 are directional. Fat side towards radiator.)
2 12mmx15mm copper crush washers for banjo bolt at turbo.
6 gallons distilled water from Wal-Mart.
The Actual Work:
The wiring harness atop the cooling sandwich looked daunting at first, but I found that it was surprisingly simple. The connectors are intelligently designed, only fit into their designed places and did not give me much trouble.
Only had to disconnect 2-3 vacuum lines probably relating the the EVAP or SAS system, I'm not sure. Couldn't see how one would hook that back up wrong after the work.
I chose to remove the rad out the top as I would not have the ground clearance to do it down below with my dinky jack. This is where 90% of the time to do the work occurred. If I could have dropped it out the bottom I could've saved an hour or two but I live in an apartment with an uneven parking lot and worked with what I have. I first tried to just lift the rad out, no dice as the mounts ran into the EVAP canister, the SAS pump or the hard wiring harness loom on the passenger side.
I then tried to lift the intercooler out with the rad but gave up on that quickly.
What worked for me is I was able to tie off the AC condenser with metal wire and pivot the rad forward and gently slide the intercooler out by itself. It came out like a dream, and thus did the radiator with all that new found glorious space.
I took this time with the intercooler out to wash it out with a bit of dish soap and water. Making sure after i flushed all the soap out to let it air dry for a bit and drain while I grabbed lunch. When i returned I took the opportunity to take the garden hose to the ac condenser and rinsed off the muck stuck in between the fins.
Installation was easy using the same method. I butchered the cardboard from the radiator box to protect the new radiator fins from the intercooler air nozzles when i lowered it in.
Everything else went just as the instructional videos claim they do, the lower rad hose was easy to snake in with the intercooler piping removed. The turbo inlet hose was a snap with the MAF to Turbo hose removed. I got it from the bottom although I could've done it from the top.
Rspi's video on coolant flush was very helpful as I was going from who knows what green coolant to the beautiful OEM blue. I did have a CEL come up during this process for the ECT out of spec, I suspect it was from getting cool hose water and changing the temp on the sensor far too rapidly as when it popped up my fan went nuts for a bit in what I imagine was the ECU's attempt to 'save' the motor. I cleared it immediately and it never returned. So that was fun. after 5 minutes of hose water i did 4 gallons of distilled water to get the tap water out and buttoned up the system afterwards.
As always the best part of the job was dropping the hood after inspecting for leaks and I've put 250 miles on her since with no drama.