1999 Volvo V70 n/a auto Radiator replacement

paredown · Post by **paredown** » 04 Aug 2016, 16:46

I replaced the coolant overflow tank because of a crack at the connector, and I think for the first time my system began pressurizing. Now I have a radiator leak along the passenger side seam to I'm getting ready to replace the radiator.

I watched Robert's video and the FCP one, and looked at a couple of other videos online. No intercooler, so it looks a little easier, and no oil cooler lines either. Yay!

All the videos/pics I saw showed the transmission cooler lines with the external spreadable metal clips (on the FCP video/850, the clips were the same on oil and transmission lines).

However, I was doing a look-see tonight before starting and mine has the transmission cooler lines, but they look to be socketed with some sort of green plastic thingy that seems to move freely around the line, and no obvious way to remove them.

What am I looking at and how do I remove them???

paredown · Post by **paredown** » 04 Aug 2016, 17:13

Apparently, I just needed to use some google-fu--and I found this video that refers back to here!

Pinch the two ears together, press in and then pull back--I will see how it goes tomorrow. And I just unpacked my parts, and realized that I already got replacement clips & O-rings with my FCP order.

Hooray for Matthew's Volvo Site!!

Post by **scot850** » 04 Aug 2016, 17:53

Spray the mounting bolts for the radiator. They come out from below, but tend to rust on their exposed threads at the top. Looking at your picture above, you can see the thread for the LH mounting bolt in the middle of the red bracket at the bottom of the picture. The bolts go into a weakly welded/captured nut on the bracket and too muck torque will set it spinning!

Good luck and check the 'O' rings on the transmission hose ends. If they feel brick hard replace them! Also watch the clips, as being plastic they can also become brittle.

Neil.

paredown · Post by **paredown** » 05 Aug 2016, 18:59

Good tip on the bolts--I didn't realize at first that they were threaded through and the nuts are locking nuts on top. Did the back and forth with lotsa PB blaster on them to loosen before I took them all the way out.

I did end up unclipping all the wires; removing the shroud and fan together, and then separating them once out--this let me lay the fan on top of the motor while I worked without unhooking the fan wires.

Mine had four face mounted bolts holding the A/C heat exchanger to the radiator. The bottom two are accessible, the top two not so much. Once the top Torx were out, I could lean the radiator back and get the passenger side; I ended up taking out the driver's side bottom mounting bolt and swiveling it on the passenger side bolt to get the driver's side top bolt (holding rad and heat exchanger).

Radiator came out the bottom easily--while a helper would be nice, it is not so heavy that you can't manage on your own.

The new rad from FCP (Behr) was identical to the OEM, I moved all the clips over from the sides in the proper spots by keeping old and new rads in the same orientation.

I also replaced the green clips and O-rings on the transmission lines--I had momentary panic when I saw an extra pair in the envelope, but they were for the oil cooler lines which I don't have. Cleaned them, put on a little pure silicone for lube and they snapped back in very easily.

Worst thing was the bottom of the car sustained a good hit (before I got it), and once I got the new radiator in, the bottom holes on the A/C heat exchanger were not quite in the right position with the new straight radiator, and the bend in the bottom of the exchanger. A little judicious filing on the exchanger holes let me get everything back together.

Post by **rspi** » 05 Aug 2016, 20:35

Success! Good job.