Turbo help need on 2004 XC90 T6 2.9

[SuperHerman]

As the title states I need help replacing the Bank 2 turbo on my 2004 XC90 T6 2.9T. I just had the turbos rebuilt when the engine was out of the car and the Bank 2 rebuild was a fail. As I didn't pay for the turbo service, bringing it back is not an option. It is me and the XC90 at this point.

I have reviewed the documentation in VIDA and its approach is to take off the entire exhaust manifold and turbo as a unit (as that is how the unit is sold). What I am wondering is if anyone has another approach, shortcut, trick or experience which involves only removing the Bank 2 turbo. I know with my old XC70 I was able to just take off the turbo and leave the exhaust manifold on the car and work around removing all sorts of components.

Any real world experience is welcome.

[ggleavitt]

I put a post over on the Swedespeed XC90 forum, lets see who bites. Understand your question, the passenger side turbo (think cylinder count is from the engine front so that makes it cylinder 1-2-3) is lower on the back of the engine, folks can see it in photos on the internet (search B6294T).

You've already done a 5 cylinder so you know it can be done (I have a TD04 kit in the garage and will do a rebuild this summer), now just a matter of seeing who's done both on a T6 from the top.

I'll post the link if something does not pop up here.

[SuperHerman]

Thanks for the help. I am working on Bank 2, so Driver's side. From what I have read the passenger side is easier, but I hope to never find out.

My approach is to try from the top, and if it does not work then I will revert to the Volvo method. As most of the pipes have to come off anyway in the end it will be the same. The hardest part so far has been to get the fresh air metal inlet tube off as the pipe clamp was put in in such a way it was hard to get a socket on it with the transmission dipstick running interference. Once that was off I was able to remove one of the coolant lines which enabled me to take off the heat shield, which I had just pushed to the passenger side. My approach is to take off items that will not leak fluid first, and then take off those that drip last. I suppose after draining the coolant from the bottom the drips were minimal so it may make sense for one to remove the upper turbo coolant pipe first and then attack the heat shield. Just prop the pipe to the side, pointing up, and it is not an issue. The pipe has a rubber hose at the passenger side so it can be moved.

Not sure how I will handle the waste gate as access is pretty limited. I may just disconnect the cotter pin. The next tough pipe will be the turbo oil drain on the turbo bottom which I am just starting.

As the turbo was just removed most of the bolts are cooperating. Two of the lines are T50 (banjo), and I used an 8mm spanner on the T50 with a socket and extension to get the leverage needed to remove. I am keeping my eyes on the cooper washers.

As of right now I think it will work.

The 5 cylinder was not bad. I ignored the advice to remove the angle gear, but had to be creative getting to some pipes. Putting it back together was harder as lining things up and avoiding cross threading is a concern. I hand tightened a few threads and then went to the next bolt as the play helped out. The dancing gasket was an issue, but one can dab some silicone to keep it from moving.

[ggleavitt]

Thanks, I'll fix the other post.

[wanderdüne]

I hope never to do the job, but I had seen some videos from this guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCANzg4 ... query=xc90 Doesn't show much of the operation, but looks like he did them from the top. More documentary than DIY.

(The process is in a couple three videos, so I thought I'd just put up a link to all his XC90 stuffs.)

[SuperHerman]

Thanks for the helps folks - somehow that guy's videos never showed up in my searches. I got the turbo out from the top without taking out the exhaust manifold or touching the exhaust for that matter. I looked over the turbo and actually don't see anything wrong with it. I have a theory of what was wrong, but will wait until I bolt it back together properly and see if the problem is solved. I will also provide a limited write up and some photos. Thanks again.

[SuperHerman]

Here are some quick notes on taking out Bank 2 turbo. Bank 1 should be pretty much the same.

One needs to drain the coolant as the turbo is water cooled. So take off bottom splash shield, locate drain spigot, take off coolant overflow cap and place a catch pan for the coolant – open drain. My car drained about 3-4 quarts of coolant. Close drain spigot and you are done with the under car work. I never even lifted my car, just crawled under a bit and stretched out my arm. I used a clean catch pan and then transferred the coolant to a clean gallon laundry detergent bottle I rinsed out with a built in spigot. Made refilling super easy. It is now part of my tool kit.

One of the hardest parts of the process is the car is too high to work on comfortably. I attacked things from the left fender, right fender, middle and then sitting on the core support or standing on a box to get the reach needed. Almost all the technical work is on the back of the engine so it is hard to reach.

First you have to take off all the plastic plumbing and air filter box. Take out the two O2 sensors (mark them Bank 1 and Bank 2 for reassembly – tip during reassembly spin the O2 sensor wires counter clockwise before starting to tighten so that when tightened the wires end up straight or disconnect them from their harness) I would recommend using a Sharpie or other marking device to draw a mark line on the Al plumbing/to plastic so that when you reassemble you know where things sit alignment wise and how deep the Al (Al=aluminum) pipes have to be seated in to the plastic runner. You could do the same where the AL pipes mate to the turbos. This will aid in making sure the Al pipes are properly positioned when the clamps are tightened during reassembly. Recall that the AL pipes have to go back into the plastic runners – if they are not aligned they will not go in. You can final tighten the Al pipe to turbo connections once the plastic pipes are refitted. This will help in alignment of the Al pipes.

Start by taking out the lower coolant pipe (line) going into the back of the turbo, it is a T50 (the bottom one). The line faces the firewall and I used an 8mm fixed spanner on my 3/8” T50 as space is limited. This should be done first as it allows the heat shield to be removed without bending it. If you drained the coolant you will have minimal coolant loss (drops). Have a rag handy. The coolant line can then by flipped up vertical and held in place with the VIN tag that is notched out. Then take off the heat shield and remove.

Here you can see the coolant line flipped up and the heat shield removed. Bank 2 Inlet pipe is still attached, the two Al outlet pipes are removed. I never removed Bank 1 inlet pipe as my problem was with the Bank 2 turbo.

Next you can take off the Al pipes. For my Bank 2 work I took off the two Al outlet pipes and the Bank 2 Al inlet pipe. These can be a pain, depending on where the bolt is on the clamp. You may have to be creative and use some adapters/swivels to get the 10mm bolts off. If you find them easy – mark where they line up and put the clamp(s) in the same place during reassembly. (The engine is assembled out of the car, while you are working with it in the car – hence the optimal location of the clamps is not always the same not to mention someone else may have worked on it before).

On the Bank 2 Al inlet pipe I was not able to remove it as the turbo waste gate diaphragm assembly was in the way. I found it easiest to move said pipe aside, remove the two turbo waste gate diaphragm assembly bolts, pull the cotter pin for the waste gate and take out said assembly. I removed these by using the space opened up by removing the air-box and using a swivel 10mm and some extensions coming in near the ABS block. The small rubber hose going into said assembly also has to be removed before pulling out said assembly. You can start with this or do it at the end. After this the Bank 2 Al inlet pipe will come out easy. It is entirely possible that the clamps and hoses on your car are positioned so access is easy – on mine they were not. Again if they are – mark them so you can put it back together with the same ease.

Here you can see how I have Bank 2 inlet pipe partially off so that I can move it to gain access to the waste gate diaphragm. You can also see the small hose that goes into the waste gate diaphragm that needs to be removed. The diaphragm is attached to the turbo with two 12mm bolts if I recall the size correctly. Swivel and extension is what I used to remove them.

Note here – I was confused on this Bank 2 Al inlet pipe. I had to pull up pictures on the internet to see what I was attacking. It is a bundle of hoses and an Al horseshoe shaped pipe that looks to be part of it. This is not the case. The horse shoe Al slides over a port on the Bank 2 Al inlet pipe. To removal start by taking off off the hose clamp on the port, pull it back, and then the horseshoe is free to slide off. You can see this in the picture.

Here you can see the Bank 2 port, rubber hose and clamp that has to be undone.

At this point you should just have the remaining lines going into the turbo to remove. The banjo bolts are T50 and the oil top oil line is 12mm. I left the lower turbo oil return line attached for removal, but not for reattachment. Remove the 8mm turbo clamp. After removal of the clamp I used a crowbar and gently pried the turbo out. I only placed the crowbar on hard iron and worked from front to back – gently and slowly. It came out with little effort. Once it is free carefully work it with your hands (up/down, left/right), remember the lower pipe is still attached and you don't want to damage the turbo fins. Once it is free you can maneuver the turbo out. The turbo oil return pipe has an oring that goes into the block – if it is not on the bottom of the pipe it is still in the block. Fish it out and if reusing put it on the pipe. To reinstall the pipe, the o-ring has to be on the pipe not in the block.

Here you can see what everything looks like when everything is removed.

Here is a view of reassembly, just before I reattached the heat shields. The coolant lines are not connected. You don't have to secure the heat shield, just put it in and slide it around. You should put the Bank 2 Al output pipe on, semi tightened before the heat shield and secure it before finally securing the heat shield.

The order I listed is what made sense to me. You may find the order inefficient, just take note of the order you attacked the project and reassemble the same way.

I struggled fiercely trying to put the turbo back on with the turbo oil return line attached to the turbo. I just could not get the turbo to seat correctly. (Note – the turbo has an alignment pin. Mark both sides at this pin to make sure it goes together correctly. Another option is to mark two lines with a sharpie and use these marks for alignment. No matter what that pin has to mate or the turbo will not sit flush) I recommend putting the turbo drain tube in first (but not attached to the turbo), check to make sure it is properly seated, and then install the turbo, tighten the clamp, and then put the turbo drain line gasket and torx bolts in. Access is really tough, but it can be done.

Summing up – the most difficult part is working an a car that is too high and having all the work in the back of the engine bay. You do not need to touch the exhaust. Replacing the Bank 1 turbo at this point should be pretty much the same. Installing and positioning the Al inlet and outlet pipes was a pain – I should have marked location when I removed. Overall it is like any turbo work – getting the right swivel/adapter setup is the trick.

It took me much longer the first time I did this as I didn't understand how certain items were connected. As I had to redo the entire process over because the turbo had a chipped fin that was causing the whine the second go around was much faster. I had the turbo out in under 1.5 hours, reassembly took me 2.5 hours.

[ggleavitt]

This is excellent, thanks for posting.