DIY: 2005 Volvo XC90 2.5T: ATF, Angle Gear, AOC/RDiff Fluid

[AMITOFO]

Thank you SethP - I've done some of the fluid changes already on my 2004 T6 - for more details please see this post https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthrea ... ost7187051

3.2 is a very very nice car - I envy you!!

[ALF1]

Create an elevated funnel from the 60 ml syringe body with an extended hard tubing, then just fill using gravity...as follows..simple.
Once you have used the small syringe with tygon flex tubing (1 foot) plus a 2 foot tube length of stiff plastic tubing to remove the oil from the rear diff or Haldex, there is an easy way to fill the reservoirs with the 650 mls or so of fresh oil. Simply lengthen the stiff tubing to 5 to 6 foot length (Ace Hardware for $0.36/foot). Then thread it back in as follows:
Zip-tie the syringe portion of the assembly (now without the piston) to a short ladder or the back of a tall outdoor chair. The syringe should face down. Thread the stiff tubing through the left rear wheel well directly along a descending path and just into the open fill port (rear diff port OR Haldex port). Zip tie the tubing so that it cannot shift around. The end of the tube should be threaded so it's just inside of the fill port. You now have the equivalent of an elevated funnel. The syringe has markings. Fill it in 50 ml increments and watch it empty itself into the Rear Diff or Haldex oil ports. Continue with 50 ml increments until the rear diff or Haldex overflows. Insert the plug with crush washer. Tighten to torque specs and you're done. This is so much easier than trying to syringe in the fresh oil. FYI. I tried to siphon out the oil using this method but by lowering the level of the syringe but the flow was too slow.

[cn90]

1+,

I forgot to mention that I used gravity to fill the rear diff in my 1998 BMW 528i, photo below...

E39-Rear-Diff-03.jpg (40.26 KiB) Viewed 1776 times

[dvarchery]

Great feature on what most people don't consider. I have found it easier to remove the cooling line at the transmission. Same line but no clip and only 1 "o" ring. It was easier to get to and work with. A suction gun on the line side sucked the cooler fluid out and a clear plastic hose with some teflon, about 12 or 13 wraps, sealed nicely in the transmission port the line came out of just make sure you recess the teflon from the end a little so no teflon gets in the transmission.

[5ft24]

With the Haldex fluid/Filter change, Volvo says you top it off and wait until it is only single drips coming out, then plug it and go for a test drive. Come back and pull the plug and again fill until it is full, then down to single drips, and use a syringe and remove 40cc of the fluid, then tighten the fill plug.

[WhiffSmithler]

I just did the rear diff on my 2007 XC90 D5 and found the 60mL syringe very good for sucking out the old oil - but not having any stiff tubing at hand, I used some flexy tubing I had and wrapped it with a spiral of thin (~1mm) wire, and making a tightish circle with the wire at each end to hold the hose a bit better.

I'm keen to do the ATF next, but I'm a bit confused by the description here. Does it take 12L to fill the transmission, or was there some flushing of the system with clean fluid happening in the OP's method?

And as someone else asked, does the front diff share it's fluid with the transmission?

[WhiffSmithler]

Just did the angle gear fluid change. My XC90 is a 2007 model and the angle gear box is fairly different in outward appearance to cn90's photos. The fill port is still a 13mm nut, but faces to the rear of the vehicle and needed a ring spanner (and a 5lb hammer to tap at the spanner to get it open). And I got 800mL of oil out of the box using the syringe and hose - but had to take the wire off the bit of hose and just push it nose down as it was catching on the internal gears. Old oil was very dark brown. Used 75w-90 full synthetic gear oil as replacement but couldn't get the full 800mL in doing it on level ground. I hope 700-750mL will be good enough.

[Krons]

I forgot to mention that some people used the I.D. 1/4" soft hose and during insertion for suction, the hose may be damaged by the internal gear ---> lost inside the Angle Gear, AOC or Rear Diff.

This is why I used the stiff Volvo Vacuum hose (same as the stiff hose used for SAS or cruise control system) together with the 60-cc syringe, this combination worked perfect.

PS: I think I found the solution for the difficult AOC Filter bolts. A 4-mm hex bit that fits a 1/4-inch ratcheting tool, see photo. Not that I need it now (I already did my AOC Filter) but this is for future readers...

AOCTool.JPG

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I went to the basement and just found drill bits set I bought years ago, the set with different bits (Phillips, Torx, Hex etc.). I already have the 1/4-inch ratcheting wrench and just found out the 5/32-inch hex bit fits the 4-mm bolts on the AOC filter perfectly! I wished I found this drill bits set yesterday, it'd have made my life easier!!!

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Other thoughts: what is the consensus here about change interval such as "___K miles" for the above fluids (ATF, Angle Gear, AOC, Rear Diff)? Just curious...

cn90 just a followup on this old post. I was just laying under my 05 XC90 2.5T and a small ratchet won't work on that top filter bolt. I have a mini 1/4" drive ratchet wrench and there just isn't enough swing to get to the next click. I think the best bet is a long 1/4" extension with a swivel or two. That top bolt is a complete pain to get to. Fill plug is super tight too...pondering letting my indy shop handle this one...