2004 XC90 T6 Broken Thermostat Nipple Upgrade

[leoxdeng]

Thank you very much. My plastic skid plate (or mud guard?) had one of the arms snapped off just like yours - and I thought it was designed like that

I was actually referring to the metal skid plate (maybe it's called something else?) at the very front, which covered the radiator drain plug. It was a pain to remove as the plate is hooked onto the car frame via a bracket on each side.

I think I found the answer to draining coolant via the plug near oil cooler here - about 1 min 25 seconds into this video - if of interest to anyone

[songzunhuang]

Are there good part numbers to which to index this thread??

I recently came across a Professional Parts Sweden Thermostat Housing which fixes the plastic breather breakage problem!
I ordered mine from PartsGeek for about $82.

2004 Volvo XC90 Thermostat Assembly
Brand Professional Parts Sweden
SKU W0133-166156

Thermo Housing with Metal breather.

ThermoHousing Top.png (1.15 MiB) Viewed 273 times

It looks to be the answer to that crazy OEM design.
My brass "permanent" fix started to weep lately. It's been many many years, but since this replacement exists now, I'm putting it in.