What did you do to your P2 Volvo today?

[vtl]

30 minutes to get the alternator almost out, only to find out I needed to remove the top radiator hose.

Remove OTE pipe, throttle pipe, fan shroud, protect radiator with cardboard, slide alternator to the driver's side and take it out. Sounds like a lot of work, but it is quicker and less messy than draining the radiator.

[P80GLT]

@ val: really wasn't a problem draining the coolant and I had tried sliding over but not enough clearance. Fan was out, dipstick tube loosened, charge pipes out but still not enough space...

[P80GLT]

I checked the coolant level this morning and it had indeed dropped down a little.

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I managed to get all of the remaining coolant I removed yesterday back into the system.

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I then decided to fit the microphone for the Bluemusic adapter

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[Blacklab467]

Installed a shift handle, leather E-brake handle and two good boots that I had sourced from the junkyard several months ago. Also put in a different radio (my volume knob didn't work and the radio head would change input sources and frequencies on its own occasionally. Its a slightly different colour but it doesn't look too bad and works better than the one that came out.

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The E-brake handle is leather, unlike my original plastic one. I'm not sure if they offered a leather handle in other years or if I got it off an S-60 maybe.......it sure is a nice improvement. Both my shifter boot and E-brake boot were in awful condition, the faux leather was peeling and cracking off.

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[scot850]

I take it you managed to get that door aligned like you hoped?

Neil.

[Blacklab467]

Kinda Sorta, It closes nice and fits in the opening with uniform gaps but the bottom sticks out a little too much for my liking. Maybe if you're around next week we could get together if you're any good with aligning these?

[P80GLT]

After fitting the new alternator I decided to check the battery side of things and whoever fitted the new Halford battery last year must have been on a budget and fitted a tiny 027. As I often travel up to the highlands in the snow I decided not to chance it and fitted an 096 Bosch battery today which is the size the 2.5T would have left the factory with. I know the battery tray will accommodate an 019 but as I don't have a diesel engine I felt that would be overkill for my car.

Halfords 027 (H5) Battery

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Bosch 096 (H6) battery

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[vtl]

I had a biggest AGM battery that was able to fit in there. It lasted 10 years and then silently went south and killed my hand-rebuilt alternator. I saw the signs of bad battery, but was slacking for a year or so. This summer had to replace both alternator and the battery.

[P80GLT]

@ vtl I sold my 13 year old XC90 in April, it was still on its factory supplied battery. Wife's non Volvo car is 15 and still on factory battery. I do wonder if factory batteries are higher spec than we can buy.

[vtl]

@ vtl I sold my 13 year old XC90 in April, it was still on its factory supplied battery. Wife's non Volvo car is 15 and still on factory battery. I do wonder if factory batteries are higher spec than we can buy.

Depends on use case. I was traveling off the paved roads quite a bit, vibration and bumps is bad for batteries. In last 3 years the car was mostly sitting still, waiting for the engine and transmission rebuild. I "forgot" to put the battery on tethering charger, so it almost died. Then the car became a motorized grocery cart with short trips, which batteries hate.