Diary of a 17 y/o with an 850

[abscate]

Im going to split off the meta topic of What comes with what since we are peeing in Shihab's diary too much..

[shihabafi]

Dear diary,

I've been recently trying to replace the rear right brake calipers. Unfortunately the brake line nut has been giving me a really hard time. I've been spraying the thing with WD-40 in attempt to loosen it up, so we'll see how that goes.

Additionally, my Engine Coolant Temp (ECT) sensor has failed, but in order to take it off, I need a 19mm. And once I get one of those, I need to head to a junkyard and hopefully rip one off.

Also, I broke my window switch button.

Along with lots of other things which have been moving rapidly. This car is going through a lot, and I salute it for being such a soldier of a daily driver and keeping up with my young-adult shenanigans, as well as tanking 50+ miles a day, 6 days a week.

Also, I've given him a name: Idris

[scot850]

If you are using WD-40 as a penetrating oil, don't. It is next to useless apart from cleaning stuff. Use something like Seafoam Deep Creep or PB Blaster as they do work well. There are other brands I am sure, but those have both worked for me well over the many years.

Neil.

[RickHaleParker]

WD-40 is the least effective Penetrating oil.

Here are test results from Machinist's Workshop magazine, April 2007 issue.

Penetrating oil ..... Average load
None ...................... 516 pounds
WD-40 ................... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .............. 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ...... 127 pounds
Kano Kroil ............. 106 pounds
ATF-Acetone mix....53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix is a 50/50 mixture of 100% Acetone and Dextron/Mercron ATF.
Mix only what you need today in a spray bottle. This mixture has a short shelf life.
The two fluids repell each other like oil and vinegar so you have to shake the bottle well before spraying.

Brand recognition is the only thing keeping WD-40 on the market.

[abscate]

Dear diary,

I've been recently trying to replace the rear right brake calipers. Unfortunately the brake line nut has been giving me a really hard time. I've been spraying the thing with WD-40 in attempt to loosen it up, so we'll see how that goes.

Additionally, my Engine Coolant Temp (ECT) sensor has failed, but in order to take it off, I need a 19mm. And once I get one of those, I need to head to a junkyard and hopefully rip one off.

Also, I broke my window switch button.

IMG_20180816_075404 (1).jpg

Along with lots of other things which have been moving rapidly. This car is going through a lot, and I salute it for being such a soldier of a daily driver and keeping up with my young-adult shenanigans, as well as tanking 50+ miles a day, 6 days a week.

Also, I've given him a name: Idris

Trick on the rear caliper. Leave the hard nut alone, and, with the caliper still firmly attached, loosen the soft brake line attached to the caliper 1/4 turn. Now unbolt the caliper and carefully unscrew the caliper from the soft line.

Clean threads on both thoroughly when you put it back together. Hand start the thread carefully so you don’t cross thread it or you say will darken.

Idris is a favorite name in the seven women in my house.....

[erikv11]

... The ATF-Acetone mix is a 50/50 mixture of 100% Acetone and Dextron/Mercron ATF.
Mix only what you need today in a spray bottle. This mixture has a short shelf life.
The two fluids repell each other like oil and vinegar so you have to shake the bottle well before spraying.
...

I've never heard this before about the stability of mix, could you elaborate? Especially since they are immiscible.

I have a bottle of 1:1 on the shelf I just shake up and use the emulsion when I need it, bummer if I should make it up fresh each time.

[abscate]

Your acetone will evaporate pretty quickly unless you keep your container nice and tight like you do your research Ebola culture.

Vapor pressure about 1/4 atm at room temp IIRCP

[JimBee]

I haven't read this whole post so I apologize if any of this is redundant.

Always be sure your car is SAFELY SUPPORTED. THE SAFEST SUPPORTS ARE PROBABLY SQUARE CUT PIECES OF TIMBER AND WORKING ON A LEVEL SURFACE.

Replacing the rear calipers on an 850 can be really hard because their brake line fittings are usually seized in the caliper and can be hard if not impossible to crack loose. Your best shot is using a v-jaw vice grip like the one shown here:
https://www.zoro.com/irwin-vise-grip-lo ... ifications

Before you take off the line at the splitter, pick up a short 10mm x 1 bolt; NAPA has them, get 2 since you might need to remove both rear brake lines at the splitter. Use these bolts to plug the splitter from leaking. Wrap the bolt(s) with about 7 or 8 turns of plumbers teflon tape to get a good seal, then tighten the bolt(s) into the splitter snuggly. MAKE SURE that the bolt threads are correct. The new bolt should easily thread into the splitter block; if it doesn't it might be the right size but wrong pitch. If it doesn't thread in easily, it is probably the wrong pitch. Don't force it, get the right one. Also, when removing fittings, turn them both ways after they're cracked loose, to "work" the threads a little. This will make reassembly easy. Be patient when reassembling to get the alignment correct—you don't want to foul up the threads.

You can remove the left side caliper quite easily by unscrewing its hard line at the splitter. That fitting for the left rear brake line almost always cracks loose quite easily. That lets you get that caliper off with its hard line attached. Then you can get the caliper into a vice and try to work the fitting loose. Using heat from a propane torch on the caliper casting by the fitting can be helpful. With the line off, you can slip a box wrench over the loose end and down to the fitting at the caliper. Those fittings are usually 11mm. Ideally, the box wrench would be a 6 point. Holding heat on the caliper casting right next to the line fitting while you're also holding force on your wrench to break it loose can be helpful. Holding everything in a vice makes this a lot easier. Otherwise, you'll need a helper holding the caliper with large vice grip pliers.

Always wear SAFETY GLASSES when working around brake fluid.
Always wear mechanics gloves when working around an open flame.
Brake fluid will ignite: KEEP OPEN FLAME AWAY FROM BRAKE FLUID AND AWAY FROM ANY MATERIALS THAT COULD IGNITE.
DON"T HEAT the caliper on the car with the lines connected.

The brake line fitting at the right rear caliper is usually seized beyond being removable. If you're strong, patient and lucky, and you have the v-jaw pliers, you might be able to crack it loose. It's worth a try. Soaking the fitting with solvents, as suggested above, might help.

If you can't get the right-side line loosened and you need to replace the caliper, the right rear brake lines will need to be replaced. The parts are not very expensive. Find a shop that can make up brake lines. Give them the exact lengths of your lines. Specify the "EASY BEND" brand of lines, and the exact thread size of the fittings. To be sure, bring the left side caliper with the line attached (that you disconnected at the splitter). The shop tech will copy that fitting to make up your new lines.
If you can't find a local shop and you need to go online, this shop is internationally acclaimed and very reasonable:
https://brakeandequipment.com/machine-shop/

From the splitter, the right rear hard line goes into a flex hose toward the right side. The hose crosses over the suspension arms, then connects to another hard line that goes to your right rear caliper. That hose will look decrepit on your car and might be restricting brake line pressure to the right side. It can also trap pressure in the right side caliper, causing excessive drag and wear, even sometimes locking the wheel.

The easy part of replacing the lines is disconnecting them at the splitter. Your v-jaw vice grip makes this easy. You might even be able to crack the splitter nuts loose with an 11mm open end or brake line wrench. A small standard vice grip can also work on those—but it usually won't work on the caliper fittings.

THE LESS THAN EASY BUT DOABLE PART:

There are 2 brackets that hold the ends of the flex hose in your rear brake lines. They are fastened each with one T25 Torx screw. They need to be removed. When new, you wouldn't need to remove those brackets, but everything is rusted together, so they have to come off to get the old lines out of them. The left-most bracket is made from some sort of composite and is breakable but it isn't fragile. If you break it, Volvo sells that one for ~ $10.00.

A short piece of stiff wire can be used to clean out the torx sockets in the screw heads, which you will want to do. The left-most one comes out the easiest, which isn't to say, easily. It would be best if you could get the car on a service station's lift to get at them. The brake lines can be otherwise left connected while you remove those brackets. Don't drive around with that flex hose unanchored. Work patiently and carefully and the screws will come out. It will be helpful to have the wheel off (and CAR WELL SUPPORTED) with a helper reaching in to force downward pressure on your ratchet head to hold the Torx bit in the screw head. It will be much harder to do that working on the ground. Those screws have Volvo's standard loctite on the threads, so they turn hard most of the way. DON"T USE A WORN TORX BIT.

Centric sells that crossover hose for ~ $11.00. The lines will run you about $18 to $20 for the 2 for the right wheel.

One more suggestion. For some reason the OEM right side caliper seems to be poorly threaded in the casting. Pick up 10 mm x 1 tap (same as the bolts to plug your splitter) and clean up the threads in your new caliper before reassembling. I'm pretty sure that's the correct size for all those fittings. A quick call to a Volvo dealer will confirm it.

The new lines will need to be bent the same as the old ones. The material bends easily, like the brand suggests, but 4 hands are better than 2 getting them close to right. Study how the lines are routed across the suspension arms before removing them. Small adjustments can be made as you install the new ones.

The project goes together with new lines much easier than it came apart! You'll have better braking back there than you've had. I suggest using the Bosch organic pads (~$22.00 for a set of 4). They don't squeak.

Good luck.

https://www.zoro.com/irwin-vise-grip-lo ... ifications

[erikv11]

Your acetone will evaporate pretty quickly unless you keep your container nice and tight like you do your research Ebola culture.

Vapor pressure about 1/4 atm at room temp IIRCP

Sure, it's capped. It's acetone. Maybe that's all the comment is about, nothing to do with actual shelf life.

[RickHaleParker]

Acetone is in a class of solvents called Dipolar Aprotic, it dissolves oil slowly. That is the reason for the short shelf life. If it was not for this fact, somebody would be packaging and selling the mixture. With the instructions "shake well before use".