V70 coolant drain plug & radiator hoses
 

Hi All,

I changed the coolant on my 2009 V70 D5 (185PS) yesterday and found it fairly hard work, so wanted to ask retrospectively what the correct behaviour of the radiator drain plug is?

My drain plug unscrewed ok, and turned 360 degrees, popping out a little but no coolant came out. It felt stiff then and worried it'd snap, I tightened it back up and resorted to removing the bottom hose instead. Does it need pulling out at that point, or should it keep unscrewing as they have on my previous Volvos?

Second question - removing the bottom hose at the radiator end, what a pain! Is there a correct method to undoing and refitting these?

I found it came apart ok though access was very tight, so I ended up removing the air intake pipe from intercooler to throttle body for access. Getting the radiator hose back in place required a lot of force and knuckle skinning before the clip would seat normally, is that normal? What happened to jubilee clips...? Also getting the intercooler bottom connection back in place was a right fiddle due to access from top or bottom. I miss my 850 T5, I changed the full radiator on that in less time... :confused_smile:

Any tips appreciated in case I need to do this again at some point to change parts. So far so good though, 4L of new green Volvo coolant in and all appears well so I'll keep an eye on the level.

Thanks
Stu

you only need to unscrew the drain plug in the bottom of the radiator with a 6 mm allen key a couple of turns for the coolant to flow out . if it doesnt there must be a lot of dirt in there caused by poor coolant over the years .
I assume you took the coolant bottle cap off to let the air in?

Thanks, Clan - I was expecting allen bolt or small hex for the drain plug (my P2 V70 had that) but this one has a different type of drain plug which you undo by hand, or use a pair of pliers to crack it, then by hand.

I found this video since which is the same type as mine, but it does look a bit fragile so not sure I'd fancy putting too much force on it. The chap in the video seems to pull it out a little too, perhaps that's what's needed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5wO2dVu_I


Yes, I had the coolant tank lid off at the time. Draining via the bottom hose instead, what came out was in pretty good order no major silt or debris, but it had discoloured and presumably lost it's corrosion inhibiting properties which is why I wanted to change it.

Ahh a picture is worth 1000 words , you have the later model :-) Yes just turn and pull at the same time , but taking the bottom hose off is a good idea as the coolant rushes out taking any debris with it .