Engine: 70 T5: Want to do a full service on my 1999 T5

[SodaFarl]

Hi there,

I want to do a full service on my Volvo as I am tired of paying out silly money to people when I am capable of doing it all myself!

I do have a couple of questions and I was wondering if you could help me with!

1. Do you need any special tools to do the service, I am looking at doing the oil, spark plugs, gearbox oil and also thinking about the coolant, (is there any need to do this?)

2. I have read that because I have a turbo synthetic oil is the best to go for. Question is which one would you guys recommend? The car is used everyday by my wife to commute, so it is involved in some start stop traffic.

3. Should I stay with the standard air filter or look at upgrading it?

4. Anything else I should think off? The tyres and brakes have all just been done.

Many thanks

SF

[stusT5]

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showpo...25&postcount=1 check thisout there are no special tools if your box is manual you will need the right size socket it's a pig to get to if you do the fuel filter use a 17mm spanner to remove the quick release couplings as for air filter it depends if you want a sportier sound and more grunt or not the genuine volvo ones are very good

[SodaFarl]

Thanks for the info, should have mentioned that it is an auto.

Cheerio for now

SF

[dooby]

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

I want to do a full service on my Volvo as I am tired of paying out silly money to people when I am capable of doing it all myself!

Good choice :-)

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

1. Do you need any special tools to do the service, I am looking at doing the oil, spark plugs, gearbox oil and also thinking about the coolant, (is there any need to do this?)

I managed most of these jobs with a fairly basic 1/2" socket set. You may also want a special, deep spark plug socket and an extension bar. Can't remember the sparkplug mm on 850s - might be 14mm. Best advice is probably to take along an old sparkplug when you buy the socket...

For oil you will need a new *aluminium* crush washer for the sump plug. Don't use a different metal as you run the risk of stripping the thread in the sump. I searched around 4 places before heading to the dealer for these. They do pop up on eBay and www.partsforvolvos.com as well though. Also torque it to the correct value, not too tight! From memory it's 35Nm, but check this.

For flushing the auto gearbox fluid I bought 3m or so of 12mm diameter clear plastic hose from B&Q - do a search, there's a few HowTo's.

For coolant flushing you need an allen key for the drain plug - think it's 7mm but not certain. I believe you're recommended to replace the coolant every 2 years or so, as the corrosion inhibitor chemicals only have a certain life-span.

You probably want genuine Volvo for the replacement coolant, and some battery water (i.e. distilled H2O) if you want to be squeaky clean. Volvo coolant used to come in green but now (also?) comes in blue. Basically you don't want to mix different colours so if someone at some point has replaced yours with Halfords pink or something, replace like with like or bite the bullet and do a full flush until it runs clear then use the newest Volvo blue.

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

2. I have read that because I have a turbo synthetic oil is the best to go for. Question is which one would you guys recommend? The car is used everyday by my wife to commute, so it is involved in some start stop traffic.

At the meet at the Cheltenham Volvo dealership (MRG was it?) there was a poster on the wall with recommended oils per vehicle. From memory, for my 850 turbo it was 10W40 Castrol GTX. That's what's currently in it, can't remember if its fully synth, part synth whatever but it's changed every 5k miles so it'll have to do...

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

3. Should I stay with the standard air filter or look at upgrading it?

I replaced my panel filter with a K&N panel filter, but more for fun than any real expectation of power increase. I also ran a generic Halfords one for a while and didn't notice any real performance impact.

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

4. Anything else I should think off? The tyres and brakes have all just been done.

Was the brake fluid done as part of the brakes? Think someone else has posted a link to the Stage 0 tune-up and I can't think of any other items...

Cheers, Pete

[SodaFarl]

Thanks for all the feedback guys it has been really helpful! All the brake fluid etc was replaced when the brakes were done!

I now have another question and it is around the oil, I have been looking on the internet and I get Mobil 1 coming up a lot, however which grade to go for I am not sure. They recommend Mobil 0W - 40 for the T5, however I am about to hit the big old 100000 soon and so was wondering if you guys had any other recommendations?

Thanks

SF

[Jod T5]

Originally Posted by SodaFarl

Thanks for all the feedback guys it has been really helpful! All the brake fluid etc was replaced when the brakes were done!

I now have another question and it is around the oil, I have been looking on the internet and I get Mobil 1 coming up a lot, however which grade to go for I am not sure. They recommend Mobil 0W - 40 for the T5, however I am about to hit the big old 100000 soon and so was wondering if you guys had any other recommendations?

Thanks

SF

castrol gtx in the 10w 40 form will be perfect for your car, synthetic oils are overated IMO, its all about frequency of change rather than what you put in it....
I would not recomend 0w under any circumstances, this oil is too thin for older cars....
cheers
jod

[SodaFarl]

Thanks jod, I was a bit concerned about the thinness as you have mentioned! Will give the old Castrol a go!

Thanks again for your advice!

SF

[SodaFarl]

Would the Castrol GTX High Mileage 15-40 oil be OK to use? My beast is about to hit the big 100000 so it sounds like it is the right oil. However I am not 100% sure if it would be suitable due to having the turbo..............

Would this be OK??

Many thanks

SF